Using Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Samsungs ‘Internet’ app, and every other browser I’ve used/tried on Android:

I’ll go to select some text on a page by long-pressing on it and it’ll select the word I’m touching as well as expand that selection to a somewhat random amount of additional text (usually not following any structure such as selecting a whole sentence for example).

I’ll then go to adjust that selection by grabbing one of the two tabs on either end of it and the moment I do, the opposite tab jumps to a completely random spot on the page vastly expanding the selection, then the whole page scrolls to an entirely different section; Leaving me holding one end of the selection unable to see what was originally selected. I can’t scroll to where I was, and If I let go and just click copy I’ve now copied 90%of the page to my clipboard… Attempting to modify the selection any further yields the same lack of control and just makes things worse.

This doesn’t happen everywhere, but I get these results far far more often than a successful copy+paste. Like just now trying to copy an address from a local transit guide.

I end up having to drop the paste into a notepad app, reselect the bit I actually wanted (if it even made it into the pile of garbage I was forced to grab) then delete the note once I’m done.

This is fucking stupid and I hate it. Rant over. Thank you for listening.

/edit: I don’t have the power to pin a comment, but [email protected] has a great solution: Use the rectangle select tool in androids ‘Edge Panel’ (must be enabled in settings), then press the ‘T’ button to copy text from the area you’ve selected.

  • @[email protected]
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    41 year ago

    It happens to me in a lot of apps too, even Liftoff. Is it maybe related to the keyboard app? Which one do you use?

    • @[email protected]OP
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      1 year ago

      Interesting thought: I’ve been using SwiftKey for probably 10 years now.

      I’m gonna have a play with some others and see if that changes anything. Not sure it will, but worth a look.

      /edit: Sigh. Nope. Same results with Samsungs built in keyboard and with GBoard.

      The keyboard doesn’t pop up during text selection so I don’t think that’s having an effect.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        I used AOSP keyboard for a very long time and now Simple Keyboard, it experience this on both. I think this may be an Android thing.