* Copying and pasting incomplete

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KMTV
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Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

When trying to copy and paste text into Ancestral Sources, in the first instance from Open Office (Mac), the content that is pasted is missing any text on a line after a tab. It also renders a return where there was previously not one.

The same content is rendered correctly by other Windows applications, including Family Historian, and repeating the operation using FH as the source results in the same outcome.

Ancestral Sources will, however, allow the same text including tabs to be entered manually.

How can this issue be overcome?
N.B. I'm not actually a user of any kind of genealogical software!
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NickWalker
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

Which version of Ancestral Sources are you using - if it isn't the latest v7.2.7, please can you download the from here: https://fhug.org.uk/kb/link/ancestral-sources/ and see if it fixes it?
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KMTV
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

Hi Nick,

I just checked and it is 7.2.7
N.B. I'm not actually a user of any kind of genealogical software!
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

I'll take a look when I get home later to see if I can reproduce this issue.
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

I can't repeat this issue. If, for example, I start a new document in Word and type abc, then a tab, then xyz and copy and paste those 7 characters (ABC TAB XYZ) into the source text in AS it looks correct. It also looks correct if I type these same 7 characters into a Family Historian note box and then copy and paste from there.

Does that paste incorrectly for you?
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KMTV
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

Hi Nick,

This morning we've tried your suggestion. Please note the following screenshots.

Original text on Open Office (Mac)
Original text on Open Office (Mac)
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 09.43.28.png (5.6 KiB) Viewed 5137 times
This was the original text as suggested, in Open Office on the Mac host machine. Invisible characters turned on for clarity.

Copy and pasting the above into Ancestral Sources on the Windows Virtual Machine results in this :
Text as copied to Ancestral Sources
Text as copied to Ancestral Sources
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 09.45.08.png (7.21 KiB) Viewed 5137 times
Once again, the text following a tab has not been copied and an extraneous carriage return has been inserted

Repeating the operation but pasting to Family Historian on the same Virtual Machine results in this :
Text as copied to Family Historian
Text as copied to Family Historian
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 09.51.24.png (7.01 KiB) Viewed 5137 times
...which is correct (save for another extraneous carriage return)

Copying and pasting from Family Historian to Ancestral Sources has the same effect as going from Open Office and as both applications are running on the Windows virtual machine we can eliminate any idea that crossing operating systems are affecting the process in this case.
N.B. I'm not actually a user of any kind of genealogical software!
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

In Ancestral Sources if you click the blue Text link next to the source text are you getting the 'rich text' editing window (with toolbar showing font options, styles buttons, etc.) or the 'plain text' window (with no toolbar)?
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KMTV
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

It doesn't seem to make any difference whichever one is selected.
The Rich Text Window
The Rich Text Window
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 11.22.37.png (25.5 KiB) Viewed 5120 times
The Plain Text Window
The Plain Text Window
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 11.23.12.png (16.15 KiB) Viewed 5120 times
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by tatewise »

If you complete the process and Save to FH then review the GEDCOM file contents I wonder what 'magic' characters appear in that position.
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

are you suggesting that despite appearances, attempting to enter the data will result in the text being rendered correctly on the completed record?
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

They are both rich text (the one on the main screen is the same, it just doesn't show the toolbar) so that confirms you're using rich-text (which is the default if you have FH v7) which is what I used too when I tested it last night. I really don't know what to suggest at this point. If I type in those 7 characters in to FH and copy and paste them into AS (v7.2.7) it works perfectly. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if there were some problems because I fixed a number of issues with the way rich-text worked since v7.2.1 which is why I checked the version you were using was the latest. There could still be some glitches to fix but the fact that I'm not seeing those problems makes it difficult for me to resolve your issue!
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KMTV
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

I don't know if it would make a difference if you were to try the original text that was being used?

That said, the same issue is appearing regardless of content. If it has a tab in it, it fails.
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by tatewise »

I was trying to discover exactly what character codes are involved in the copy & paste so that Nick can investigate.
However, I have been able to repeat your symptoms in such a way that I suspect Nick will be able to repeat them too.
The symptoms are the same for both OpenOffice Writer and MS Office Word and also FH Note text.

