You haven’t broken anything, and neither has your student. The Loam editor refuses pasted prose on purpose: it’s the single most important thing it does.
Why it’s blocked
Loam’s whole promise is that a finished document comes with proof of how it was written: every edit, in order, tamper-evident. That proof is only worth something if the text actually entered the document here. If a thousand words could arrive in one paste (from a chatbot, an essay mill, or a sibling’s old assignment) the replay would show nothing and the evidence would prove nothing. Blocking paste isn’t a restriction bolted onto the product; it is the product.
The same rule applies to dropping text in, and to the title field. And it applies to everyone: there’s no teacher override that quietly lets text in, because an exception anyone can grant is an exception the evidence can’t rule out.
What still works
- Pasting a single link. A bare URL pastes fine and becomes a link in the document. Citing a source never requires retyping an address.
- Attaching files. Images, PDFs and audio can be pasted or dropped in. They’re recorded as attachments: supporting material, never counted as typed prose.
- Undo and redo. Normal editing history works as usual.
- Quotes, typed. Students quote sources by typing the quotation. That’s deliberate: the replay then shows the quote being transcribed, which is exactly what honest quoting looks like.
What a blocked paste looks like
The student sees a notice, “Text paste blocked”, telling them how many characters were not inserted and what is still allowed. Nothing enters the document. The attempt itself is recorded in the evidence record as a blocked event, and teachers can see a count of blocked attempts alongside verification. Students should know that: it’s not a trap, it’s the same transparency the rest of the record gets. One blocked paste usually means someone tried to paste their own notes before learning the rule. A pattern of them the night before a deadline reads differently, and that judgement belongs to the teacher, not to us.
Tell your class before the first assessment
Most paste confusion happens mid-assessment, which is the worst possible moment for it. Thirty seconds of briefing prevents all of it. Something like: “This editor only accepts typed text. Links and file attachments work; pasting prose doesn’t, for anyone. Write in the editor from the start rather than drafting elsewhere.”
That last point matters most. A student who drafts in another app and then tries to paste the result will find they have to retype it all: technically possible, but slow, and the replay will show one long transcription rather than their actual thinking. Drafting in Loam from the first sentence is less work and better evidence.