Bug: Can't copy from notes

Nil
Nil
Community Member
edited April 2023 in 1Password 3 – 7 for Mac

Hi,

I noticed that you can't copy text from notes. This applies to both "Secure Notes" and the notes section in any other element.

When you make the selection it appears gray and not blue.

Thanks, Kim


1Password Version: Not Provided
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Not Provided
Sync Type: Not Provided

Comments

  • @ Nil

    Thanks for reporting this. Its a known issue that didn't make the cut for the first batch of betas, but its definitely on the radar.

    Rudy

    ref: apple-103

  • slwphoto
    slwphoto
    Community Member

    Unless I 'Edit' a secure note, I am unable to copy (CMD+C) text displayed in a secure note.


    1Password Version: 7.0.BETA-4
    Extension Version: Not Provided
    OS Version: OS X 10.13.3
    Sync Type: Dropbox

  • Stephen_C
    Stephen_C
    Community Member

    That is a known issue, acknowledged by AgileBits: see this thread (just to link the reports).

    Stephen

  • Thomas_U
    Thomas_U
    Community Member

    Copy/Paste still works when you use the context-menu (control-click or right-click).

  • Hi @Nil ,

    FYI, if you select the text in the note (and it appears in grey), you can control-click (or two-finger click) and Copy from the context menu that appears.

    Cheers,
    Kevin

  • Thanks for the help, Thomas_U.

    @slwphoto we are aware of the issue and will be fixing it as soon as we can.

    Cheers,
    Kevin

  • ferebee
    ferebee
    Community Member

    I find that I can’t search within the contents of Secure Notes unless I Edit them—perhaps this is related. Whether I search with the menu commands or with ⌘-F or ⌥-⌘-F, 1Password always highlights the search field in the main window. Only in edit mode can I get the separate search window to appear.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @ferebee - This isn't a function of the new 1Password 7 for Mac beta; it's always been like this (at least, for all of version 6 and even 5, and I'm not sure how much earlier -- possibly always). If you use the search bar for a bit of text you KNOW is contained in a certain secure note, it will return that result (along with others, depending on what you searched for and how prevalently you use those terms). Not sure if that's of help to you. But if you've got (for example) a very long secure note and you want to search within it for something you know is there but don't want to hunt for manually, then yes -- you'll need to enter Edit mode to be able to search within that particular record in Details View.

  • ferebee
    ferebee
    Community Member

    No, that’s incorrect.

    In 1Password 6.8.8, if I’m viewing a long Secure Note, I can simply click on the text of the note, type ⌘-F, and it will bring up the separate Search window that lets me search within the contents of the Secure Note, without entering Edit mode.

    That’s why I suspect this regression is related to the issue that currently prevents copying selected text from a Secure Note with ⌘-C unless we enter Edit mode.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @ferebee - huh, you're right. Sorry for the error. I literally never search like that, because I just don't have Secure Notes that are that lengthy in either my personal or work life.

    The reason things aren't working in 1Password 7 for Mac beta the way they did in this regard in 1Password 6 for Mac has to do with adding support for one of our most-requested features in 1Password for, well, ever: formatted text in Secure Notes and notes fields in other record-types. To implement the new support for Markdown in Secure Notes, we had to switch to rendering them (even for local, standalone vaults) in webview, essentially converting it to HTML, which allows for all the fancy bolds and italics and strikethroughs possible with Markdown, but not with plain text.

    That search window you're noticing - which pops up outside of the main 1Password window - is not something we did; it's part of macOS, and available to any application using regular text fields (as previous versions of 1Password did/do). But that type of search doesn't work in webView, and so it won't work in 1Password 7 for Mac.

  • ferebee
    ferebee
    Community Member

    Ah, that makes sense, thanks for the explanation. It also explains the performance problem I was seeing when trying to view Secure Notes. :-P
    I’m sure you realize that it’s very important to many of us that we can copy selected text out of a Secure Note (with ⌘-C, please) without entering Edit mode, and I understand that’s a planned feature.
    I’d just like to add that being able to search the text of long Secure Notes without entering Edit mode is equally important to me. I support many small clients, and keep a few Secure Notes for each client, full of all sorts of detailed information, and often I need to find specific bits of information quickly.
    For the moment, I can certainly use the workaround of entering Edit mode to search, but I do hope this regression gets fixed for release. I can see this being a deal-breaker over the longer term.

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @ferebee - I don't know that I can say this will be fixed, because we're certainly not going to abandon Markdown and revert to plaintext for Secure Notes and notes fields in general. I honestly don't know whether a suitable way can be found to keep the Markdown improvements we've made and also recapture that ability to use macOS's search feature within a Secure Note. I'll certainly mention it to the dev team, but I want to make sure I don't make it sound as if we'll definitely be able to do this. We'll see what can be done, however!

  • Docproc
    Docproc
    Community Member

    In Version 7.0.BETA-6 (70000006) I am unable to copy text from, say, a Secure Note to the clipboard.

    The Edit -> Copy option is greyed out, and if I highlight the text and press Cmd-C I get the OS X bell(?) sound.

    Copying from, say, a Login using the Copy button that appears beside username/password fields works OK.

