Copy/paste into Mail in High Sierra 10.13.3 randomly leaves sentences out

[Phwoar]

You have all been warned.

Copy/pasting text from Microsoft Word to Mail.app (as unformatted text) randomly leaves sentences/characters out in High Sierra 10.13.3.

This is a major falling short of the standard expected from this premium service.

Double check everything you paste into Mail.

 

[Phwoar]

Further updates following testing: High Sierra 10.13.3 cannot handle copying text from two columns in Microsoft Word, and pasting the text as unformatted in Mail.

Total failure. Text and characters missing on repeated testing. This update is an absolute disaster.

 

[chabig]

That’s a Word problem. It’s the application’s responsibility to place the selected text onto the clipboard.

 

[fisherking]

does 'paste and match style' in mail help? but i agree with chabig, it's a word issue, not a mail issue...

 

[Phwoar]

I originally thought so too - but it's definitely a Mail issue. The paste action does not miss characters and words when pasting into TextEdit, only Mail.

I just replicated the problem even without two columns in Word. Absolutely horrendous - this has already caused me two huge errors in professionally published data.

 

[chabig]

You made me go test it. It works fine for me, pasting both into Text Edit and Word. I still think it's a Word problem. Are you running the latest version? Go to Word's help menu, then select Check for Updates.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It is not wise to rely on any email client application as a word processing application. I'm not sure what the OP is expecting to be different from since email was invented but even if a user gets text looking like he/she wants there's no way to know what it will look like when opened on the other end. Hence, there's an "attachment" function in every email client of which I'm aware.

 

[Phwoar]

Ok after further testing, it appears that the issue is particular to copy/pasting in Apple's Mail.app, when combined with any version Microsoft Word that has not been patched with the Microsoft Update released only a few hours ago (26 Jan 2018).

Many, many people will be affected by this error, and will likely have no clue that anything they paste into Mail.app from Word will have words and characters arbitrarily deleted throughout the body of the text.

The fault does rest lie solely with Microsoft, since pasting the same clipboard data renders a full unaltered text in other Apple programs. This is also tested not to be an issue prior to MacOS 10.13.3

Personally, I have had 8 items of professional work damaged today, unwittingly, because of this problem, until I patched Word once Microsoft released the update.

There will no doubt be many other thousands of people affected in coming weeks, as not everyone will automatically patch their Microsoft Word apps in time.

If anyone at Apple reads this: next time give third-party developers – say, Microsoft, maybe – a chance to test and prepare for substantial changes, instead of rushing to be "first out the gate" as you have done with the most recent updates.

Professionals don't pay this much money for a computer only for it not to be reliable when executing a basic copy/paste function.

Absolutely pathetic Apple. Absolutely pathetic. And it won't just be me, plenty of people will sue for such a basic collapse of such a basic function.

 

[Phwoar]

UPDATE:
Problem still occurring. Microsoft Word updated fully, MacOS fully updated.

Action 1:
Microsoft Word document, select all text, copy.

Action 2 (control):
Paste in TextEdit = full unchanged text pasted, all correct. BUT DO NOT RECOPY.

Action 3 (problem):
Paste again in Mail.app, as "Paste and Match Style" = words missing within the body of the text, sentences truncated.

This is totally unacceptable.

 

[Crunch]

WTF!? Something that worked with 10.3.2 no longer works in 10.3.3, and it's not Apple's problem?

Separate general question: After this latest update, are most of you pretty impressed/happy/content overall with High Sierra, as compared to Sierra?

 

[fisherking]

WTF!? Something that worked with 10.3.2 no longer works in 10.3.3, and it's not Apple's problem?

Separate general question: After this latest update, are most of you pretty impressed/happy/content overall with High Sierra, as compared to Sierra?

is it not working for everyone? (am asking);

HS is mostly great so far (with some obviously-beta related issues)... which happens, with betas...

