How to Copy & Paste a Picture on Firefox

While using the copy/paste function in Firefox to transfer Web images to Windows applications is relatively simple, copying images into online forms or forum pages is a different matter. By default, Firefox disables the copy and paste function when attempting to use images on remote websites and placing them in Web forms or forums. Mozilla disables the feature because it is a potential privacy or security issues on some sites. However, if you want to copy and paste images from one site to another, manually editing Firefox settings can help.

Instructions

1. Close Firefox if it is active. If you use Firefox Quick Launch, right-click the Firefox icon in the taskbar, then click "Exit" on the pop-up menu.

2. Click "Start" then type "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\" into the search box. Press the "Enter" key. Click the profile folder that contains the word "default" in the search results pane. A new window opens displaying the contents of the profile folder.

3. Locate the "user.js" file in the profile folder. Right-click the file name, then click "Edit" on the pop-up menu. Windows Notepad launches and displays the contents of the file.

4. Position the cursor below the last line of text in the profile file. Add the following lines of text to the "user.js" file:

   user_pref("capability.policy.policynames", "allowclipboard");

   user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.sites", "http://www.sitetoenablecopypaste.com");

   user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.cutcopy", "allAccess");

   user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.paste", "allAccess");

   Change the "http://www.sitetoenablecopypaste.com" variable in the second line of code to the name of a site that you want to enable copy-and-paste functionality within Firefox. You must create an entry for each site that you want to paste images to.

5. Enter a code that adds subsequent websites to the "whitelist," or sites where you can copy and paste images. For instance, if you would like to copy and paste images to a Windows Live account and Yahoo Online Messenger, the code to allow access would look like the following:

   user_pref("capability.policy.policynames", "allowclipboard");

   user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.sites", "http://www.live.com" , "http://www.yahoo.com);

   user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.cutcopy", "allAccess");

   user_pref("capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.paste", "allAccess");

   Notice that the "http://www.live.com" and "http://www.yahoo.com" entries have a space and comma to separate them.

6. Click "File" then "Save" on the Notepad menu bar to save the changes to the "user.js" file.

7. Restart Firefox on your computer. You can now paste images on the sites listed in the "user.js" file.

References

• Mozilla: Setting Prefs for the Mozilla Rich Text Editing Demo
• Mozilla: Profiles
• Google Operating System: Enabling Copy-Paste for Google Office in Firefox; October 29, 2006