In catalyst version 1.12.3 states copy / paste no longer broken - but it still pastes as MD links

Help
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. download latest installer of Obsidian.md from website (Installer 1.11.7)
  2. open Obsidian and get latest update (version 1.12.4)
  3. shut down Obsidian and reopen sandbox vault
  4. On Start Here page of Sandbox, add a link [[testing 123]]
  5. highlight link (as a wikilink) and copy it to my clipboard (MacOS Tahoe 26.3)
  6. open a text editor (Sublime Text and also tested in Drafts)
  7. use Cmd-V to paste into blank text file
  8. pastes [testing 123](testing 123)
  9. try right clicking to paste as plain text – not an option
  10. try Shift-Cmd-V and that also doesn’t work.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Yes. I tried in my own vault and in the Sandbox vault in restricted mode. Same results.

Expected result

I expect the text to be copied and pasted exactly as it was written in the ASCII file of Obsidian.

When I go to the vault files in Sublime Text and copy / paste them, they are pasted exactly as written:

[[testing 123]]

Actual result

It changes what was pasted to be a markdown link:

[testing 123](testing 123)

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: 1.12.4
Installer version: 1.11.7
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 25.3.0: Wed Jan 28 20:54:22 PST 2026; root:xnu-12377.81.4~5/RELEASE_ARM64_T6030 25.3.0
Login status: logged in
Language: en
Catalyst license: insider
Insider build toggle: on
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

Note this also happens on iOS:

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: 1.12.3 (297)
API version: 1.12.3
Operating system: iOS 26.3 (Apple iPad14,5)
Login status: logged in
Language: en
Catalyst license: insider
Live preview: on
Base theme: light
Community theme: AnuPpuccin 1.5.0
Snippets enabled: 5
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 37
Plugins enabled: 22
1: Calendar v1.5.10
2: Periodic Notes v0.0.17
3: Note Refactor v1.8.2
4: Templater v2.18.1
5: QuickAdd v2.11.0
6: Tasks v7.22.0
7: Kanban v2.0.51
8: Banners v1.3.3
9: Charts v3.9.0
10: Minimal Theme Settings v8.2.1
11: Natural Language Dates v0.6.2
12: Style Settings v1.0.9
13: Highlightr v1.2.2
14: Metadata Menu v0.8.12
15: Trash Explorer v1.2.4
16: Modal forms v1.63.0
17: Visual Crossing Weather v1.1.5
18: Projects v1.17.4
19: Tabs v1.1.8
20: Dataview v0.5.68
21: Terminal v3.21.0
22: Dataview (to) Properties v0.0.24

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.
Community plugins: for bugs, please first try updating all your plugins to latest. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community plugins.

Additional information

3

I have been unable to reproduce, can you post a screen recording?

Also please copy from obsidian and paste here, take a screenshot.

4

On iOS copy-pasting from Obsidian into

  • iA Writer, Typewriter, and Textastic → Hi [[wikilink]]
  • Drafts → Hi [wikilink](wikilink)

ScreenRecording_02-25-2026 06-27-21_1

and the paste result from the clipboard test (from Safari on iOS):

IMG_0124
IMG_01241206Ă—1378 306 KB

SYSTEM INFO:
      Obsidian version: 1.12.4 (299)
      API version: 1.12.4
      Operating system: iOS 26.3 (Apple iPhone18,1)
5

Ok. Thank you very much ariehen.

<a class="internal-link" href="wikilink" data-href="wikilink">wikilink</a>

It’s Drafts that converts the the HTML placed in the clipboard into [wikilink](wikilink).

I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it.

Cmd-Shift-V should still work and paste the raw text.

1 Like
6

I can check on macOS when I get home, but yeah, it seems to only happen when pasting into Drafts on iOS.

7

We don’t place anywhere [wikilink](wikilink). So that’s coming from the HTML to markdown converter that drafts does.

8

I am seeing this where ever I paste, not just drafts. And not just on my ipad (as I pointed out in the BR). I mentioned Drafts because that is the tool I’ve been using for this workflow for 5 years. Until the release where they changed the clipped text to rich text it worked 100%. Also, when I paste a wikilink from a different text editor (Sublime Text for instance) it pastes just fine. It remains a wikilink.

I get that people like rich text, but most clients at least give me the option, either with “paste and match style” or adding a shift key to the cmd-v shortcut or a toggle to let me turn off rich text in clipping. This change has made my workflow grind to a halt. Because i either have to open the files in a different editor, copy from there to drafts, process it, and then head back to Obsidian.

Plus I now have more clean up to do to find all the markdown links that were added before I caught the change.

10

In the desktop app, please copy from obsidian and paste here, take a screenshot.

As I said in my previous post,
Cmd-shift-v should work because we also place a plain text version of the text in the clipboard.

11

image
image2478Ă—1452 138 KB

12

This is correct. The [wikilink](wikilink) is something that target program does while converting from the HTML.

The plain text version is also in the clipboard, so cmd-shift-v (paste without formatting) should work.