 

[Phwoar]

is it not working for everyone? (am asking);

HS is mostly great so far (with some obviously-beta related issues)... which happens, with betas...

Yes otherwise working ok, but the copy/paste problem in Mail.app through "paste and match style" (as described above) is alarming. It means I hardly trust the copy/paste function into Mail.app anymore. It calls into question the programming of the system in general for me, particularly after the processor fixes.

To try to solve the problem, which is ongoing, I've started to first select and copy the original text that was typed in Word, then paste that into TextEdit (which doesn't arbitrarily remove any text, unlike when pasting directly Mail.app), then copy again from TextEdit into Mail.app. This two-step procedure doesn't drop any characters.

Having to do this extra step is a pain (ie having to use TextEdit as a secondary clipboard), rather than being able to copy directly into Mail.app as would normally happen. The whole problem suggests that this is definitely an Apple Mail.app problem here.

I believe it might be something to do with the processor being activated when the clipboard is engaged by Mail.app, when the user asks to "paste and match style". When this happens the function ends up "dropping" random parts of the text, without the user's knowledge.

So, in a hypothetical example, a user could copy and paste a 1,000 word safety instruction for a very important piece of health equipment that lives depend upon, but not know that half a sentence is missing in the middle of the manual that was copy/pasted. Obviously not acceptable, however you try to play it.

I wonder what parts of the tiny portion of data (constituting the copied text in the clipboard) are run through the processor when the "paste and match style" function of Mail.app is run, causing parts of the bundle of information to be dropped.

I think this is where the problem lies.

 

[fisherking]

Yes otherwise working ok, but the copy/paste problem in Mail.app through "paste and match style" (as described above) is alarming. It means I hardly trust the copy/paste function into Mail.app anymore. It calls into question the programming of the system in general for me, particularly after the processor fixes.

To try to solve the problem, which is ongoing, I've started to first select and copy the original text that was typed in Word, then paste that into TextEdit (which doesn't arbitrarily remove any text, unlike when pasting directly Mail.app), then copy again from TextEdit into Mail.app. This two-step procedure doesn't drop any characters.

Having to do this extra step is a pain (ie having to use TextEdit as a secondary clipboard), rather than being able to copy directly into Mail.app as would normally happen. The whole problem suggests that this is definitely an Apple Mail.app problem here.

I believe it might be something to do with the processor being activated when the clipboard is engaged by Mail.app, when the user asks to "paste and match style". When this happens the function ends up "dropping" random parts of the text, without the user's knowledge.

So, in a hypothetical example, a user could copy and paste a 1,000 word safety instruction for a very important piece of health equipment that lives depend upon, but not know that half a sentence is missing in the middle of the manual that was copy/pasted. Obviously not acceptable, however you try to play it.

I wonder what parts of the tiny portion of data (constituting the copied text in the clipboard) are run through the processor when the "paste and match style" function of Mail.app is run, causing parts of the bundle of information to be dropped.

I think this is where the problem lies.

ok, but again; are others experiencing this? is this a global issue shared by all, or most? try setting up a test admin account, and try it there; same problem? just wondering where the problem lies (and if others are suffering the same symptoms)...

 

[Phwoar]

EDIT: spoiler alert, Apple seems to have screwed up!! See below!

ok, but again; are others experiencing this? is this a global issue shared by all, or most? try setting up a test admin account, and try it there; same problem? just wondering where the problem lies (and if others are suffering the same symptoms)...

Yeah sometimes it does it, other times it doesn't. I'm assuming a full re-install might fix it, which is something I'm going to try.

Also, yes I tested by creating another account: successfully replicated it, even went backwards one system version through a restore.

Perhaps there was just something special about the alignments of Word, clipboard, Saturn, and Neptune, on the 7th day of the lunar calendar.

I have no way of knowing.

What I do know is, we haven't had any other people with the problem turning up on the forum, so I'm going to say it's probably a one-off glitch with my own setup. And: it only happens going from Word into Mail.app, "paste and match style", so this is a pretty narrow set of use-cases.

