I have imported a graphic from an .ai file. Looks good. It seems all paths use absolute coordinates.

However, when I copy the objects, the copy becomes ugly. The copied paths uses relative coordinates however.

See here the two path (both the letter u, refer to the attachment):

M -2370 1070 L -2303.59 1070 L -2327.56 1193.38 C -2330.66 1208.18 -2331.93 1218.05 -2331.79 1220.87 C -2331.79 1226.51 -2328.55 1232.15 -2323.19 1236.38 C -2317.69 1240.61 -2310.78 1243.43 -2302.6 1243.43 C -2296.82 1243.43 -2291.04 1242.02 -2285.4 1240.61 C -2279.76 1237.79 -2274.12 1234.97 -2268.34 1232.15 C -2262.42 1227.92 -2257.2 1223.69 -2252.69 1218.05 C -2248.18 1213.82 -2244.09 1206.77 -2240.28 1198.73 C -2237.6 1192.67 -2235.06 1182.8 -2232.24 1169.26 L -2213.49 1070 L -2145.81 1070 L -2186.7 1278.68 L -2249.16 1278.68 L -2243.66 1250.48 C -2269.75 1271.63 -2298.8 1282.91 -2330.66 1282.91 C -2350.97 1282.91 -2367.07 1278.68 -2379.14 1268.81 C -2391.15 1258.94 -2397.64 1246.25 -2398.48 1229.33 C -2398.48 1222.28 -2396.93 1207.62 -2392.84 1186.18 Z

m -2450,1700 h 70 l -30,120 c 0,20 0,30 0,30 c 0,10 0,10 10,20 c 0,0 10,0 20,0 c 0,0 10,0 10,0 c 10,0 20,0 20,-10 c 10,0 10,-10 20,-10 c 0,-10 10,-10 10,-20 c 0,-10 0,-20 10,-30 l 20,-100 h 60 l -40,210 h -60 l 10,-30 c -30,20 -60,30 -90,30 c -20,0 -40,0 -50,-10 c -10,-10 -20,-20 -20,-40 c 0,-10 0,-20 10,-40 z

Can I control precicion somehow?

I experience this behaviour in version 1.2.2 as well als in 1.4.x

--

Stefan Althöfer

Sorry, but it seems the attaches SVG does not longer have the absolute-coordinates path. Please find the correct file attached.

The numeric precision can be changed in Inkscape's preferences (menu: Edit>Preferences)

The copied/pasted path looks smooth here, using the settings shown. 

If adjusting the precision doesn't work, you can try resetting all the preferences: https://inkscape.org/forums/questions/getting-back-to-square-one-and-starting-over-its-easy/

Yes, that's it. Thank you!

Hard to understand that the "SVG output acuracy" also influences the internal operation.

Inkscape is a native SVG editor. Any modifications performed are written to the SVG XML and then displayed in the UI.