Secure Global Desktop 4.31 Administration Guide > Applications, documents and hosts > Using copy and paste with Secure Global Desktop

Using copy and paste with Secure Global Desktop

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Understand what copy and paste operations Secure Global Desktop supports. Understand how Secure Global Desktop Administrators can control copy and paste operations in Windows and X applications.

Users can copy and paste text between applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop. Users can also copy and paste text between applications running on a client device and applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop. Secure Global Desktop supports the copy and paste of Unicode characters.

Users can only copy and paste graphics to or from Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 applications. If you are using the classic webtop, users can only copy and paste graphics if they are using the Native Client for Microsoft Windows.

For Windows and X applications, you copy and paste by using the normal method for the application you are copying from, and then the normal method for the application you are pasting to.

For character applications, click with the right mouse button, and then click Copy or Paste as appropriate. To select a column of text in a character application, hold down the Shift key while selecting the text.

Secure Global Desktop Administrators have full control over copy and paste operations in Windows and X applications.

Controlling copy and paste in Windows and X applications

Secure Global Desktop Administrators can control copy and paste operations in Windows and X applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop as follows:

On the Array Properties panel of Array Manager, copy and paste for the array as a whole can be enabled or disabled. By default, it is enabled.
The Clipboard Access attribute on organization, organizational unit or person objects can be used to control which users in the organization are allowed to use copy and paste. The setting for this attribute can be inherited from a parent object in the organizational hierarchy so that Administrators can enable or disable copy and paste for many users without having to edit each person object. By default, copy and paste is enabled.
Windows and X application objects can be assigned a Clipboard Security Level. Users can only copy and paste data to an application displayed through Secure Global Desktop if it has the same security level or higher as the source application (the application the data was copied from). This allows Administrators to secure the data available through particular applications. The default security level is 3.
On the Array Properties panel of Array Manager, a security level can also be assigned to Secure Global Desktop clients. Data can only be copied from Secure Global Desktop to applications running on the client device if the client has the same security level or higher as the source application. This allows Administrators to secure the flow of data outside of Secure Global Desktop. The default client security level is 3.

When configuring security levels, the higher the number the higher the security level.

Note Character applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop are treated the same as applications running on the client. This is because character applications use the local client clipboard for copy and paste operations.

If a user attempts a copy and paste operation that is not permitted, for example because of differing security levels, they paste the following message instead of the copied data:
Sun Secure Global Desktop Software: Copied data not available to this application

Example

Copy and paste has been enabled for all users in the Indigo Insurance organization. In Array Manager, clients have a security level of 3 (the default).

In Object Manager, the following applications have been created with these security levels:

Application	Clipboard Security Level
XFinance	3
XClaim	4
Write-o-Win	4
Slide-o-Win	2

When Emma Rald runs these applications, she can perform the following copy and paste operations:

In this application	Emma can paste data from
XFinance	Slide-o-Win (it has a lower security level). Applications running on her client device (client has equal security level).
XClaim	XFinance and Slide-o-Win (they have a lower security level). Applications running on her client device (client has lower security level). Write-o-Win (it has an equal security level).
Write-o-Win	XFinance and Slide-o-Win (they have a lower security level). Applications running on her client device (client has lower security level). XClaim (it has an equal security level).
Slide-o-Win	Copy and paste not allowed (all applications and the client have a higher security level)

Tips for Administrators

To disable copy and paste from applications running on the client device to all applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop, the client security level must be higher than the highest security level applied to any application in the organizational hierarchy.
To disable copy and paste from all applications displayed through Secure Global Desktop to applications running on the client device, the client security level must be lower than the lowest security level applied to any application in the organizational hierarchy.
To disable all copy and paste operations to or from the client device, select Clipboard disabled from the list for the Clipboard: Client security level attribute on the Array Properties panel of Array Manager.
To disable all copy and paste operations for an individual Windows or X application accessed through Secure Global Desktop, disable copy and paste on the application.
Inherit the copy and paste settings from other objects in the organizational hierarchy as much as possible. Only enable or disable copy and paste for individual users if you really have to. This reduces administration.
For best results when copying and pasting non-ASCII text, run Secure Global Desktop in a UTF-8 locale. If it is not possible to do this and UTF-8 locales are installed on the Secure Global Desktop host, you can specify a UTF-8 locale by setting a TTA_TEXTCONV_LANG environment variable. For example:
```
TTA_TEXTCONVLANG=en_US.UTF8; export TTA_TEXTCONVLANG
```
You must restart Secure Global Desktop for this environment variable to take effect.

Related topics
Array properties (array-wide) Clipboard Access (--clipboard) Clipboard Security Level (--clipboardlevel) Users are unable to copy and paste text or graphics