Copy/Paste: Different Ways
My previous blog entry generated a lot of responses. I really enjoyed that, and surely this was a surprise: I thought most people don't care nowadays. In fact, I don't care--I just tried to explain why Linux is better for me. And it's not over yet--this time I will tell you about my copy/paste experience in Linux and Windows.
Well, everyone knows how copy and paste works: first you select something (usually text) either by mouse or using Shift+arrows, then you press Ctrl-C for copy, when you switch to another window and press Ctrl-V. This is how it works in Windows; of course you can use context menu or application menu for copying and pasting, but key combos are usually more convenient for these actions, while mouse is more handy for performing selection.
In Linux it works the very same way, with one addition: you can omit Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V! When you select something using mouse, it is copied to the clipboard "on the fly," and for paste you use that middle mouse button (on the modern mice this one is also a scroll wheel). That way, the copy-paste process is more streamlined: you select text, switch to other application, and click the middle mouse button. Two combination keystrokes in Windows--one click in Linux!
But no--it's not about two keystrokes versus a single click. This is about switching the focus of your attention between the mouse and the keyboard--using "Linux way" (actually, X Window way) you do much less such switching, which increases your productivity.
When I'm forced to work on Windows machine, I miss that "easy copy/paste" feature more than home! In fact, I copy, switch to another app, try to paste and realize that middle mouse button doesn't work. Well, then I try Ctrl-V, with no luck. Next step is to realize I haven't pressed Ctrl-C, so I return to the first application and start again, repeating to myself that it's Windows and I have to use Ctrl+C after selection. In the worst case scenario the app I "copied" from is closed...
Basically, this is just one (but not the only) reason why Windows is not ready for my desktop.
- Am I asking for too much?
- No.
- Is this feature hard to implement?
- I seriously doubt it.
- Perhaps, nobody needs that feature in Windows?
- Don't you need to increase your productivity? Come on...
- Is there a way out?
- Sure. Use Linux.
I am telling you to switch to Linux not because I am a true Linux geek. I really try to be objective here. I tried other approaches first. There is a nice program for Windows called True X-Mouse Gizmo which I tried. Yes, it works, but unfortunately I was not happy with it. The first problem is other functions of the middle mouse button (such as turning on scrolling mode) apparently no longer work.
The second problem is selection by double click (to select a word) or triple click (to select a line) doesn't initiate copying.
The third problem is it doesn't work the same as Linux--in fact, Linux has two clipboards (called "primary buffer" and "secondary buffer")--one is used for mouse copy/paste and another is for Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V. So, if you select something (say, in order to delete it) the contents of what you put in clipboard using Ctrl-C are still there intact.
I feel exactly the same about copy&paste. Yesterday I had to work a lot with windows, and that was the thing I missed most.
The second are the multiple workspaces that are provided by every decent window manager. Under windows? No way!
The Ctrl+C Ctrl+V thing works in linux too (at least in Gnome). Sometimes these two buffers do not synchronize with each other, sometime they do. It is quite annoying.
The text cut and paste is easier in linux, but the other clipboard functionality is still lagging. The whole pasting between applications, paste special, paste image as bitmap, windows metafile, embedded worksheet object, etc aren't as functional. Not that the win32 stuff works well all the time, but for moving between apps, the xwindows,gnome combination can't do that as easily. (Obviously you can always export/import to get the job done, but sometimes the clipboard is nice).
Well, I am afraid I have to oppose. I dislike the mouse selection overwriting my clipboard. Very often the way I paste is copying the new text (Ctrl+C), selecting the overwritten one using mouse, and pasting the clipboard via Ctrl+V. Seem pretty natural to me, but the mouse action overwrites the clipboard with the old text. I have not found any solution to this bugging feature.
To dustin .... just select the new text, position the mouse after the old text you want to overwrite, middle click to paste - the mouse is already in the proper place, sweep to the left and select the old text in order to remove it (most often with the backspace key).
This puts the deleted text in the selection buffer; if you want what you originally pasted instead, just sweep right and it's still there. Much less mouse movement.
I've never used C&P in Windows back in Windows 95 days, my last use of Windows. Someone in a post suggested a great way of snagging whole articles, cut the text, graphics, etc. with a sweep of the mouse, paste into OpenOffice as a text document, then export as PDF. I have a great collection of PDF documents available without having to save the adverts and other extraneous stuff.
What I discovered is this...
1) In Linux/X , when you select a text it is automatically sent into one buffer; if the text is shown selected in high color, it is in the primary buffer;
2) If you press Ctrl-C, you copy the selected text into the secondary buffer;
3) So, at that instant, both buffers are equal;
4) Select another text and you change the primary buffer; the secondary retains its previous contents, which can be retrieved with Ctrl-V;
5) Can't paste between two apps?? No problemo! Use an intermediary step: when in KDE, paste your text from app A into Kwrite and then from Kwrite to app B. KDE does a heck a job in interoperating with non-native apps; this trick has helped me a lot...
there must be a Gnome editor that works the same way.
HTH.
klipper is a great tool for kde
it keeps copy history up to 2048 entries