GNOME lost middle mouse button paste
For four decades, I've been copying text by selecting it and then pasting by clicking the middle mouse button. It suddenly stopped working, with no announcement that I saw, when I updated from Fedora 43 to Fedora 44. It was very frustrating. That this was intentional is quite rude. There are actually two paste buffers: the ^C / ^V one and the mouse select / middle button click one. It turns out that this is a GNOME "improvement". Here's an OK write-up. <https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/can-we-revert-downstream-the-disabling-of-middle-click-pasting-future-version-of-gnome/179408> See also <https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=313089> Fix 1: dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/gtk-enable-primary-paste true That only affects the current user. Variants of that command can have system-wide effects (I try not to understand dconf). Fix 2: Use GNOME Tweaks: Mouses & Touchpad: Mouse: Middle Click Paste This only affects the current user/
On Tue, 9 Jun 2026 11:16:40 -0400 (EDT) "D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk" <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
For four decades, I've been copying text by selecting it and then pasting by clicking the middle mouse button.
It suddenly stopped working, with no announcement that I saw, when I updated from Fedora 43 to Fedora 44. It was very frustrating. That this was intentional is quite rude.
Hugh, I am addicted to the middle mouse button click. It works fine under FVWM. I sure hope FVWM gets ported to Wayland. -- Howard Gibson hgibson@eol.ca http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson
On Tue, Jun 09, 2026 at 11:16:40AM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk wrote:
For four decades, I've been copying text by selecting it and then pasting by clicking the middle mouse button.
It suddenly stopped working, with no announcement that I saw, when I updated from Fedora 43 to Fedora 44. It was very frustrating. That this was intentional is quite rude.
There are actually two paste buffers: the ^C / ^V one and the mouse select / middle button click one.
It turns out that this is a GNOME "improvement". Here's an OK write-up. <https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/can-we-revert-downstream-the-disabling-of-middle-click-pasting-future-version-of-gnome/179408> See also <https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=313089>
Fix 1: dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/gtk-enable-primary-paste true That only affects the current user. Variants of that command can have system-wide effects (I try not to understand dconf).
Fix 2:
Use GNOME Tweaks: Mouses & Touchpad: Mouse: Middle Click Paste This only affects the current user/
Fix 3: Don't use gnome. -- Len Sorensen
Thanks, I use this too. I remember the last time it happened. My issue with Fedora and 7.1 kernels, also recurring after a couple of years, is my screen not returning from closing the lid. Mike On Tue, Jun 9, 2026, 11:17 AM D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk < talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
For four decades, I've been copying text by selecting it and then pasting by clicking the middle mouse button.
It suddenly stopped working, with no announcement that I saw, when I updated from Fedora 43 to Fedora 44. It was very frustrating. That this was intentional is quite rude.
There are actually two paste buffers: the ^C / ^V one and the mouse select / middle button click one.
It turns out that this is a GNOME "improvement". Here's an OK write-up. < https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/can-we-revert-downstream-the-disablin...
See also <https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=313089>
Fix 1: dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/gtk-enable-primary-paste true That only affects the current user. Variants of that command can have system-wide effects (I try not to understand dconf).
Fix 2:
Use GNOME Tweaks: Mouses & Touchpad: Mouse: Middle Click Paste This only affects the current user/ ------------------------------------ Description: GTALUG Talk Unsubscribe via Talk-unsubscribe@lists.gtalug.org Start a new thread: talk@lists.gtalug.org This message archived at https://lists.gtalug.org/archives/list/talk@lists.gtalug.org/message/NZIVMWN...
D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk wrote on 2026-06-09 08:16:
For four decades, I've been copying text by selecting it and then pasting by clicking the middle mouse button.
It's one of those features I use to demonstrate to Windows users the superiority (ease-of-use) of Linux desktops. Love it.
It suddenly stopped working, with no announcement that I saw, when I updated from Fedora 43 to Fedora 44.
I saw some discussion about this but mostly ignored it because I don't use Gnome.
It was very frustrating. That this was intentional is quite rude.
I can understand the rationale behind removing it as a default. I'd expect a BIG notification about it though. New Linux users have been very confused by accidental pastes. In browsers it's common to middle-click as a "gesture", then with no further button presses one can scroll just moving mouse up or down. But middle-click gesture in an input field and... "oops!" Having to run a CLI or install a tweaks package to re-enable it? Crazy.
It turns out that this is a GNOME "improvement". Yeah, they do far too many of these things.
D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk wrote on 2026-06-09 08:16:
I've been copying text by selecting it and then pasting by clicking the middle mouse button. It suddenly stopped working, with no announcement that I saw, when I updated from Fedora 43 to Fedora 44. It was very frustrating. That this was intentional is quite rude.
So, LTT (Linus Tech Tips) has 3 guys doing a "Linux Challenge, part 2", and they're really positive in their summary. As tech guys without Linux experience, the mouse scroll wheel click caused some issues. Time-stamped link to the topic (whole video is worth watching for their evaluation): I Don't Think I Can Go Back To Windows... <about:blank?compose#> youtu.be I Don't Think I Can Go Back To Windows... <#> 🔗 https://youtu.be/8KQFgWdiudo?si=wMzNKOVHe_VvECDF&t=605 <https://youtu.be/8KQFgWdiudo?si=wMzNKOVHe_VvECDF&t=605> Judging by the comments on the video, quite a few people struggled with scroll-wheel clicking causing paste instead of being a scroll gesture.
participants (5)
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D. Hugh Redelmeier -
Howard Gibson -
Lennart Sorensen -
Michael Hill -
Ron