If I try a full re-install at some point and it stops doing it, I'll jump back on and let ppl know.
[doublepost=1517706217][/doublepost]Wait wait wait wait wait...

Look at what I just found from 2015!!:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7114689

It is an ongoing problem with Mail.app!!! Nice!! I'm not crazy after all wooooop woop woop!! (well, just a little crazy).

Well, I guess Apple does suck very badly after all, considering that this glitch is over 2 years old.

So they will charge $2000+ for a premium product, and not fix a VERY serious glitch.

They have had PLEEEENTY of time to fix it.

So:
I guess for anybody working in the medical or emergency fields, or in any profession requiring information to be exact and precise when transferring it between programs, otherwise lives could be endangered, I suppose don't pay for an Apple product, and especially I guess don't use the Apple supplied Mail.app, because it seems you run the risk that the Apple machine will drop parts of copied text from things you copy from Word into the email software included by Apple with your new machine.

In other words:
This may mean we can't rely on Apple to correct errors in their system, which if true would destroy trust in the most basic functions of the machine. Like being able to trust that something you copy to the clipboard, will actually be pasted accurately as an exact textual replica (aside from formatting) of what you originally copied. Like, the characters and the words you copy should paste as the same characters and words. Obviously. Basic, basic function Apple. Basic, so so basic, it's hard to see how you could have screwed this up.

And:
I guess it's not a problem with Microsoft either, because how come in both my case and the case in the link above, pasting into a DIFFERENT program other than Mail.app renders the clipboard data perfectly transferred?

No no. This proves it. Apple has seemed to dropped the ball and can't even get copy/paste right.

And you charge how much for the machine you sold me? Golf clap guys. Golf clap. Just glad I didn't spend any more of my time testing it to work out how over 8 pieces of my professional work got damaged because of this glitch that you already knew existed.

So: as I said when I opened this thread, everyone has been warned. It seems you cannot paste into Mail.app and trust that the words you copied will end up in the email you are preparing. Be warned.

 

[fisherking]

breathe. you're not the only one who's experienced this, but it's obviously not everyone. or people would be storming the apple stores. something specific is happening for you. try googling more,or calling apple perhaps.

 

[Phwoar]

breathe

I tried to breathe but it copy/pasted as brea. I can't very well brea, that isn't even a verb. No no, I won't be calling apple (or, as my clipboard in Mail.app might say: "callipple"). No no. I'm just going to whine and complain on Macrumors. Because it's super clear that even when someone posts the problem on Apple's own discussion website, they aren't listening

It's all good. The other 99.98% of my Apple machine works really well. It's just I can no longer trust it to copy/paste like other machines on the market, that's all. For me, that's a fundamental part of my work, but then again, for other people they may not need the copy/paste function to work accurately every time.

Just sitting back, brea.

--
EDIT: shouldn'ave told me to Google it fisherking, this is like searching for diseases, I'm CONVINCED it's a DISEASE!! I'm short on brea doctor!

But seriously:
Here's another one showing Yosemite didn't fix this glitch either:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6641758

Here's another one indicating that Apple has probably messed around with giving Mail.app its own faulty divergent clipboard from the ordinary use scenarios:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...-mail-clipboard-separate-from-everything-else

Here's another one corroborating that Apple has messed around with giving Mail.app its own faulty divergent clipboard:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...in-mail-app-why-cant-i-paste-it-as-plain-text

Well. That's enough evidence for me.

We have all been warned now: we probably can't trust Apple's email application - Mail.app - included with their new machines, as we now know that Mail.app might well arbitrarily delete words and characters throughout the body of anything you paste in an email. Given this problem, this application created and maintained by Apple and sold as a fundamental feature of its new machines would probably therefore not be useful or advisable for professional or business use.