    I'm assuming that copying to the clipboard from a Secure Note should work, it's been a common part of my workflow in 1Password for years.

    Glenn.


    1Password Version: 7.0.BETA-6 (70000006)
    Extension Version: 4.7.0.90
    OS Version: OS X 10.13.4
    Sync Type: 1Password.com

  • Stephen_C
    Stephen_C
    Community Member

    There is more than one thread about this bug: start here and follow the links! (A work around is also suggested.)

    Stephen

  • Docproc
    Docproc
    Community Member

    Thanks - I did search before I posted but obviously not well enough!

  • Merged. Thanks for the assist @Stephen_C, and for helping us test @Docproc.

    Ben

  • And another merge. :)

    Ben

  • Thomas_U
    Thomas_U
    Community Member
    edited April 2018

    @Stephen_C:
    your "start here" link leads to a "discussion not found" message.

    @Ben:
    merged where?

    kind regards

    Thomas_U

  • Stephen_C
    Stephen_C
    Community Member

    @Thomas_U sorry about that: the link got lost when the threads were merged! I meant this post (now in this thread).

    Stephen

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @Stephen_C - thanks for your tireless follow-up on pointing folks to existing threads instead for certain already-discussed issues. :)

  • Jeffrey_Friedl
    Jeffrey_Friedl
    Community Member

    It's been four months and a few app updates since the "didn't make the cut" comment. Will this bug be fixed?
    As with many others here, it's a common part of my workflow to copy items from an entry's note, and now I can't do
    that unless I edit the entry, risking unintended dataloss.

  • ferebee
    ferebee
    Community Member

    @Jeffrey_Friedl In case you weren’t aware, you can select text and then copy it by right-clicking on it and choosing Copy from the contextual menu. (As mentioned above by @ag_kevin.)

    That said, losing the ability to copy from Secure Notes with ⌘-C, and also the ability to search the text of a note with ⌘-F, without entering edit mode, is quite a high price to pay for the new Markdown formatting.

    I’d gladly give up formatting to get the old behavior back, but I can see that this is a divisive issue… Can’t we just please have our cake and eat it too?

  • Jeffrey_Friedl
    Jeffrey_Friedl
    Community Member

    Thanks @ferebee . I was about to reply that the text in a note can't be selected in the first place, but in trying one more time I see that sometimes it does allow text to be selected, but most of the time when I mousedown on text, the dotted box enclosing the text flashes and the "copy" button in its lower right highlights. I haven't been able to figure out what causes each state, but if it's one way it'll stay that way until I scroll one way or the other and try selecting again. Most often it still doesn't let me select text, but occasionally it does. No rhyme nor reason I can find yet.

    I'm with you on just wanting a place I can dump text notes. There are currently different kinds of fields, so I don't see why one can't have plain fields or rich fields or both. Just make it a toggle or something and let each person choose what they want.....

  • Thomas_U
    Thomas_U
    Community Member

    There are currently different kinds of fields, so I don't see why one can't have plain fields or rich fields or both. Just make it a toggle or something and let each person choose what they want.....

    I totally second that!

  • Lars
    Lars
    1Password Alumni

    @ferebee @Jeffrey_Friedl and @Thomas_U - we are indeed considering the best way to roll out a selectable Markdown field or another alternative that allows back some of the functionality sacrificed when allowing Markdown -- which was itself a highly requested feature. Thanks to everyone for your comments, suggestions and of course, patience. :)

  • producerboy
    producerboy
    Community Member

    Just chiming in to add my voice to the request for contextual copying from the Notes field in 1P for Mac. Thank you from a very long time user, and avid supporter!

  • tandersen
    tandersen
    Community Member

    This is a Large Security problem

    What it means is that people leak sensitive data out of the 1Password7:

    Step 1 - see a password or SID or account info in the notes field.
    Step 2 - cannot copy just the SID or API Key.
    Step 3 press 'copy' button - paste everything into TextEdit,
    Step 4 copy out the bit I (or my employees ) need, paste into some https web site.
    Step 5 forget to destroy the textedit file (or does textEdit leak everything you type into it in some backup/restore place?)
    Step 6 Security hole - 1password contents are now leaked out onto hard drives.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @tandersen: I don't see how copying and pasting into a plaintext file has anything to do with 1Password. Can you clarify?

  • tandersen
    tandersen
    Community Member

    The only solution other than editing to copy one word from a notes field (which I did hundreds of times in 1PW6) is to copy the whole thing somewhere - like a temporary text file - then copy from that into the app needing the password/apikey/security answer. Thus this copy problem will cause sensitive information to be put into thousands of temporary files every day by all the users of the program.

    That is a security problem. Yes in some narrow sense of the word its not a 1Password problem, but the app is now literally directing me to copy the notes field onto a digital postit note so I can use it. With multiple users on our account, not all of which are security conscious, those digital postit notes will never delete.

  • AGAlumB
    AGAlumB
    1Password Alumni

    @tandersen: Right. That's why I was directing you to click Edit (or press ⌘ E) and copy what you need right from within 1Password, as suggested above. That way you don't introduce a security risk yourself by copying sensitive information elsewhere, until we release an update.

This discussion has been closed.