Submission details
Can't highlight text in text clippings
The Finder has a feature called "text clippings". Essentially, highlight any text (in Safari, say) and drag it to a Finder folder or the desktop and a "text clipping" is created. This is essentially a file that is all metadata (which in itself is stupid, since it's not accessible with conventional command line tools).
These behave very differently from text files, which may or may not be viewed as a good thing, but one damning flaw: open a text clipping after it's created, and you can't highlight the text inside for further copying/pasting. What on earth were they thinking?
A quick fix is documented at MacOSXHints: http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20070308031011641 ... I don't know why this isn't standard / hasn't been altered by Apple, but it turns the text clipping into something that's actually worth using once in a while for me.
Medium
Medium
Not fixed
Discussion (4 comments)
(non OSX user) What can you actually do with it then?
Added new image attachment.
Obviously, a text clipping is meant for limited use. If you want further control, highlight the text and click the application name (Safari, say) in the menu bar, then Services>Text Edit>New Window Containing Selection. You can set this to a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard Shortcuts.
Perhaps an easier method would be to keep TextEdit in the Dock; then you could just drag the text onto the TextEdit icon.
A text clipping is treated as highlighted text. If you have it already, copy it and that text will be pasted anywhere else. It's essentially allowing you to copy multiple things for pasting later.
Fixed in Snow Leopard.
dwf wrote on August 11, 2008, 10:23am
Changed solution description.