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Firefox copy-'n-paste of html isn't consistent accross platforms

  • 3 replies
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  • 15 views
  • Last reply by sirlark

sirlark
sirlark
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Firefox 31 doesn't copy and paste consistently across platforms, and never copy and pastes perfectly on any platform. I've tried various test cases always using a fresh install of firefox or a new profile and copying from the same web page.

Case 1: copy from FF 31 (fresh install) on windows 7 (VM) -> paste to MS Word 2007 on windows (VM) 

 Pastes as a table with font formatting (bold is preserved) but no border lines or background colours come across

Case 2: copy from FF 31 (fresh install) on windows 7 (VM) -> paste to MS Word 2007 on Linux using Wine 

 Pastes as plain text with the first rows cell each on a line on their own

Case 3: copy from FF 31 (new profile) on Linux -> paste to MS Word 2007 on windows (VM) 

 Pastes as plain text with the first rows cell each on a line on their own

Case 4: copy from FF 31 (new profile) on Linux -> paste to MS Word 2007 on Linux using Wine 

 Pastes as plain text with the first rows cell each on a line on their own

I realise there are likely issues cutting and pasting between a host and a VM, and also I know there are issues with cutting and pasting to programs running via wine on Linux (http://wiki.winehq.org/CopyAndPaste), but those are more to do with acquiring buffers/selections, rather then mime-types. Still even Case 1 isn't perfect. Chrome copies everything, colours, fonts, cell borders, etc perfectly. It seems that firefox isn't offering the right mime-type(s) for Word to recognise?

I'll try it with LibreOffice, which I am installing now.

Firefox 31 doesn't copy and paste consistently across platforms, and never copy and pastes perfectly on any platform. I've tried various test cases always using a fresh install of firefox or a new profile and copying from the same web page. Case 1: copy from FF 31 (fresh install) on windows 7 (VM) -> paste to MS Word 2007 on windows (VM) Pastes as a table with font formatting (bold is preserved) but no border lines or background colours come across Case 2: copy from FF 31 (fresh install) on windows 7 (VM) -> paste to MS Word 2007 on Linux using Wine Pastes as plain text with the first rows cell each on a line on their own Case 3: copy from FF 31 (new profile) on Linux -> paste to MS Word 2007 on windows (VM) Pastes as plain text with the first rows cell each on a line on their own Case 4: copy from FF 31 (new profile) on Linux -> paste to MS Word 2007 on Linux using Wine Pastes as plain text with the first rows cell each on a line on their own I realise there are likely issues cutting and pasting between a host and a VM, and also I know there are issues with cutting and pasting to programs running via wine on Linux (http://wiki.winehq.org/CopyAndPaste), but those are more to do with acquiring buffers/selections, rather then mime-types. Still even Case 1 isn't perfect. Chrome copies everything, colours, fonts, cell borders, etc perfectly. It seems that firefox isn't offering the right mime-type(s) for Word to recognise? I'll try it with LibreOffice, which I am installing now.

All Replies (3)

sirlark
sirlark Question owner
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Hi, I just tried with LibreOffice on Linux, copying from FF 31 on the same OS, and it pastes similarly to Case 1, i.e it pastes as a table with font formatting (bold is preserved) but the font-face is not preserved, border lines are lost and no background colours come across.

So clearly FF is providing the right mime-type(s) but isn't actually conveying all the styling information.

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Firefox won't copy style rules that are applied from a style sheet to the clipboard. You only get inline style rules that were added via the style="" attribute.

sirlark
sirlark Question owner
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Thanks for the response, but I'm getting some styling (and it's all in CSS). For example the bolded text is specified in CSS, unless it's coming through purely because <th> tags are bold by default in Firefox.