diff --git a/routes/operations.js b/routes/operations.js
index 7566c4a..a91f6a4 100644
--- a/routes/operations.js
+++ b/routes/operations.js
@@ -749,25 +749,27 @@ module.exports = function(pool) {
                 });
             }
 
-            // Cloning from a named segment is how a period with no baseline gets a
-            // shape: pick the ledger line -- prior year, plan -- and copy its mix
-            // forward. That means reading rows exclude_iters normally keeps
-            // operations away from, so the entry is named explicitly and replaces
-            // the exclusion rather than widening it. The rows written are ordinary
-            // clone rows either way, so they are adjustable afterwards.
-            let excludeClause;
+            // exclude_iters deliberately does not apply here. It exists to stop
+            // operations *modifying* reference rows: scale would attribute forecast
+            // movement to prior-year rows by distributing across them, and recode
+            // writes negative rows that zero the original out. Clone does neither --
+            // it reads rows and writes new pf_iter = 'clone' rows, leaving the source
+            // untouched. Copying a plan or a prior year out of reference and into
+            // adjustments is the operation working as intended, and excluding them
+            // meant a visible, deliberate selection silently produced nothing.
+            //
+            // from_logid narrows instead: a selection spanning AOP and Prior Year
+            // where only one is wanted.
+            let excludeClause = '';
             if (from_logid != null) {
                 const srcLog = await pool.query(
-                    `SELECT id, operation, coalesce(nullif(tag, ''), note) AS label
-                     FROM pf.log WHERE id = $1 AND version_id = $2`,
+                    `SELECT id FROM pf.log WHERE id = $1 AND version_id = $2`,
                     [parseInt(from_logid), ctx.version.id]
                 );
                 if (!srcLog.rows.length) {
                     return res.status(400).json({ error: `No log entry ${from_logid} on this version` });
                 }
                 excludeClause = `AND pf_logid = ${parseInt(from_logid)}`;
-            } else {
-                excludeClause = buildExcludeClause(ctx.version.exclude_iters);
             }
 
             // Period dimensions come from the calendar against the shifted date, not
diff --git a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
index f1a4635..900ce45 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
+++ b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
@@ -1067,11 +1067,18 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
       flash('Enter at least one new dimension value', 'error')
       return
     }
+    // A clone that changes nothing is only pointless when the source and the
+    // destination are the same band. Copying a plan or a prior year out of
+    // reference and into adjustments changes what the rows *are*, even at factor 1
+    // with no shift -- that is the whole operation. Only warn when the selection
+    // is already adjustable.
     if (op === 'clone') {
       const shifts  = body.date_offset && body.date_offset !== '0 days'
       const scales  = body.scale != null && body.scale !== 1
       const changes = Object.keys(body.set || {}).length > 0
-      if (!shifts && !scales && !changes) {
+      const fromRef = !!body.from_logid ||
+        (currentTotals?.excluded?.rows > 0 && !(currentTotals?.total?.value || currentTotals?.total?.units))
+      if (!shifts && !scales && !changes && !fromRef) {
         flash('A clone with no override, no date shift and a factor of 1 would just duplicate the rows', 'error')
         return
       }