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!