Pasting not where I want to?

If I cut/copy and paste text it doesn't paste where I place the cursor but at the immediate position after the last character I typed.

So if I write a sentence out then press return and paste something in, it does not paste on the new line where I have just pressed return to get to but immediately after the last character I typed with no space in between.

Have got a setting wrong or just doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance.

What application are you in when this happens? I just tried it in Text Edit and it pasted in right where I had the cursor.

Always in Mail and when I tried Pages that as well.

There is some 'insert' options in MS Word on PC but I don't see anything on the Mac either in Pages/Mail or general settings.

???

Safari has done this on my MBP for 4 years across every version of OS X and Safari during that period of time. It always pastes on the line above the last return.

If I want to paste as a new paragraph and leave that single line of space, I have to hit return 3 times instead of 2 and have to hit return twice instead of once to paste on the next line.

Could be in other apps, I just don't do enough writing in any of them to know and I've never spent the time to google it and gave up trying to figure it out at least 3 years ago.

bobtomay said:

???

Safari has done this on my MBP for 4 years across every version of OS X and Safari during that period of time. It always pastes on the line above the last return.

If I want to paste as a new paragraph and leave that single line of space, I have to hit return 3 times instead of 2 and have to hit return twice instead of once to paste on the next line.

Could be in other apps, I just don't do enough writing in any of them to know and I've never spent the time to figure out why it does this.

Click to expand...

Seen it in Safari but I can't get Mail or Textedit at least in 10.5.8 to do what the OP is talking about.

No idea what Inkscape is, sorry?

Does Bobtomay says, which more than anything is time wasting having to reinsert the space between and gets annoying after a short while.

It does exactly the same thing with the space bar. It inserts a paste in the previous space instead of at the one where you are.



example:

And here's an example of using the return.




A right click in Safari has always highlighted the previous space or line and not where the cursor is for 4 years now.

Yes it does that, where I put the cursor to paste into, a 'Blue Block' appears and it pastes it there. Always the space or line before the cursor.

In fact it has just done it when I posted this image from Photobucket in this reply and I have then adjusted the space between the lines.

I have tried it over and over in a new message in Mail can can't duplicate the issue unless I point to the line above where my cursor is before right clicking.

In Safari though I can duplicate Bob's examples.

dtravis7 said:

I have tried it over and over in a new message in Mail can can't duplicate the issue unless I point to the line above where my cursor is before right clicking.

In Safari though I can duplicate Bob's examples.

Click to expand...

It's doing what Bob points out in Mail for me.

I can't get it to duplicate that in Mail right now either - however:





And I'll note: Safari is the only browser that does this.

Bob, I think we just entered the Twilight Zone!

In mail where I was pointing with the mouse pointer was criticle to where it pasted. If I was a bit off it would be in the wrong place even though the blue bar started in the correct place.

Note, Bob I just tried your example and it's just like what you showed for the 2nd paste. The return goes away and the first paste comes up one return! Amazing.

Clutching at straws here, I notice on Bob's Mac spec's it says Macbook Pro 15", I'm on a 13" Macbook Pro and dtravis is possibly on G4,G5, Mini or iBook. Whilst I don't actually no what you are using at the moment, could it be something as daft as a Macbook Pro issue? (Admittedly I'm using a magic mouse and not the track pad).

Yep, it's just too strange.

Sorry don't have an answer for you windy - only the same issue, so I can empathize with you.

Betcha technologist would know the answer to this.

Well, I'll have to pay closer attention! I get that, but I don't think it happens all the time. I thought it had to do with whether or not I picked up a "leading space" before the first character when I cut or copy.???

bobtomay said:

Yep, it's just too strange.

Sorry don't have an answer for you windy - only the same issue, so I can empathize with you.

Betcha technologist would know the answer to this.

Click to expand...

Tech is a very smart person but this might even stump him. In Safari I have checked every setting and don't see anything that would make it do that. It does it on both 10.5 and 10.6 for sure here on Power PC or Intel.

That last part was for the OP as it's the OS and Safari version and not the Hardware that is causing any of this.

Do we need some kind of update from those folks at Apple???

bobtomay said:

Betcha technologist would know the answer to this.

Click to expand...

Way to put some pressure on a guy.

Also, ya gotta understand, I'm at something of a disadvantage here. Remember my old avatar was a single-button mouse? I actually still use one of those. I don't do any context-clicking unless I can't avoid it. So this is all sort of new for me.

Anyway, I was reminded of this rant by John Gruber here:
Daring Fireball: When 'Smart' Cut/Copy/Paste Attacks and
Daring Fireball: More on NSTextView's 'Smart' Cut/Copy/Paste
What he says is, when you select text by double- or triple-clicking, OS X plays games with spaces that it doesn't play if you'd selected the exact same text by dragging over it.

So what does this have to do with this situation?

Well, I notice (not being at all used to this right-clicking fad) that whenever you context click in a text area in a Cocoa app, it selects some text if you didn't have text selected already. And the selection a context-click adds seems to be the same as the selection you'd get if you'd double-clicked in the same spot. In other words, it enters the "word-wise selection mode" with all the space adding/subtracting shenanigans Gruber rants about.

At least I think that's what it is. Like I said, I never ever use the context menu if I can get away with it, and the Edit menu commands (or keyboard shortcuts) don't add a new selection the way the context-click does.

tl;dr It's supposed to be a feature; to avoid it, try using ⌘ V instead of right-clicking

Sorry Figured if any one had seen something on this...

It's a shame this can't be corrected and is definitely my biggest gripe about OS X.