Selecting text in clippings actually works (kinda)

Mikuro

Mikuro

Crotchety UI Nitpicker
I use text clippings all the time, and it's always bothered me that I can't select a portion of them to copy. Well, turns out I can! There's just no way to SEE it.

Try it: drag over some text, copy it, and paste it somewhere. It works, even though there's no visual feedback of the selection in the clipping. Select All in the Edit menu works, too.

Is this new in 10.4.3? Even though it's a "hidden" feature, I'm surprised I never noticed it before.

I wonder how this feature/bug (depending on how you look at it :) ) came to be. Strange.

I just stumbled onto this a second ago and thought I'd share it. Hopefully someone else will find it as useful as I do.

Now if only there were some way to EDIT them in the Finder....
 
It sure does work -- how strange!

Text Clippings are what are generated when you highlight a section of text in some application, then drag it to the desktop. You then have a "text clipping" of the selected text on your desktop (looks like any other file) which you can double-click and view.
 
You can also drag text clippings from the Finder into any text field in any program. It's incredibly useful. I often make text clippings when I'm writing a post on a forum and want to save it before I post it. Just select all and drag it to the desktop. It's automatically named based on its contents.

There are all kinds of clippings. Text, pictures, sounds, movies — basically, anything that can be copied can in theory be put in a clipping. But these days there are very, very few programs that make clippings, so they're really just used for text.

Clippings were introduced in System 7.5.
 
...remember this?

For some good, old-fashion easter egg fun in Mac OS 7.5, type "secret about box" (no quotes) in NotePad, highlight, and drag to the desktop.

I loved easter eggs... seems I remember hearing that Apple doesn't permit or encourage employees to do this much anymore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top