Disqus
Cut and paste is quite possibly the singularly most requested feature on the iPhone. Sure, the iPhone can recognize an phone number in any webpage/text message/email. And calling the number is a simple matter of tapping the phone number and initiating the call. But, what if you want to copy and paste a URL or block of text? Well, for that you need some good ole’ cut-n-paste action.
I love to blog from my iPhone. The keyboard and predictive/corrective text feature allows me to type way faster than I’ve ever been able to with a full-QWERTY keyboard (on a smartphone, of course). The display is big and crisp. Multi-touch makes the endeavor convenient and fun. The problem is, I can’t ever embed links to previous articles or even credit the source until I get home – try memorizing a 50+ character URL string, it’s hard.
With the help of some handy bookmarklet code, iPhone users can copy text and URLs and then paste into a form or email the text/link to yourself or a friend. iCopy is the best solution to get your iPhone to copy/paste with ease.
Here’s how to get iCopy to work on your iPhone:
- Drag this link to your Safari browser’s bookmark bar. (this will save the bookmarklet to your Safari browser’s bookmark file)
- Connect your iPhone and let iTunes sync your Safari bookmarks. Make sure to check the “Sync Safari Bookmarks” box. (this will save the iCopy bookmarklet to your iPhone)
- Find some web text or URL address that you want to copy.
- Bring up your bookmarks and tap “Copy/Paste”
- Select “Copy”
- Select the “Copy” action you’d like to perform (Copy Text, Copy URL, Email URL, etc.)
- Go to the web-form into which you’d like to insert the text or URL that you just copied.
- Bring up your bookmarks and tap “Copy/Paste”
- You’ll be taken to another page for a quick moment, and then you’ll be returned to your original page.
- Bring up your bookmarks and tap “Copy/Paste” again. You’ll see a dialog box indicating that you’re ready to paste.
- Tap the text box into which you’d like to insert the copied text/URL.
The process is fairly simple, it just looks complex because I wanted to make the installation/use process excruciatingly clear. Overall, the entire process is simply a matter of bringing up the “Copy/Paste” bookmarklet, selecting text to copy, then inserting the text into a text box.
It ain’t no Windows Mobile tap-and-hold copy/paste, but it’s no harder than tapping a menu to bring up copy/paste functionality.
Check out the demo videos after the break!
Props to Preston at biocow for making this all work!iCopy
About The Author
Will Park
Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...
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