Facebook Copy and Scroll Issues

[maineiac13]

I have been using a PC with IE9 and now have purchased an iPad 2 and am using Safari. Two issues have immediately arisen.

If I have a post on Facebook that may say 10 people like it. I then tap on the "10" and it brings up a box which overlays the facebook page. This box shows about 5 or 6 names. In IE9 (on a PC) if there were more than 5-6 names there would be a scroll bar...however here there is no scroll bar to see the remaining names. Ideally, I should just be able to use my fingers to scroll within that box and the remaining names would scroll up. Instead, when I try that, the entire Facebook page scrolls up...not the names in the box...so it is impossible to see the remaining names. Any ideas how to scroll through the box and not the page?

The second issue deals with trying to copy and paste the actual names into a facebook post. In the past, all I had to do was use my mouse to highlight the names and then I could paste them into a message....this is particularly useful when some people's names may be in chinese or korean characters for example. However, when I try to do that now (i.e. using iPad 2), instead of copying the name, it copies the link (since the name is actually a link)....so is there anyway to get iPad to copy the name rather than the link information?

Thanks for any help out there.

 

[twerppoet]

To scroll in a window or side bar in Safari, use two fingers instead of one to drag them up or down. It can take a bit of practice.

To highlight and select text in Safari. Tap and hold on the text you want to select. A popup menu should appear. Choose Select to highlight the current word. Drag the handles on the highlighted text to add additional text. When done choose copy.

To past the text tap the text entry box once to get the cursor to appear. Tap and hold for the popup menu, and choose Paste.

 

[maineiac13]

Thanks for your help. The use of two fingers to scroll within a window solves the scrolling problem. However, the copy and paste problem I raised still is not solved.

I may not have been entirely clear on the problem......... So here goes. In this specific example (i.e. using Facebook), a person's name is shown...but that "name" is also a link to their facebook page. What I want to be able to do (just as I could do on my PC) is to copy the "name"....not the link.

Using Ipad, if I tap and hold the "name" a popup menu appears. This menu gives you 3 options. One is "Open" , the second is "Open in New Page" and the third is "Copy". Obviously in that context, Ipad is "thinking" that what I want to do relates to the underlying link, not to the actual text. If I choose "Copy" and then try to paste what I have copied into a text field, I end up pasting the link rather than the name.

So what I wonder is there anyway to copy and paste text in iPad when that text represents not only the specific words of the text but also an underlying url link?

 

[twerppoet]

Instead of tapping and holding on the name itself, tap and hold on the text near the name. The entire box gets selected, but you can drag the handles until only the name is. I experimented with this. Only the text (name) gets copied and pasted.

 

[maineiac13]

Thanks...I noticed that...but that will only work if you are in a comment box. If you have clicked on the "10 people liked this" link then a window opens up with only the names of those people....not a comment box....so there is no other text which can be "tapped and held".

By the way...your note about the fact that in a comment box the entire box is selected also creates another issue. If you just want to select a single word in a comment box, you can not easily do that because as you point out once you select one word in the box the entire box is highlighted and then you have to drag the handles to reduce what you want to be selected....and at least for me when I try to do this it seems that even though I pull the handles....very often the selected portion switches back to the entire comment box when I let go of the handles.

 

[twerppoet]

I suppose it is trying to be helpful. When copying text from a web page Apple probably figures you are more likely to want entire articles, or at least paragraphs, so it does that by default. If you are selecting editable text it acts more as expected.

I did a little experimenting.

To copy names from the like list, Tap then Tap and Hold in the box, but bellow the list of names. This must be done a the usual double click speed. The entire box will be selected. Like before you can use the handles to select one name. Alternatively you can copy the entire box, switch to the Notes app and paste in a new note. Only the text that was in the box is pasted, so you now have a list of the names (and a little extra text) that you can copy individually, or do just about anything else you want with.

A little practice using the Multi-Task bar to switch between apps, and this is almost easy.

 

[maineiac13]

I may have found an even easier way to do it.

First, after opening the window with the 10 likes....be sure that the one you want to copy is scrolled so it is visible.

Then tap and hold on the phrase "People Who Like This" at the top of the window. This will bring up the blue "copy" box which should cover only that portion of the window which includes the phrase "People Who Like This". Then, without lifting your finger, start to pull your finger down into the window and the blue copy box should be pulled one name at a time through the box. Once you get to the name that you want, then you can click copy and you will be able to paste this into a text field.

This moving of the blue "copy" box seems to work throughout Facebook...from one comment box to another...and I presume works with other applications as well....the key apparently is to not lift your finger from the blue box once it has appeared.

 

[twerppoet]

That's cool. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Yose]

Facebook copy &past

I can not copy and paste in Facebook. I tried tapping does not work, I tried holding own on a word does not work?

 

[twerppoet]

I can not copy and paste in Facebook. I tried tapping does not work, I tried holding own on a word does not work?

We were talking about copy&paste in Safari, while visiting the FaceBook site. This is still possible.

While there were some third party apps, I don't believe FaceBook had an official iPad app when this thread was started. To the best of my knowledge the official app has never allowed copy and paste. Third party apps varied in what they could do.

 

[spicysoni]

I may have found an even easier way to do it.

First, after opening the window with the 10 likes....be sure that the one you want to copy is scrolled so it is visible.

Then tap and hold on the phrase "People Who Like This" at the top of the window. This will bring up the blue "copy" box which should cover only that portion of the window which includes the phrase "People Who Like This". Then, without lifting your finger, start to pull your finger down into the window and the blue copy box should be pulled one name at a time through the box. Once you get to the name that you want, then you can click copy and you will be able to paste this into a text field.

This moving of the blue "copy" box seems to work throughout Facebook...from one comment box to another...and I presume works with other applications as well....the key apparently is to not lift your finger from the blue box once it has appeared.

Thank you, that worked through safari.