Enter abc tab xyz as described earlier in either Writer or Word or FH and use Ctrl+C or right-click Copy.

In AS v7.2.4 in the Text Auto box (not the popup Text entry window) use Ctrl+V or right-click Paste.
Only the abc and a new line is inserted.
If however right-click Paste unformatted text is used the entire abc tab xyz is inserted.

If the AS popup Text entry window is opened with W-P toolbar then Ctrl+V also only inserts abc and a new line.
Right-click does not offer a Paste option and Paste unformatted text inserts the entire abc tab xyz

In FH it does not matter whether you use a Note box or a Rich Text window.
Ctrl+V and right-click Paste and right-click Paste unformatted text all insert the entire abc tab xyz
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

All I did was go into Family Historian, open up a note box and type in abc{tab}xyz (i.e. pressed 7 keys including the tab) and then highlighted it copied (using ctrl+C although I can't imagine that makes a difference) and then pasted into the AS text box (using ctrl+V).

I've just seen Mike's reply. As I said, earlier versions of AS v7.2 did have issues like this and I did make a lot of changes so I wouldn't necessarily be surprised for you to see this error in v7.2.4 (I'm at work so can't remember exactly what changes were in that). I did exactly what you describe Mike last night using 7.2.7 and it pasted in correctly.

Edit: Yes I've just checked and the fix for all these rich text issues was in v7.2.6 so I would expect the problem you're seeing Mike in 7.2.4 but not in 7.2.7.
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by tatewise »

I can confirm that upgrading to AS v7.2.7 64-bit cures the problem in Windows 10 at least.

It may be that OpenOffice Writer on a Mac host machine uses some novel representation for {tab} characters, although that seems unlikely. So the symptoms reported by KMTV are a mystery.
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

Well yes and that's why I took Open Office out of the equation and asked for them to copy and paste from Family Historian. It 'feels' as if they're not using v7.2.7 but they said they were when I asked yesterday.
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KMTV
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

I can confirm that to the best of my knowledge, it's only Ancestral Sources that is displaying this issue. If it was something to do with either Open office or Mac, it wouldn't work with Family Historian - which it does. The Virtual Machine (Parallels) is using Windows 10, which I believe it would have to do in order to run this particular software. It would be better if it was not necessary to run windows at all, but it is what it is.

I will see if I can get absolute confirmation about the version number when I next access the relevant computer, but I am quite sure it is v7.2.7
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by tatewise »

To check the AS version use the Help > About Ancestral Sources... command.
It is also stated in the main AS window border top left.
It may also appear in the opening splash screen but perhaps you have disabled that.

It is not strictly necessary to run Windows, as you can run FH in Crossover or WINE which is free.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by KMTV »

There's a famous saying about Assumptions...

The short version of this is that I was mistaken as to which version was in fact being used. Having now updated to 7.2.7, the copy and paste function is now working as expected.

Now the long version.

2 Things that may be helpful to know about me.

1. as per the signature, I don't use these applications. I don't do any genealogy at all, in fact. I merely attempt to assist when these various applications do not work as they should - which is a frequent occurrence.
2. as it happens, I also have dyscalculia. You try reading a number when it's constantly changing. In this instance, what I thought was 7.2.7 was in fact 7.2.4

My assumption was that it was the latest version of AS. An assumption that was confirmed as one of the first things I checked was whether or not it could be upgraded and got the following:
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 13.46.09.png
Screen Shot 2021-04-22 at 13.46.09.png (117 KiB) Viewed 5040 times
Note please the top bar of the application window. Not sure what this is called on Windows.

That, and the aforementioned misreading led me to believe that it was a later version than it was, resulting in the best part of two days wasted trying to solve an issue that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place.

Anyway, thanks for your help in trying to get this fixed. Now that 7.2.7 is in place, it seems to be working fine for now.

Crossover may be a consideration if and when the computer in use (a late 2008 iMac) is replaced, provided it works with the new ARM chipsets.
N.B. I'm not actually a user of any kind of genealogical software!
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Re: Copying and pasting incomplete

Post by NickWalker »

Ah that's a relief - I released 7.2.7 a few days ago but wanted to just check there weren't any 'show stopper' errors reported before I activated the update notification across all the hundreds of current users.

All the best

Nick
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