Unable to copy content of a cell of a database in confluence

[voila]

Hi, 

I am on Free Plan of confluence and I have created a database. I am facing a issue where I am not able to COPY the content of any cell of the database. 

I am following below process to copy the content of the cell

1. I double click in the cell 

2. I select the content that I want to copy 

3. I press CTRL + C to copy the content ( I tried right click and copy option as well ) 

4. I paste the content CTRL + V . 

5. When I paste the content I get some older content which was copied from may be text pad or my editor 

It seems like copy of the content is not working for database. 

When I tried same thing with tables then yes I am able to ctrl+c , ctrl+v the content of any cell of the table. 

Any help here. 

[Tomislav Tobijas · Accepted solution]

Hey @voila ,

This copy & paste experience in databases can probably be improved. 👀

Try this...

Instead of double-clicking on a cell, just click once to select it, and then press CTRL + C. Next, select a cell where you want to paste the content, then press CTRL + V.

I'll be honest. Two different sites behaved differently. In one (my private one), I'm experiencing the same thing as you.
In the other, I can double-click on a cell, select all and copy the content to another cell 🫤

Might be that this is a system/platform bug for some sites. I'll probably go ahead and report this to the support.

Also, there are a couple of feature requests related to pasting within databases:

• CONFCLOUD-80931: Copy selection is not clear in Confluence Database 
• CONFCLOUD-81186: Enable to paste texts or links to Confluence database cells without using the Ctrl + V shortcut 

Cheers,
Tobi

[Tomislav Tobijas]

One more note - it would appear that there's an issue with number-type cells. For a paragraph, for example, both double-click and single select copy will work. For numbers, it's a bit of a different story and only single select works 🔢

[voila]

HI @Tomislav Tobijas 

Thanks for the answer. Just like you told above - following this is working for me 

1. For any text or number field

2. When single click on cell and ctrl + c then it is working. 

3. If double click and select the text inside to ctrl + c , it does not work . 

Thanks for raising the bug as it is very frequent that we cut copy paste contents . 

I am accepting your answer. 

[Ash H_]

Hi @voila

I'm Ash, from Appfire's Expert Services. 

It sounds like you're running into some friction with the native Confluence databases, specifically when trying to interact with or copy content from individual cells. In the current Confluence Cloud experience, native databases are designed as structured data sets where cell interaction can sometimes feel more restricted compared to a standard table. One common workaround is to ensure you are in "Edit" mode, as viewing mode often limits direct cell selection for copying. If you're trying to move data out of a database, you might also try the native "Export to CSV" option found in the database's additional options menu (the three dots), which allows you to open the entire data set in a spreadsheet tool like Excel where cell manipulation is more flexible.

I am a big fan of our own apps, so in case it's helpful I'll pop the link to our Advanced Tables for Confluence, it *might be a great fit for your workflow. This app includes the Advanced Table Viewer macro, which allows you to import CSV or Excel data as a stable, structured snapshot that remains fully functional within Confluence. It provides an intuitive interface for viewing and analyzing data, including built-in filtering, sorting, and pagination that can make navigating large data sets much smoother than native options. Because it treats your data as a high-performance table, it can help bridge the gap when native databases don't quite offer the level of cell-level flexibility or formatting control you need for your documentation.

Good luck!
Ash