 

[fisherking]

I tried to breathe but it copy/pasted as brea. I can't very well brea, that isn't even a verb. No no, I won't be calling apple (or, as my clipboard in Mail.app might say: "callipple"). No no. I'm just going to whine and complain on Macrumors. Because it's super clear that even when someone posts the problem on Apple's own discussion website, they aren't listening

It's all good. The other 99.98% of my Apple machine works really well. It's just I can no longer trust it to copy/paste like other machines on the market, that's all. For me, that's a fundamental part of my work, but then again, for other people they may not need the copy/paste function to work accurately every time.

Just sitting back, brea.

i don't get it; you have an issue, you can call apple (or, if possible, get to a genius bar). remember, not everyone is having this problem. and what do you have to lose by trying to deal with it? really, dealing with an issue is potentially so much more rewarding than complaining about it...

 

[Phwoar]

i don't get it; you have an issue, you can call apple (or, if possible, get to a genius bar). remember, not everyone is having this problem. and what do you have to lose by trying to deal with it? really, dealing with an issue is potentially so much more rewarding than complaining about it...

I'm of course being a pain in the neck, fisherking - but mainly for entertainment purposes arising from this hapless tragedy that damaged my professional work. These boards are, in part we have to admit, about entertainment. My work got damaged by the Apple bundled app, and in a way I want to make a joke about it.

So, I've probably wasted about 35 more minutes on this thread in addition to the hours wasted wondering what the heck is going on with my new machine not being able to copy/paste...and, in truth, you have made a good suggestion, but I'm pretty sure any phone call to Apple, the largest company in the world, is unlikely to provoke them into reprogramming Mail.app and stopping using the dodgy alternative clipboard that Apple's Mail.app uses, which is causing this headache for a small number of users, no matter how damaging the consequences of the glitch.

If Apple were a tiny corner store run by a mum & dad in the local town, my single complaint would be heard. But they're literally the furthest company away from that scenario, on earth, in the entire history of commerce.

More likely, we could try get a result from a good solid public drubbing on Macrumors in the High Sierra thread, which I know they monitor. To try to embarrass them with a tiny campaign with tiny pitchforks and matchstick torches, to fix this minor but fundamentally dangerous flaw in their own app.

Apple's machines can't accurately copy/paste without dropping letters and words, that's what it appears like. Everyone owning one of these machines should be interested in this being fixed.

So let's charge our glasses, here's to Apple, and their ongoing failure to program a computer to copy/paste. Want a professional email program? Don't ask Apple to design it.

 

[fisherking]

but seriously, if not everyone is having the problem, then it's not a matter of apple reworking Mail, but of you tracking down your issue. seems you don't want to do that, and would rather rant. personally, i like resolving issues, but... you can of course do what you want. am done making suggestions (or reading any more of this thread).

good luck!

 

[Phwoar]

but seriously, if not everyone is having the problem, then it's not a matter of apple reworking Mail, but of you tracking down your issue. seems you don't want to do that, and would rather rant. personally, i like resolving issues, but... you can of course do what you want. am done making suggestions (or reading any more of this thread).

good luck!

Thanks fisherking, by posting your reply we’ve kept this issue at the top of the threads for this area of the forums, for the moment.

As you have seen through the links I’ve posted above, the inability of Apple’s Mail.app program to copy/paste without dropping characters and words is not an issue with my personal setup. It is clearly an issue across many setups and across at least the last 2 years of Apple’s Mail.app program updates.

I’ve had some professional work ruined by this program malfunctioning, and not behaving in the way it is advertised to behave. I’m poking fun at myself over this, while also trying to ensure this issue is raised so other people don’t suffer the same fate.

Finally, the problem is solved by using a slower two-step workaround, by first pasting into Textedit, which does not drop any characters or words, and then select-all and copy and THEN paste into Mail.app.

