4 ms·

rich text content should never be the default paste. just give me the damn text I copied

• Sayrus 2y ago
  For what it's worth, Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + V will paste the raw clipboard even if a rich format is available.
  • zie 2y ago
    I just paste through a plain text editor(i.e. paste into a plain text editor, verify and copy the bits I want, then paste it in it's intended destination). I know not ideal, but at least that way I can see and verify everything before pasting it somewhere important. I'm sure there are some hacks one can do with rich formats, that some people might try to take advantage of.
    • gwervc 2y ago
      I do that within a new browser tab url bar, since the shortcut is quite annoying to type.
      • pests 2y ago
        Sending your clipboard data to Google if you have predictive type on
    • rzzzt 2y ago
      But do you press Ctrl/Cmd + C three times or more to make sure it takes effect?
      • threecheese 2y ago
        Why are you watching me???
• eyelidlessness 2y ago
  Software (OS, browser, native apps, web apps, …) should make it easier to use plain text for both read/write clipboard operations. And probably should make it easier to prefer doing that. I know that’s a lot more words to say a similar thing, but it avoids two problems with how you put it: 1. Not everyone will share your preference. (I’d hazard a guess that it’s a minority preference, albeit one I mostly share.) 2. It’s self-contradictory. The “damn text I copied” is not just an array of characters: it often includes formatting; it frequently interpolates other content that isn’t even text at all. The latter is largely the basis for the former. You—and I, mostly!—might be after that array of characters. But many many people are after that richer content, and would be utterly baffled by copying something rich only to get that array of characters on the other side. And quite a lot of people would have little recourse to get what they want. This is why the multipart clipboard solution is a pretty good compromise. It could be better! It could definitely accommodate the preference for plain text. But it can only be better for those of us with that preference, without regressing for the much more common preference, by keeping the common preference as default.
  • taejo 2y ago
    Part of the problem is a poor (or insufficiently DWIM) implementation of rich text copy-paste. If I copy text that has some parts bolded or italicised, that is indeed "the damn text I copied". But the fact that the source website happens to be 12pt blue Verdana should not override the fact that I'm writing an email in 11pt black Arial. In many cases I do not particularly care whether an email is in 12pt blue Verdana or 11pt black Arial, I absolutely care about there suddenly being a big blue word in the middle of my otherwise-consistent paragraph. So neither "rich text" nor "plain text" are really correct: often plain text is good enough, but sometimes it's easier to correct the rich text.
    • ygra 2y ago
      It's probably a hard problem to solve generically. Word has a little popup when pasting where you can select how you want that paste to be applied: Just text, text with its original formatting, or formatted text, adjusted to the document styles. So far I've used all three, so I guess there's no answer that fits all use cases.
• dumbo-octopus 2y ago
  Sometimes I agree, but recently I was trying to copy all the contents from one Quip to another and the system was entirely unable to support pasting the same look&feel I copied. No, I don’t want my headings and links and code and lists and…… to all be given back as plain ASCII. Drove me bonkers.
• nyanpasu64 2y ago
  My problem with rich-text paste is that it transfers unwanted presentational formatting, resulting in mismatched fonts, sizes, and typography. I generally either want plain-text paste or preserving semantic elements (like bold/italic emphasis, links, and bullets). More generally, when editing a document I want to be able to view both formatted text and "escaped" contents (like "view source"), and when copy-pasting or saving text, I want to be able to convert formatted text into "escaped" text to diff, and also paste text without misinterpreting asterisks and angle brackets as formatting information (until I explicitly copy text as source and paste as formatted).
  • bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
    Copying my comment from above here because you may find it helpful: I use Obsidian for note taking, and discovered one very useful feature: if you paste formatted text, it removes everything except what can be handled in markdown (approximately, things corresponding to html tags, not to styles/CSS). You can then copy it back out as html and paste it and it will have exactly the right amount of formatting.
• bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
  I use Obsidian for note taking, and discovered one very useful feature: if you paste formatted text, it removes everything except what can be handled in markdown (approximately, things corresponding to html tags, not to styles/CSS). You can then copy it back out as html and paste it and it will have exactly the right amount of formatting.