Text selection and copying

I think it is a really big flaw that this very basic function is not integrated in the OS. When you find something e.g. in the browser and you want to use the text, you have to completely rewrite the text. When you want to copy a part of a text in a native app, e.g. a messenger or sms, you can only copy the whole message and then have to find that short part you wanted in the first place in this tiny input box and delete everything else which is quite error prone. Please consider this small implementation!

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You can copy from the browser, I agree that the SMS copy can be a bit annoying if you only want a small par of the message.

I get around the SMS annoyance by pasting the text to a note and trim the selection there.

By the way: The #pending tag in this forum is meant for when the developers let us know they they are working on a problem. Or said another way: They :hammer: out the :bug: in our :iphone:.

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I get what you want to tell us. But it is possible to select a text area, at least with the Sailfish Browser. What could be approved, phone numbers cannot be pasted in the number block. And copy and paste between SFOS and Android. I just lately realized, then you get 2 different context menus, one from SFOS and one from Android, and that they will only paste content from their OS part. I know that the copyboard between SFOS and Android is a problem since. Its just very confusing for the user sometimes to know in which layer he is actually moving this could be improved from my point of vue :slight_smile:

It’s often a thing that we developers don’t implement on first pass. Bothers me a bunch, at the moment with tooter, but it’s an issue in a number of just the apps I maintain. Making myself tickets.

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For the record, you can easily zoom into any textbox in Sailfish by tapping anywhere in the box, then tapping the same spot again but this time holding your finger on the screen and moving it around. This way you can quickly and accurately move the cursor wherever you want.

You can also copy from the browser, but there is a yet unfixed bug that causes you to have to hold for a really long time until the text selection finally shows up. It does work, though.

About the browser: I tried that somewhat more now and I have to say that it only works partially. Not all text can be selected. A bad example would be an error message from this forum.

That’s not what I mean. The textbox only shows a small part of a longer text. And this makes it hard to keep track of where something is, where in the text you are and what you just selected. That’s why an overly long pasted text is an issue.

Ok, I have now found that eg. in Mails, selecting works. However what doesn’t work at all is controlled copying. As soon as you have selected something, it gets automatically copied. So if you after selecting what you want to copy accidentally shorten or extend what is selected, you have the proper selection overwritten. And if you want to delete some longer text (without eternal use of backslash) after cutting something, the cutted text gets lost.
And this still doesn’t change the issue eg. in messages as explained above.
And eg. in a browser input box, selecting is completely impossible.

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Select to copy is intended functionality.

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That doesn’t make it better. As I explained, it is very prone to accidents and text loss.
And still there is the problem of copying without selection.

No it isn’t. I have used Sailfish OS forever. Getting in to selection mode is sufficiently hard so that it does not happen by accident. Getting out of ot is sufficiently easy so you don’t change the selection.

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Cut, copy and paste buttons would be much better!

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Or a freaking damned CTRL key on the keyboard :innocent:
CTRL-a
CTRL-c
CTRL-v
CTRL-x
A lot to do, with one key!

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Indeed - Clipboard icon context menu currently just with «Clear all» function would be a solid location for standard Cut and Paste functions.

Would also be fine as popup on long tapping a, c, v and x, but an extra CTRL key on the keyboard would be the best. The ‘Symbols’ key (?123) is bigger than necessary, dividing it into two buttons would be fine.

You do realize keyboard shortcuts are just a way of handling that physical keyboards can’t show dynamic contents or have an infinite number of keys? There is no point in emulating it. When you have a touchscreen you can, and should(!), make something better.

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