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When I copy text from a doc in iPad it copies a link to the clipboard instead of the actual text
I'm still fairly new to operating within the Dropbox app on my iPad. I found when I would open a text file from DB while connected to Wi-Fi it opens just fine but when I go to copy the text I find that when I paste it into another doc I'm pasting a link to the document in dropbox rather than the actual text itself, what am I doing wrong?
This is my primary question but as a follow on I'd welcome a link to a page that explains that if I'm connected to the Internet am I able to edit modify a document dynamically without having to download it to local storage.
8 Replies
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- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey @Paul D.4, thanks for posting on our Community and sorry to hear you're having issues with this.
Could you please clarify your device's exact OS version, and the version of the Dropbox app installed there?
Also, what type of doc is this and how are you copying and pasting the text exactly?
As for your second question, could you clarify what app you're using to edit the file in the first place?
Any additional information is more than welcome, Paul.
Thanks for your reply. The iPad iOS version is 17.5.1 i'm not clear how I check the version of DropBox but I probably installed it earlier this summer so it's fairly recent. I operate from two locations and a MacBook is at the HQ and the dropbox on it is sort of the master copy, then at the other location that has the iPad I'm mostly referencing what's in the dropbox but occasionally need to modify or add a file. In this case I wanted to call up a textEdit RTF document within the dropbox app on the iPad - it opens but as I posted in my original statement - when I select all and copy the text in it and then attempt to paste it into either an email or Pages document rather than get the plain text instead I'm getting a link to that text file that lives in the dropbox, which is not what I want. I just want to be able to copy and paste the text in the ordinary way
- Jay
Hi @Paul D.4, in order to understand what you're seeing, could you attach some screenshots showing this behavior on your iPad?
It's hard to represent as a screen grab because you are simply looking at a fullscreen of text and you can't plant the cursor in a way to select it. It's like trying to select text on a JPEG of text it's like a frozen block. However if I swipe left I get the following message that a RTFD file can't be previewed.
ps I took a screen grab and it lives in the screenshots on the Photos app on the iPad, but I don’t see a way of attaching it
- Jay
Thanks for the info, RTFD files are not supported for preview in the Dropbox mobile app, only RTF files, which would explain why you're not able to select and copy the text.
that’s disappointing, what’s the alternative to select the text? Download it to local storage and then open it
- Jay
You could export the file to another app on your device which supports that file type, and copy the text from there.
I hope that one day one can preview the simple text files within dropbox and copy the text without the extra step since you’re able to stare at it filling the screen. Thanks.
