# Issue with copying protected placeholder

**URL:** <https://community.transifex.com/t/issue-with-copying-protected-placeholder/5405>\
**Category:** Q&A\
**Created:** [July 14, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.transifex.com/t/issue-with-copying-protected-placeholder/5405 "2026-07-14T12:20:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rakekniven](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.transifex.com/rakekniven/32/97_2.png) [@rakekniven](https://community.transifex.com/u/rakekniven)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://community.transifex.com/t/issue-with-copying-protected-placeholder/5405/1 "2026-07-14T12:20:50Z")

</div>

Hello,

at project Nextcloud we use protected placeholders.  
Since a few weeks we have an issue with some strings.

Translators reported:  
_Variables cannot be added to the translation field from the source string—neither via the Ctrl+Alt+1 shortcut nor by clicking on the variable itself._

I checked it and can confirm.  
It worked in the past as some translations contain them.

Example link:

> **[Log in · Transifex](https://app.transifex.com/nextcloud/signin/?next=%2Fnextcloud%2Fnextcloud%2Ftranslate%2F)**
>
> Log in to your Transifex account. Or sign up to start your own project or help translate an existing one.

Source text:

```auto
Extra parameters are model-specific. For example\: {"width"\:1920,"height"\:1080} 

```

Protected placeholder :

> {…}

Screenshot from translated string (translated 2 years ago):

 ![2026-07-14_14h18_43](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/transifex/original/2X/d/df34298dc9ef51cafcf9e87dcfe2482048d745a3.png)

Can you please check your editor?

Tested browsers

- Browser Firefox v152
- Chrome Version 150.0.7871.115

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![colvera](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.transifex.com/colvera/32/3187_2.png) [@colvera](https://community.transifex.com/u/colvera)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://community.transifex.com/t/issue-with-copying-protected-placeholder/5405/2 "2026-07-14T17:51:50Z")

</div>

Hi @rakekniven,

Thank you for reporting this.The autocompletion and shortcut functionality works as expected for variables native to the file format being processed.

For custom variables defined via custom placeholders, this should also be supported so the behavior you’re describing sounds like something isn’t working as expected on that front. I’ve raised a ticket with our Engineering team to investigate what may have changed for custom placeholder insertion.

I’ll keep you posted as soon as we have an update. In the meantime, feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

Carlos, Transifex TAM

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![colvera](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.transifex.com/colvera/32/3187_2.png) [@colvera](https://community.transifex.com/u/colvera)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://community.transifex.com/t/issue-with-copying-protected-placeholder/5405/3 "2026-07-22T14:23:14Z")

</div>

Hi @rakekniven

This is Carlos, TAM at Transifex, I just wanted to reach out and let you know that our team has released a fix and clicking on the variable or using the keyboard shortcut should be working now,

Feel free to test it and tell us how it goes 🙂

Best regards

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rakekniven](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.transifex.com/rakekniven/32/97_2.png) [@rakekniven](https://community.transifex.com/u/rakekniven)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://community.transifex.com/t/issue-with-copying-protected-placeholder/5405/4 "2026-07-25T21:07:48Z")

</div>

Hello Carlos,

I can confirm that the fix works.

Thanks