1. Open a Nautilus window.
2. Go to location with write permission
3. Select a file and try to rename.
4. When prompted to rename (filename becomes a text entry), open new tab.
5. Select a file, try to copy and paste. You will see that file is not copied and pasted.
6. Go back to original tab. If the file that was selected in step 3 is still selected, unselect it.
7. Try to copy and paste. It should work.
8. Try to rename again, and open new tab.
9. Close old tab, and try to copy and paste. It won't work, and there is no way to restore, except opening a new window.
Thanks to Alexander's comment on https:/ /bugs.launchpad .net/ubuntu/ +source/ nautilus/ +bug/988251/ comments/ 29, I was able to work out steps to reproduce the bug.
1. Open a Nautilus window.
2. Go to location with write permission
3. Select a file and try to rename.
4. When prompted to rename (filename becomes a text entry), open new tab.
5. Select a file, try to copy and paste. You will see that file is not copied and pasted.
6. Go back to original tab. If the file that was selected in step 3 is still selected, unselect it.
7. Try to copy and paste. It should work.
8. Try to rename again, and open new tab.
9. Close old tab, and try to copy and paste. It won't work, and there is no way to restore, except opening a new window.
Detailed info is reported upstream at https:/ /bugzilla. gnome.org/ show_bug. cgi?id= 742513