copy and paste into ichat is an image?

[greggov]

I have Office 2008 and just upgraded to OSX 10.5.2.

I have noticed that now when I copy text from Word (both using cmd-C and edit->copy) and then paste it into an iChat window, that is an image, not actual text.

I'm not sure if this is a "feature" or bug in iChat after 10.5.2, or if I inadvertantly changed a setting somewhere. When I paste the same selected text anywhere else, it is text (such as into text edit, the web, etc)

I don't think I have made any changes to any settings, but it is really irritating.

any ideas?

 

[CyberTaz]

I don't use iChat so I can't say for sure, but it is apparently being copied
as text [so it isn't happening in Word (though there isn't any way it could
happen there anyhow)] and since you can paste as text elsewhere it evidently
isn't being converted on the clipboard [so OS X is off the hook as well].
That doesn't leave too many other suspects in the line-up, does it ?

Have there been any recent updates to iChat? Have you repaired permissions
recently (I noticed 10.5.*2*)? Are there any Preferences in iChat that may
need to be reset? you might check the Apple Discussions forum:

http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa

 

[greggov]

thanks for your quick response. I did a few tests and here are my results.

reinstalled Office - same problem
deleted all iChat .plist files - same problem
repaired permissions - same problem

HOWEVER...when I'm in iChat and go to edit-> Paste and Match Style, it works as expected (as in, its selectable text, not a .jpg)

which I assume means it is an iChat problem? or an OS problem? I'm not sure.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Greg -

Like I said, I don't have any experience with iChat so I can't say for sure,
but based on everything you've posted I would tend to think it is the
culprit. I don't know if it has any Preference setting that can change how
it handles incoming pastes, but that's the first thing I'd look for. The
source app just supplies the content to be copied & the OS simply holds it
until it's called for. It's normally the responsibility of the receiving app
to interpret what's on the clipboard.

BTW - For future reference, reinstalling Office is *never* the first step
[nor the 2nd, or 3rd, or 4th...] to take in the overwhelming majority of
issues. Even if it becomes necessary to do so it does no good unless you do
a proper uninstall first using the Remove Office utility. That still doesn't
resolve most issues because the problems are typically caused by files that
aren't removed or replaced by reinstalling. Additionally, reinstalling can
compound the problem & cause others.

 

[greggov]

Yeah, I don't know why I thought that. Maybe because I thought it would replace some file if it was missing? I'll keep that in mind for next time though

Also, I read about this problem in another forum (macrumors.com) that a possible cause is that not only is the copy picking up the text, but some XML formatting, and that in order to preserve formatting, iChat makes it an image. [http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4959753#post4959753] Strange, but I suppose it also makes sense? kinda sorta?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[John McGhie]

The "copy and paste" in rich formatting applications such as Word work
slightly differently to simple applications such as SimpleText.

When you "Copy" in Word, what goes onto the clipboard is a "pointer" that
marks the area of text of interest, and a "list" of the formats Word can
supply.

The receiving application reads the list, picks from among the formats it
can import the one that preserves the most information, and requests it.

Word then makes the requested format at that point.

You will find that Apple does not consider this a bug: they would say it's a
"Feature". And Microsoft has no control over it

You might want to paste from Word into SimpleText before beginning your
iChat session

Hope this helps

Yeah, I don't know why I thought that. Maybe because I thought it would
replace some file if it was missing? I'll keep that in mind for next time
though

Also, I read about this problem in another forum (macrumors.com) that a
possible cause is that not only is the copy picking up the text, but some XML
formatting, and that in order to preserve formatting, iChat makes it an image.
[http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=4959753#post4959753] Strange,
but I suppose it also makes sense? kinda sorta?

Thanks for all your help.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50

 

[Steve]

I have seen this problem in iChat, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and other apps. Text copied from Word are pasted as an image (if the program supports images) or not pasted at all (if the app doesn't support images, like DW).

What seems to be happening is that everything copied from Word is in PDF format, whether you want it or not. This is most annoying.

In Adobe Illustrator this can happen -- but they offer a clipboard preference so that you can choose how things are copied/pasted.

Is there a way to override this new "feature" of Word 2008, and just copy the text -- as TEXT?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Steve:

Yeah, the method is a few posts higher in the thread: Use
Edit>Paste>Special...

Word puts "anything you ask for" on the clipboard. It's up to the receiving
application to request what it wants.

If the receiving application cannot handle the native format (XML) Word
offers a range of alternatives, one of which is PDF. But the item on the
clipboard is simply a "bookmark" to the text you have selected. Word 'fills
that in' with the format requested by the recipient application.

Hope this helps

I have seen this problem in iChat, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and other apps.
Text copied from Word are pasted as an image (if the program supports images)
or not pasted at all (if the app doesn't support images, like DW).

What seems to be happening is that everything copied from Word is in PDF
format, whether you want it or not. This is most annoying.

In Adobe Illustrator this can happen -- but they offer a clipboard preference
so that you can choose how things are copied/pasted.

Is there a way to override this new "feature" of Word 2008, and just copy the
text -- as TEXT?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia