The symptom
You’re working in RIB iTWO, which runs as a published app on Citrix. You select rows, press Ctrl+C, switch to Excel on your own PC, press Ctrl+V, and nothing arrives. Often iTWO has crashed or the session has dropped once that day. Sometimes it works again the next morning without anyone doing anything.
Restarting the PC fixes it too, but with a dozen estimates and spreadsheets open, that costs half an hour you don’t have.
The quick fix: disconnect, don’t log off
In most cases the clipboard link between your Citrix session and your PC has stopped working. The session itself is fine, so you don’t need to close anything. A disconnect and reconnect rebuilds the link, and your open windows stay exactly as they were.
- Save your work if you can, but don’t close anything.
- In the Windows taskbar, right-click the Citrix Workspace icon (it may be hidden under the small arrow) and open Connection Center.
- Select the server entry (the line above iTWO, not iTWO itself) and click Disconnect. Don’t choose Log off or Terminate.
- Start iTWO again the usual way. Your session comes back as you left it. If an extra, empty iTWO window opens, close only that one.
- Try copying to Excel again.
It takes about a minute. If you work in a full Citrix desktop rather than a published app, disconnect from the desktop’s Start menu instead.
Why it works
Citrix passes the clipboard between the server and your PC through a channel that belongs to your connection, not to the applications. When iTWO crashes or the connection drops for a moment, that channel can get stuck while everything else carries on. Reconnecting builds a fresh connection, and with it a fresh channel.
That’s also why it often works again after a weekend: the session was rebuilt in the meantime.
If it keeps coming back
If a reconnect only helps for a while, or several colleagues have the problem at the same time, look further:
- Crash or dropped connection? “iTWO stopped” can mean the application crashed or the Citrix connection dropped. If connections drop, look at the network or VPN on the user’s side rather than at iTWO.
- A known Citrix issue. Citrix has documented that after upgrading to Virtual Apps and Desktops 2507 LTSR CU1, clipboard redirection can fail intermittently mid-session, mostly on multi-session servers, and that a reconnect only restores it temporarily. Citrix lists the fix in later updates (2507 LTSR CU2 onwards). If iTWO is hosted by RIB, the servers are theirs: send their support the article number below and ask which version they run.
- Security software inside the session. Citrix has also traced broken clipboard sync to third-party data-loss-prevention agents running in the session.
- Log off at the end of the day. If the session itself is stuck, only a proper log-off clears it. Logging off in the evening instead of just disconnecting means the next day starts clean.
- A workaround in the meantime. If Excel is also available inside Citrix, pasting there may still work while the cause is being fixed.