diff --git a/src/browser/atom-application.coffee b/src/browser/atom-application.coffee
index 402a3f3ed..46c000e8b 100644
--- a/src/browser/atom-application.coffee
+++ b/src/browser/atom-application.coffee
@@ -238,6 +238,11 @@ class AtomApplication
       win = BrowserWindow.fromWebContents(event.sender)
       win[method](args...)
 
+    clipboard = null
+    ipc.on 'write-text-to-selection-clipboard', (event, selectedText) ->
+      clipboard ?= require 'clipboard'
+      clipboard.writeText(selectedText)
+
   # Public: Executes the given command.
   #
   # If it isn't handled globally, delegate to the currently focused window.
diff --git a/src/text-editor-component.coffee b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
index f124993f4..bc2ff3b2a 100644
--- a/src/text-editor-component.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor-component.coffee
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ scrollbarStyle = require 'scrollbar-style'
 {Range, Point} = require 'text-buffer'
 grim = require 'grim'
 {CompositeDisposable} = require 'event-kit'
+ipc = require 'ipc'
 
 GutterComponent = require './gutter-component'
 InputComponent = require './input-component'
@@ -444,6 +445,7 @@ TextEditorComponent = React.createClass
 
     @subscribe @props.editor.onDidChangeSelectionRange =>
       if selectedText = @props.editor.getSelectedText()
+        ipc.send('write-text-to-selection-clipboard', selectedText)
         clipboard.writeText(selectedText, 'selection')
 
   observeConfig: ->