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firefox does not copy text formatting

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when copying in firefox and pasting in an outlook 2013 html mail, formatting is lost. same works as expected on google chrome. using version 26.0 of firefox, almost any version of chrome.

for example: site address - login.ccccloud.com copying the line at the bottom of the page (copyright info) in chrome and pasting keeps the gray background as well as the font. copying from firefox and pasting results in the backgroung being dropped, and the text turns in to a blue link formatting.

image containing example can be found at http://screencast.com/t/Srfwpe6z i have also included internet explorer 9. even it does a better job in this case then firefox.

i have also verified same behavior with firefox running in safe mode, without any installed extension. (same for chrome)

when copying in firefox and pasting in an outlook 2013 html mail, formatting is lost. same works as expected on google chrome. using version 26.0 of firefox, almost any version of chrome. for example: site address - login.ccccloud.com copying the line at the bottom of the page (copyright info) in chrome and pasting keeps the gray background as well as the font. copying from firefox and pasting results in the backgroung being dropped, and the text turns in to a blue link formatting. image containing example can be found at http://screencast.com/t/Srfwpe6z i have also included internet explorer 9. even it does a better job in this case then firefox. i have also verified same behavior with firefox running in safe mode, without any installed extension. (same for chrome)

All Replies (6)

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what happens is the copy not only copies the text, but its format as well. After you have done all of the pasting to your message / document, <Control> A it, then reformat the whole thing.

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<Control> A it, then reformat the whole thing.

i gave an example with one line of text, but sometimes the copied text contains various formats. this solution is basically: copy as text, then apply formatting as needed. as can be seen from example - this functionality is present in google chrome, and even to some extent in IE.

but i don't want to use google chrome, they are evil ;)

Modified by amirtal2000

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I am not understanding, what is it you don't like about the copy?

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I've never seen Firefox preserving CSS rules unless they are embedded in the page source as style="" type attributes.
When style rules comes from a css file then they are lost when you copy and paste text.

Google Chrome adds this style attribute to the link that includes some of the formatting for text, but not every style rule (i.e. text-shadow is missing: text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #fff;):

<a href="http://www.parallels.com/" style="color: rgb(148, 148, 148); text-decoration: none; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 13px; orphans: auto; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);">© 1999-2013, Parallels. All rights reserved.</a>

Firefox doesn't do this.

<a href="http://www.parallels.com">© 1999-2013, Parallels. All rights reserved.</a>

I can't remember if I have seen bugs mentioned about this in the past, but I wouldn't be surprised if there hasn't been any work on this as this is probably considered low priority.
I don't know if there is an extension that would allow to include the style rules for a text selection when you copy this text to the clipboard.

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so apparently this issue exists since 2006: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=467987

any chance of a fix someday?

 :(

Modified by amirtal2000

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"I don't know if there is an extension that would allow to include the style rules for a text selection when you copy this text to the clipboard. "

chrome does this. opera does this. safari does this. even IE does this.

why is this not supported in firefox? did firefox developers decide this is not needed? (in contrast with every other web browser in existence?)

there are many extensions to allow copy as clear text without formatting, but non to allow copy WITH formatting ?