The other cool thing to note about this ongoing failure of copy/paste within Apple’s email app they include with new machines is: it’s an error that occurs when you’re going to communicate your information and (often professional) work to other people. That’s why it’s so important to know that what you paste into an email isn’t missing words that were in the original you just typed up! It’s the part of the computer software that should work FLAWLESSLY. But it doesn’t.

So, I’d be happy for someone to comment if fisherking doesn’t see the point. Anyone want to comment on the RTFD capacities of the pasteboard in the Mail.app? And how they could be lacking? Beuler? Beuler?

 

[DeltaMac]

I'm trying to decide why you would do a generic copy/paste of text, particularly when you appear to be concerned about the integrity of your "professional work".
If you don't trust copy/paste, then don't use it.
Use the OTHER solution of attaching a document to an email

 

[SaSaSushi]

My work got damaged by the Apple bundled app, and in a way I want to make a joke about it.

I'm just guessing that you don't work as a comedy writer.

Finally, the problem is solved by using a slower two-step workaround, by first pasting into Textedit, which does not drop any characters or words, and then select-all and copy and THEN paste into Mail.app.

I use, and highly recommend the Paste clipboard manager. Not only does it give you Time Machine-like access to your previous copies, it gives you a visual representation of the copied data, has a search function and can allow pasting as plain text, etc.

 

[Phwoar]

Thank you both very much - I like the idea DeltaMac had of just never using copy/paste again on my Mac when using email, it’s a great suggestion.

Also, I think that paying an extra $10 for a third party app to provide an alternative clipboard (instead of the clipboard software provided by Apple) is a great suggestion, thank you SashaSushi.

In both cases, we don’t say Apple has done anything wrong, we just work around Apple’s failed software in order for copy/paste to work. I think that’s the most practical way to proceed, and thank you both for the suggestions.

Any other suggestions or explorations of the error that don’t involve using third-party programs or avoiding using copy/paste? I’d like to hear from other users other than SashaSushi and DeltaMac (though I again thank you for your input).

 

[fisherking]

Thank you both very much - I like the idea DeltaMac had of just never using copy/paste again on my Mac when using email, it’s a great suggestion.

Also, I think that paying an extra $10 for a third party app to provide an alternative clipboard (instead of the clipboard software provided by Apple) is a great suggestion, thank you SashaSushi.

In both cases, we don’t say Apple has done anything wrong, we just work around Apple’s failed software in order for copy/paste to work. I think that’s the most practical way to proceed, and thank you both for the suggestions.

Any other suggestions or explorations of the error that don’t involve using third-party programs or avoiding using copy/paste? I’d like to hear from other users other than SashaSushi and DeltaMac (though I again thank you for your input).

people are making suggestions to help, and you're ignoring them? or don't want to spend $10??? do you just want someone to agree with you? and what about the people who are not having this problem?

maybe it's just time to... move forward. waiting for people to validate your anger at apple (especially when not everyone has this issue) is ridiculous. you could try sasasushi's idea, for example, and, if that works... you're in business.

or switch to pages; i've used that for years, and don't have the problem you're having, at all.

really, is the idea to get help, or to just complain endlessly????

 

[Phwoar]

people are making suggestions to help, and you're ignoring them?

Wow that’s unnecessarily harsh and personal - as I’ve just said earlier, I’ve already followed the advice and paid the $10 for the program that was kindly suggested, and as per my earlier comment I won’t be using copy/paste in Mail.app, because it’s broken software.

I’m not sure how I could have made that clearer(?).

I think, with all respect and not meaning to offend, you may have the wrong idea here, and I believe you may be overreacting.

What I asked for above is any other opinion about the actual error that I’ve had to take these steps to workaround! I’m thinking there might be someone who can say “delete this preference file to resolve the problem” or “this is because you have autocomplete on” or something similar.

I’m hoping you don’t also take offense to this reply - believe me I’m grateful for yours and the others’ assistance.

Ps- Paste Clipboard Manager is actually excellent, and gets around Apple’s failed copy/paste command in Mail.app. Brilliant suggestion!