Why are some error messages able to cut and paste?

[Howard Brazee]

I have been making notes of my Mac issues since last March (So far I have 42 issues this month). Sometimes when the window pops up, I can cut and paste the message, sometimes I can't. For instance, this morning:

November 26 6:13am - iTunes said (I can cut and paste) - iTunes could not connect to the iPad “Howard's iPad Pro” because it is locked with a passcode. You must enter your passcode on the iPad before it can be used with iTunes. - I didn’t need to type in my passcode by hand, my fingerprint was sufficient.

November 26 6:16am - iTunes said (I can’t cut and paste) - The iPhone “Howard’s iPhone 6” could not be synced because the connection to the iPhone was reset.

Does anybody know why sometimes I can do this, and sometimes I can't?

 

[honestone]

Interesting you post that, as there are times I can't copy some text (and thus subsequently paste it). But it certainly varies from "application to application". For example, when one does an "About This Mac", one cannot copy anything from the next screen that appears. However, for just any subsequent "item" that one chooses, one can copy. For example, I just did an "About This Mac", then clicked on "System Report", and for the initial screen that appears, "Hardware Overview", anything on that screen can be copied. Similarly for other choices from the resulting System Report Screen (like "Diagnostics", "Memory", etc.).

Yes, really strange indeed! Don't know what the reasons are.