Copy Paste and Clipboard

Copy, Paste, and Clipboard

This page covers copying complete objects or molecular fragments, the available Copy As formats, and how pasted chemical data is handled.

Select an object or a molecular fragment, then use Edit > Copy or Cmd+C on macOS / Ctrl+C on Windows. Cut is Cmd+X / Ctrl+X; Paste is Cmd+V / Ctrl+V. Fragment selection is deliberate: a selected set of atoms and bonds can be copied without claiming that the entire parent molecule was selected.

Pasting position and selection

ChemDraft’s document paste path places the result at the pointer when there is a recorded page-pointer position. When no pointer placement is available, it uses the document’s regular paste placement. The pasted result is selected so you can move, style, or delete it immediately.

Pasting several parseable SMILES entries produces a grid rather than stacking structures on top of one another. This is useful for a short list copied from a table or text file. Parsing and layout are guarded: unsupported, charged, or unsuitable abbreviation inputs do not become a guessed structure. Warnings and refusals are part of the result rather than being discarded.

Copy As

Edit > Copy As offers these registered formats:

Format	macOS shortcut	Windows shortcut
SMILES	Option+Cmd+C	Alt+Ctrl+C
InChI	—	—
InChI Key	—	—
CDXML Text	Cmd+D	Ctrl+D
MOL Text	Option+Cmd+O	Alt+Ctrl+O
MOL V2000 Text	Option+Shift+Cmd+O	Alt+Shift+Ctrl+O
SVG	—	—
PNG	—	—

The selection or, where the command permits, the page is serialized to the chosen representation. The file-format writers report warnings for representations they cannot preserve exactly. Do not treat a clean-looking pasted image as proof that structural data survived; use a structural format when you need editable chemistry.

What clipboard import recognizes

The clipboard adapter identifies MOL V2000 and V3000 records, RXN records, images, SVG, plain text, and CDXML-shaped text. It parses supported MOL content and carries warnings with the result. For a V2000 coordination type 9 bond it reports that the bond was read as a dashed dative single bond.

Some recognizable content is intentionally not silently interpreted. CDXML clipboard parsing is not implemented by the adapter’s detection layer, and plain SMILES is only accepted once the application parser establishes that it is valid. This is preferable to treating any short chemical-looking text as a certain structure.

On Windows, native clipboard handling uses Windows text conventions, including UTF-16 and CRLF line endings, alongside platform formats. On macOS, use the normal application menu and system clipboard shortcuts. The visible menus are app-wide on macOS; on Windows the document window carries the menu.

Practical advice

1. Copy a fragment if you need a reusable substituent without copying its whole molecule.
2. Use Copy As SMILES, MOL, or CDXML Text for chemical interchange; use SVG or PNG for a figure.
3. Read warnings after import or export, especially for dative bonds, literal labels, unknown bond orders, and stereo.
4. Use Saving, Sessions, and Recovery for document recovery rather than relying on the clipboard as storage.

Next

• Selection and Editing
• File Formats and Compatibility
• Exporting