Secure Global Desktop 4.40 Administration Guide > Applications, Documents, and Application Servers > Using Copy and Paste With SGD

Using Copy and Paste With SGD

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Understand what copy and paste operations SGD 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 SGD. Users can also copy and paste text between applications running on a client device and applications displayed through SGD. SGD supports the copy and paste of Unicode characters.

Users can only copy and paste graphics to or from Microsoft Windows 2000 or later applications.

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

In the SGD Administration Console, you can control copy and paste operations in Windows and X applications displayed through SGD as follows:

On the Global Settings » Client Device tab, copy and paste for SGD as a whole can be enabled or disabled. By default, copy and paste is enabled. The Client's Security Level attribute can be used to assign as security level to the SGD Client. Data can only be copied from SGD to applications running on the client device if the SGD Client has the same security level or higher as the source application. This allows Administrators to secure the flow of data outside of SGD. The default Client's Security Level is 3.
On the Client Device tab for organization, organizational unit or user profile objects, the Copy and Paste attribute 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 user profile object. By default, copy and paste is enabled.
On the Client Device tab for Windows and X application objects, the Copy and Paste attribute can be used to enable or disable copy and paste operations to or from the application. The application can also be assigned a Clipboard Security Level. Users can only copy and paste data to an application displayed through SGD 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 Global Settings » Client Device tab,

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

Note Character applications displayed through SGD 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. The Client's Security Level attribute is set to 3 (the default). The following applications have these security levels:

Application	Application's 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 SGD, the value of the Client's Clipboard Security Level attribute must be higher than the highest value of the Application's Clipboard Security Level attribute of any application in the organizational hierarchy.
To disable copy and paste from all applications displayed through SGD to applications running on the client device, the value of the Client's Clipboard Security Level attribute must be lower than the lowest value of the Application's Clipboard Security Level attribute of any application in the organizational hierarchy.
To disable all copy and paste operations to or from the client device, deselect the Copy and Paste check box on the Global Settings » Client Device tab in the SGD Administration Console.
To disable all copy and paste operations for an individual Windows or X application accessed through SGD, deselect the Copy and Paste check box on the Client Device tab for the application in the SGD Administration Console
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 SGD in a UTF-8 locale. If it is not possible to do this and UTF-8 locales are installed on the SGD 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 SGD for this environment variable to take effect.

Related Topics
Users Cannot Copy and Paste Text Or Graphics