Copy from guest Ubuntu terminal in virual machine to Microsoft Word on host windows

Is it possible to copy from the Ubuntu terminal to Microsoft Word? In fact, Microsoft Word is installed on my computer while I am running Ubuntu on a virtual machine.

45.3k 21 21 gold badges 105 105 silver badges 129 129 bronze badges asked Feb 15, 2014 at 22:52 user248652 user248652 21 1 1 silver badge 3 3 bronze badges I tried, that did not work :/. Thank you for your response though. Commented Feb 15, 2014 at 23:05

How have you installed Microsoft Word? It is not installed by default and not available for Ubuntu either.

Commented Feb 15, 2014 at 23:11 Microsoft Word is installed on my the host computer not the VM. Can I still do that? Commented Feb 15, 2014 at 23:45

Are you running Ubuntu in a VM? Do you want to copy the Ubuntu VM's terminal output to the host's MS Word? Please edit your question to add this.

Commented Feb 15, 2014 at 23:47 Yeap this is what I want to do. Sorry for the confusion. Commented Feb 15, 2014 at 23:47

4 Answers 4

Use your mouse to select the text in the terminal. Right-click in the terminal and choose 'Copy'. Then paste the text from the clipboard in Word (Right-click 'Paste').

Does this help you?

answered Feb 15, 2014 at 23:03 Arthur Borsboom Arthur Borsboom 331 1 1 gold badge 2 2 silver badges 7 7 bronze badges

You can copy something from a terminal with your mouse :

Select the text
Right-clic > copy
Right-clic > paste

You can also do it with your keyboard :

Select the text
Ctrl Shift C to copy (ctrl-shift-v to paste something, btw)
Alt Tab to switch to your document (you opened it before)
Ctrl V to past once in your document

You can also use a trick to get the terminal-printed informations in a file :

simply use my-commandline-as-usual > /path/to/file.doc

answered Feb 15, 2014 at 23:21 MrVaykadji MrVaykadji 5,895 2 2 gold badges 33 33 silver badges 55 55 bronze badges

Though OP did not clearly mentioned I am assuming OP is using Oracle VM VirtualBox . To enable copy and paste between host and guest one need to install guest addition .

Download Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack and install on host (windows). Next open VM go to guest (Ubuntu) and install guest addition.

To install you need to go to System Settings >> Additional Dirvers, and install guest addition. Otherwise take a look on this tutorial. It shows the other way.

Now you need to enable clipboard sharing. Go to virtual machine.

Go to Devices >> Shared Clipboard and check Bidirectional

The following snap should make it clear.

Now you can directly copy from a guest to host or vice-verse. Either right click and copy or use custom copy ( Ctrl + C ) paste ( Ctrl + V ) shortcuts.

For terminal copy ( Ctrl + Shift + C ) and paste ( Ctrl + Shift + V )