Watch Clipboard stops working

[Jim Bretti]

Here are some things to check If you notice the TextAloud clipboard monitor no longer recognizes clipboard updates.

First verify that clipboard options are set correctly in TextAloud. Under the TextAloud Tools menu, click "Clipboard and Mouse Speak Options", and click the "Clipboard Options" tab.

On this tab, make sure Watch Clipboard is checked. Also check if the problem you're having may be related to the option to ignore text less than a specified length, or ignore updates when the text hasn't changed. Also verify that the Prompt Options are set correctly.

If there are no problems with the clipboard settings, the next thing to do is try resetting the clipboard monitor. Return to the TextAloud main window, click the TextAloud Tools menu, toggle the Watch Clipboard option off, then back on again. Toggling the checkbox like this resets TextAloud on a chain of applications that receive clipboard notifications. This reset will sometimes solve problems with TextAloud not recognizing clipboard updates.

If you see this problem frequently and resetting the clipboard monitor like this solves the problem, it generally means that something on your system is bumping TextAloud from the clipboard notification chain.

We do not have any control over this notification chain, so I don't know of any way to prevent the problem from happening.

Here is a workaround that can help. There is an advanced setting in TextAloud you can use to automatically reset the clipboard monitor periodically. Each reset will disconnect and reconnect TextAloud to the clipboard chain. If this reconnection process happens often enough you should not see the problem very often, if at all.

To configure this setting, click Tools -> Advanced Options -> Advanced Settings. The 6th option from the top is labeled "Auto Reconnect Clipboard Interval", and defaults to a value of 0. Try setting this to a value of 60 (seconds) to start. So we'll automatically reset the clipboard connection once per minute. If that isn't often enough, reduce the value gradually until you find a setting that minimizes the problem.

If you need help with this issue send us an email at support@nextup.com