Any easier way to copy& paste text?

[Missmouse3]

On my old PC, if I wanted to copy & paste a line of text, it is such a simple operation but on ipad it's almost impossible! Is there some easier way?
I, also constantly getting a blued out are with 6 blue dots over paragraphs- what's that all about?

 

[Mickey330]

That blued out area is your copy field; the dots are so you can adjust the size of the box to include everything you want to copy. Once you have everything you want to copy highlighted by that blue square, you should get a pop-up that include a Copy button. Press the button and your selected text has been copied for pasting elsewhere.

Hope that clarifies.

Marilyn

 

[twerppoet]

Go here and read the Select Words or Paragraphs: and Copy and paste text sections for how things generally work in an editable text field.

http://help.apple.com/pages/ipad/1.6.1/#tan7248aac9

Not mentioned is the ability to tap and hold in the text until a magnifying glass appears. This allows you more precision in placing a cursor. When you release you'll get a Select and Select All option. The first selects the nearest word, which you can then expand using the drag handles (blue dots).

Open the Notes app, or any other text editing app you have hand, and play around with how things work. You'll get the hand of it more quickly than you think.

Other apps may or may not support text selection and copy. If it does work, the same gestures usually apply, but may have different outcomes; such as only being able to select entire lines or paragraphs. Safari is notorious for this, mostly because of the many different ways to display text on a website.

Go to a few sites in Safari and tap tap around using the same gestures, and see how they work.

One tip. If you can't select a picture, try selecting some text near it then dragging the selection handles to include the picture. On the pasting side, pictures will only paste into apps that support the feature. Not all, even the ones that can import picture, will do this.

Good luck.

 

[Missmouse3]

But you cannot adjust te are using thes dots because they just jump back to their original size - which in itself is a mystery as who decided where thay should appear I first place?

 

[Mojosodope]

But you cannot adjust te are using thes dots because they just jump back to their original size - which in itself is a mystery as who decided where thay should appear I first place?

You can adjust them

 

[Missmouse3]

Not on my ipad!

 

[AQ_OC]

The copy function is a bit weird. If it won't let you select just a word and then adjust you just have to move on to another method of accomplishing the task. One has to apply a little finesse and a little smarts.

 

[twerppoet]

But you cannot adjust te are using thes dots because they just jump back to their original size - which in itself is a mystery as who decided where thay should appear I first place?

As I said, depending on what app you are using, selecting may not offer fine control. If you can only select paragraphs (common in Safari) any attempt to select less than a paragraph or include a partial paragraph will bounce to whatever is closest; either one less or one more paragraph.

When faced with this, and not wanting to paste the whole thing into the destination app, I'll use Notes as a clipboard. I'll paste the larger selection in Notes, then select the smaller amount of text I want from there. You can even make a few quick changes before the copy, if needed.

If this still isn't what is going on, we'll need more details. What app you are using, and if relevant, what website you are accessing. With luck someone else will have the same app/whatever and can try to duplicate your problem.

 

[iJamesH]

C&P is one of the biggest pain in the neck things about the iPad. A lot of times I can't get the blue dots to go over what I want myself.

Sometimes by enlarging the screen somewhat I can get the text that I want but still a pain in the wazoo.

 

[skimonkey]

On my old PC, if I wanted to copy & paste a line of text, it is such a simple operation but on ipad it's almost impossible! Is there some easier way?
I, also constantly getting a blued out are with 6 blue dots over paragraphs- what's that all about?

Please refrain from duplicating threads. You have already created one which people have answered to and another which has been deleted by another Moderating Staff.

http://www.ipadforums.net/ipad-help/99550-any-easier-way-copy-paste-text.html, please use this for your continued questions.

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