Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 118607
Default paste from external source should use current document font and capable of ignoring tables and frames
Last modified: 2013-12-15 08:55:30 UTC
Guys, This is another biggie for usability. With so much of today's documents being composed with information from various web based data sources, the default copy/paste from external sources provides endless frustration when margins, indents, frames and tables are pasted by default into OO. Currently OO 3.3 is in far better shape than the LO code where the devs have really screwed to pooch in this area. Firstly, the user needs finer grain control over copy/paste defaults. One of the biggest problems when using documents from external sources is it screws up document formatting. The big offenders are tables, frames and color-codes which should NOT be copied into the OO document by default or the user should be provided with clear config options to "Exclude paste of tables and frames from external sources." The user should also have an easy override to allow the paste of tables and frames when wanted (included in Paste Special [ctrl+shift+v]). The Paste Special dialog needs to have fine grain options (e.g. a HTML behavior) in a sub-dialog with check boxes for (e.g. clicking edit or modify a selection in the Paste Special dialog): [ ] include tables and frames [ ] include page colors [ ] include indent profile [ ] etc... You must also allow the user to save new "pre-set" configs that will be available in the Paste Special dialog under the user supplied name after save so this is preserved and the user doesn't have to reset it over and over again. AOO is in fairly good shape compared to the thrashing LO has taken here, but a few simple improvements can really help document compilation in the 21st century.
Guys, Good job with 3.4, but this bug is still present. When you select text from firefox, openoffice tries to paste the source formatting from the web page into the current document.
I think the proposed improvements make sense. From the perspective of the current available functionalities of copy-and-paste of HTML content this is more an enhancement request than a defect. I think it make sense to adjust the issue type accordingly.
Please provide a real life example for the proposed enhancement.
No info from author.
Created attachment 82101 [details] Select Buffer Paste Copies html Formatting Selecting text on a web-page and then middle-mouse paste into OO should paste plain text only -- no formatting
Edwin, A real-world example of what is need can be seen simply by selecting the text of this bug report and pasting it into OO. I should have a configurable option that allows me to paste (by default) as plain text into OO write without having to go through the extra keystokes to enable paste/special on every single one of what may be 100+ paste operations. See the attachment. Simple add a checkbox to Tools -> Options -> OpenOffice.org -> General Add: Cut & Paste Operation -------------------------------------- [ ] Paste Plain Text by Default (no formatting)
To be clear, this should be the default manner of operation in Linux when using the "select buffer". That is also the easiest way to implement it. Since you have two buffers in Linux: (1) "select buffer" - filled automatically on selection of text (2) "copy buffer" - filled when ctrl+c (or copy) is selected When you select text from a web page, and use the "middle-mouse" button to paste it into OO writer, it should paste as plain-text only without any html (or other) formatting. Indention should be preserver across multiple lines (i.e. source code) The new option "[ ] Paste Plain Text by Default (no formatting)" should cause both the select and copy buffers to be pasted into OO writer as plain-text only, when checked, regardless of whether the middle-mouse or ctrl+v "paste" is used. This will eliminate/prevent the user having to: (1) press ctrl+shift+v (2) then select "Unformatted Text"; then (3) choose OK to complete the plain-text paste This will greatly enhance usability when creating collaborative documents assembled from many differing web sources. Keeping the html formatting on paste when assembling a document from many sources creates a formatting nightmare that this enhancement will completely eliminate.
Thanks for clarifying this.