V8 Copy & Paste doesn't remember the color.

[Roger Rines]

Our technical manuals use a lot of colored and formatted code examples. Often, we have a need to copy code snippets from another topic into a related topic.

v7's copy and paste ability worked well-moving snippets, but v8 doesn't remember the assigned font, font-size, or how the text was colored.

Is there a setting I've not discovered that would help me resolve this issue?

Thanks,
Roger...

[Tim Green]

Hi Roger,

Are you copying within a project or between projects? It would be helpful if you could send a small demo project to support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) with a brief description of the issue so that we can check it directly.

[Roger Rines]

Hello Tim.

I'm copying from within the same project is how most edits use. When a new Topic is added to cover a new Property or Function, There are Hidden Topic-templates that contain the Tables and other items that all new topic code items need. Even some of the group heading templates have link tables.

The Topic Templates are all in the same Help file. Simple changes typically need an additional table or section within the topic. Adding a section is when I need to copy text without having to use the H&M "Format text in preselected code editor-style" option, I copy that code snippet to a new table example where the copied text is pasted.

I hadn't noticed until today v8 won't copy a selected table in the same topic. Any attempt made to replicate the table shows up with only text items with no formatting, when pasted.

With the pressure on this Help update, I tried going back to v7 to get the changes done. Unfortunately, v7 showed the same problem.

This image shows the code template table layout:

Code Example Template Layout.png

This image shows the results from a Ctrl-A copy and Ctrl-V paste sequence:

Code Ex. Copy-Past Result.png

This image shows how the formatted & colored text example looked when it is copied:

Code Formatted Text Color Example.png

This image shows the results of the above-copied text appears when it is pasted down-stream in the topic:
(This image would not display. Possibly the posting is limited to three images.)
The colored-text example pasted displays all text in black with no text formatting, ie. Bold-option or colors, remembered.

[Roger Rines]

This change in how v7 would never fail to make copies that pasted all the information said this issue is bigger than H&M software.

Here is why:
My Office 365 Subscription includes the entire Office Software suite. For this test, I tried the Word & Excel program where tables are created with shading, and text headers show the same pasting failures that loose text formatting and ignore tables.

Word Test Example:

Word16 Copy-Paste Results.png

Excel Test Example:

Excel Copy-Paste Results.png

Windows Version 2004 (OS Build 1904.450)
Over the last 10-days, Windows updated this OS three times. In that time the URLs in all browsers now require the URL textbox to be clicked before typing for the typing to appear. All the Office 365 Programs take longer to load, and Outlook stalls for about 3-minutes after startup, and often when an email is instructed to open.

Adding Help & Manual to my list of problems is something I didn't anticipate. For certain this group of problems is a good way to miss a deadline.

If, and when I find a solution, I'll update this post.

[Roger Rines]

Update:
When the MS tech asked what was wrong, I showed him the example images and let him watch to see those copy and past action in Word, Excel, and v8 H&M. As he tried the copy & paste process in all the Office 365 applications where it was happening, he said we are going to need a clean installation of Windows 10 Pro.

The tech downloaded a new Windows 10 PRO ISO file and installed it. The time to install and restart was about 45-minutes. When the OS was restarted, the Copy-Paste ability began working correctly again.

The pressure to resolve the Windows Update problem so quickly made the cost of my Annual Assurance subscription worth the money.

Access Message to Postings Using FireFox:

H&M Firefox Access Rejection Msg.png

My Chrome browser login didn't didn't show the rejection message and that enabled this update. Firefox was the browser that created my previous postings in this thread series.

[Tim Green]

Hi Roger,

I've tested this in the current version of Help+Manual and both formatted tables and colored text copy and paste without issues. If I understand your multiple postings correctly now, your problems are related to Windows issues that are having an effect on Help+Manual. Please let me know if that is not the case.

Sympathies on your Windows update woes. If you're not already doing so, I recommend that you avoid third-party antivirus programs. They are the most common cause of Windows problems.

[Roger Rines]

Hello Tim.
You are right. The problem that H&M v8 & v7, Office Apps were demonstrating was caused by a Windows 10 Update. I don't know which update caused the issue, but doing a reinstallation that would not affect the installed software corrected the problem for all the applications I've tested.

Windows Defender failed to be enough protection here. When I know an update will run, I will turn off my-third party protection, restart and let the update run. Since the posting of the fix, Windows has done 2-more updates. I don't know why a reinstallation a couple of days earlier needed to be updated more. So far, nothing wrong has appeared. I'm hoping it stays that way for a little longer.

Thank you for your support.
Roger...

[Tim Green]

Hi Roger,

I'm afraid the third-party AV may actually be the problem here, rather than the solution. No other class of programs causes more issues in Windows, and no other class of programs interferes more with system performance and integrity. This is also logical: To be able to work, an AV program must literally undermine the entire security of the operating system on all levels, all the way down into the deepest level of the kernel, because attacks can happen anywhere. This means you are allowing programmers without access to the internals of the system to hook, redirect, spindle and mutilate the most fundamental and deepest functions of the entire system. That cannot ever be a good thing.

Personally, I would never use a Windows computer on which any third-party AV program has been installed. It is the same situation as with a virus: Once they have been there the only way to know they are really gone is to reformat and install a completely fresh version of Windows from an ISO that comes directly from Microsoft and NOT from an OEM vendor that includes bloatware of any kind.