Useful tip...
Tue, 2003-10-21 14:25
#1
Useful tip...
I have discovered a neat web text copying trick that I bet someone, somewhere out there didn't know and would appreciate...
If you've ever tried to copy a chunk of web text or even a whole page from the web and paste it into a Word file you might have been frustrated by the fact that you often pick up a load of garbage as well, and may lose some of the formatting (carriage returns, stuff like that)...
Well here's a way to just pick up the text with the correct formatting and no garbage...I find it saves me loads of time and hassle...
What you do is copy the text from the web in the usual way (ie highlight the section you want to copy, right click on the mouse and then click on 'copy')....
Then go to your Word document and do the following:
1. say the words 'don’t let me down now Goat' (this is optional)
2. click on the 'Edit' option (top of screen, second from left)
3. from the menu that drops down select 'Paste Special'
4. a box will now appear on screen offering you one or more options
5. click on the 'Unformatted text' option
6. then click on the OK button (top right of box)
Your text will appear without any other rubbish...
This has been a Goat tip...
Goat hopes it has been of value and that in some small way it will have lightened your load....
Jay
Rachel I think my mouse and yours must be twins.
thanks for your words the other day not been to good at all of late but I'm
sure I will get over it, nice to know you are happy as that is what life is
suposed to be all about...
Jay
What is a wheel all about which was quoted above is that also something
to do with computers?...
d.beswetherick
A wheel is a thing on the side of some mouses, and if you roll it the screen scrolls, magnifies, and does other useful tricks. I haven't got a wheel on my normal mouse, but I've got a drawing mouse that works on my Wacom tablet. It gives me thumb strain, though, so I'm not fussed.
d.beswetherick
Just tried it. Hey, thanks, Goat, that's brilliant. In the past, if I copied, say, a post from these boards (I copied the secret agents' posts, for example), I downloaded a chunk of pinkness into the bargain. The way I got round it was to copy and save a second time into RTF, but this is much quicker.
While we're on about things like that, I found out the other day that I could paste into Word by banging the Insert key. One touch and bsoomph.
Cheers.
Goat biscuit Jnr
Thanks DB...
Yes, I've only recently discovered that myself...it's great for copying whole web pages and dropping them straight into power point presentations...
what I like to do is first maximise the web page size by hitting the F11 key...this minimises the amount of junk you copy across (ie browser toolbars etc) with the web page...
if anyone else has any useful time-saving web/PC tips I am sure there are a lot of people out there who would like to know them....
Goat biscuit Jnr
Sorry DB I got that totally wrong, I didn't know that Insert Key tip....
I was looking at the wrong key...the key I use to copy web pages is the 'Print Screen' key...one tap of that and you copy an entire web page, which you can then paste anywhere in the usual way (mouse right button, 'paste')...
I'm off now to try your 'insert' tip....
Goat biscuit Jnr
I'm back...
must be doing something wrong...I copied some text in the usual way (mouse right click etc), then pressed the Insert Key and nothing happened...perhaps it only works on some systems....
justyn_thyme
I've been using that unformatted text bit for a long time. It helps in many instances, not just with web pages. Even simply copying from one document to the next, it can help to paste as unformatted text and then create your own formatting. No telling what kind of nasty formatting you can pick up from someone else's document. You never know where it's been.
Liana
i like this one.. if text on a website is too small, hold down the crtl and alt key, and scroll the wheel on your mouse.. it zooms bigger and smaller.
wheeee...
d.beswetherick
Goat, I didn't mean that it does it with web pages. Just that it's a one-touch way of pasting any old go-to-hell thing on Word. Not very world-shattering, I know.
Actually my really favourite thing on Word is making the page go all different colours. I do about eight drafts of a story, and I do each one on a different-coloured background now. The words mean something different each time; so when I've finished a story I've got different layers of meaning under the black-and-white surface. (The blue meaning, the mustard meaning, the salmon meaning, the red meaning, and the green meaning etc.) Even after you've cancelled the colours, the tang of them hangs on the text.
d.beswetherick.
faithless
goat i knew about that ages ago. tell me something new. it's a shame, because normally you are really entertaining, insightful and innovative and stuff. but this time it was really drab, really mundane. really moribund. really quite tame. tepid.
Goat biscuit Jnr
sorry Faithless...
although I can see you're trying to put a nice spin on it, what I'm picking up in the subtext is that I've let you down big time...
OK you want something interesting, I'll tell you something interesting, d.beswetherick didn't complain, d.beswetherick loved it and he's a well-respected kind of renaissance man...that's the kind of reader I'm writing for...iconic, zeitgeisty, bi-testicled...and he supports Reading...
d.beswetherick
Yes, but I'm also quite thick at computers, and so almost anything anyone tells me about them is a divine revelation. But, yes, "Feed the Goat!" as we biscuitmen cry.
d.beswetherick.
pais
Yeah I like this tip. I am copying it down to try later (tomorrow). Ta biscuit-man.
*scurries off to read other threads, head down to avoid any sneers from puter fanatics*
Jay
Goat I'm with you on this one as like DB I need all the help and tips I can
get >>>>>>>great!!! stuff thanks for starting the thread and anything
any time would be very!! handy especially the way you worded it, others
tend to forget we are not all computer wise so a little help in that
direction will always be welcome and the more I read your threads the
more I wish we had hundreds on here like you more power to your
elbow...
justyn_thyme
Actually, if you are using IE, go to the 'view' tap at the top, and on the dropdown menu you will find 'text size.' This allows you to increase/decrease the text size displayed in the browser.
(Had me going there for a little while Liana! At first nothing happened, then when I opened my browser this morning, it was giant sized text. That's when I found the place to fix it.)
Pandora Hemmett
yes i know Jt, but the scroll thing is fast... if something on a page is teeny and you want to look at it and then zoom it back again to normal size again after, the wheel is the best...
Liana
ooh i forgot about the pandora thing.. ha.
justyn_thyme
...appropriate, though...LOL
Goat biscuit Jnr
Jay, you are much too kind...but your words are very encouraging for me...
I have read on another thread that you had been considering leaving the forum...this would be a big shame...I am sure I am right in saying you are one of the most respected members of this group and bring a very charming and distinctive voice to the proceeedings that would be greatly missed....
Rachel
I don't have a rolly thing on my mouse :0(
It's so old it should have ears.
spag
I agree. Jay is wonderful.
Jay
Thanks to both Goat and Spag but I only ever say what I feel and mean
also if I find I have been wrong then I will apologize as that is only fair.
Their are quite!! a few on here I feel and have, and would say the words
I said to Goat but think by now they know who they are and Goat is fairly
new sometimes wish we could all make up a team of our own but that is!!
just wishful thinking and of cause wouldn't suit everyone but do so hate
not knowing half the time who I am talking to and most of all, all the
arguments half of them for no reason...