Gmail pastes text as pictures - how to disable?

[Eusebius]

Recently Gmail has started pasting text from other applications like Word as pictures - how do I disable this?

Can also happen when pasting a list from Word into a forum post. What's going on?

[Andy Burns]

Items can exist on the clipboard in multiple formats, sounds more like a Word issue than Gmail (which is just a web page).

Try copying from Word, then pasting first into Notepad, then copy again from there, so it's guaranteed to only be in plain text when you paste it.

If that works, look for any "fancy" clipboard features you can disable ...

[Graham Harrison]

Select the text. Right click on the selected text and select copy. Go to where you want to paste and right click again - it should give you more than one option for how the paste is to be treated.

[Chris Green]

Or on a sensible OS "Select the text" and then paste with the middle mouse button. If you want paste options then the right button.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Yes surely this should not be the default as its inaccessible to the blind. I think its to do with the character set somehow. It works correctly if you use pop3 and or imap and use a normal client, as far as I can tell, so it has to be some oddity in the webmail interface. They will get pinged by the Americans with disabilities if they do not sort it I'd expect. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Well I'd not see any Microsoft programme doing this by default. Its different if you do a screen grab of course as that is a graphic. But in the last couple of weeks I've moaned at gmail users for sending graphics when thy swear they did not. The other way of course is to attach the file as a doc or docx, the former is more widely accepted I find as people do not bother to use new versions of word processors like open office or Libra Office as Microsoft do when they change their operating systems. Office operates its own clipboard of course and I guess in the latest version of word they may have some text to picture conversion or something, but normally you can turn such rubbish. Brian

[Dave W]

What do you mean "Office operates its own clipboard of course"? It's the first I've heard of it, although I admit I use a 2003 version to avoid huge banner menus taking up screen space.

It could be that the people sending you graphics are copying text from a pdf without a actually selecting the text.

[Dave W]

It's not common to have a middle mouse button. Pressing the wheel down often acts as a middle button, but how many people realise this?

[mm0fmf]

All of us who having using wheel mice and Unix for over 20 years.

[The Natural Philosopher]

[Andy Burns]

I had/has some sort of weird multi-item clipboard history, I've never used it

[charles]

Not just Unix; RISC OS uses the middle button as 'Menu'.

[Andy Burns]

I realise it, but find that a scroll wheel makes a piss-poor button, thankfully many mice have other re-programmable buttons.

[Chris Green]

You can also (usually) press Left and Right buttons together to provide a 'Middle button' click.

My trackball has a wheel (which, as you say, works as middle button) but it also has two 'extra' buttons one of which I have programmed as middle button because I find clicking the wheel a little awkward.

[Dave W]

My ignorance is not my fault.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Wasn't commenting on your ignorance of mouse wheels, but your ignorance of other people.

Why miust you assume everyones experience is like yours?

That's a very remaoner thing.

[Dave W]

I have no idea what others think - you obviously believe you do. What is a remaoner? I'm more of an exiteer.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Is that why you wrote

"But how many people realise this?"