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patent10021

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2004
3,504
792
I'm in an email in iOS 5 and there's no "select all" option for copy and paste.

????????????
 

imacken

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2010
1,232
127
Don't know what's wrong in your case, but it certainly hasn't 'gone in iOS5'. Still there.
 

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2004
3,504
792
Don't know what's wrong in your case, but it certainly hasn't 'gone in iOS5'. Still there.
If you are looking at a message in iOS Mail and you want to select all of the text it now only gives you two options, Dictionary and Copy. There is no Select All. That dictionary option is obviously new to iOS5.
 

tooobe

macrumors regular
Nov 3, 2008
141
21
Funny I don't have it either. Positive I had the option with the arrow in iOS 5 betas before :/
Did a restore from backup to GM.
 

Hertzog

macrumors newbie
Nov 26, 2010
16
0
Under Settings/General/Keyboard there is now a "Split Keyboard" setting. Turning that off gets you back the "select all" option (on the iPad at least).
 

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2004
3,504
792
Under Settings/General/Keyboard there is now a "Split Keyboard" setting. Turning that off gets you back the "select all" option (on the iPad at least).
Thanks but I don't see that option on my iPhone.

Still have no "select all" option.
 

zmol

macrumors newbie
Oct 16, 2011
2
0
same here

what's weird is that by chance i had the option select all twice, taping another way, or in the blank , i don't know exactly what i did... can't reproduce it anymore...
quite annoying...:mad:
 

cbruce76

macrumors member
Feb 5, 2008
34
1
Okay, I think I figured this out.

In a new mail message, a double tap on the screen brings up "Select Select All Paste and an arrow."

In a received mail message, only "Copy Define" show up if you hold a finger down or double tap.

So, Select All is not gone, just purposed in a different way.
 

zmol

macrumors newbie
Oct 16, 2011
2
0
What yo say is true, but...

... i could have the select all option in a received email, doin some kind of gesture...
Btw it would be stupid from apple, u need access to the dictionnary when u write an email, to check the spelling or find the good word, not to understand the emails u receive... and who need to copy all of what he just wrote (and anyway u have a copy in ur sent folder)....?
U need to copy paste mostly from mail to another app...




Okay, I think I figured this out.

In a new mail message, a double tap on the screen brings up "Select Select All Paste and an arrow."

In a received mail message, only "Copy Define" show up if you hold a finger down or double tap.

So, Select All is not gone, just purposed in a different way.[/QUOTE]



----------

OKAY BOYS, i almost figured this out:
double tap or hol, it will select a word with the copy and define options available.
Hold when the word is highlighted and move ur finger til no word is selected (goin at the beginning of the message works well here), then release:
select all is available...
but, it seems to work only with a certain format of email, and even with the same mail it's not always easy to reproduce... well, so, maybe, simply havin select all by double taping ... ,)
pffff....
 
Last edited:

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2004
3,504
792
I found a work around but this is still not like it originally was with iOS 4. This needs to be fixed because it's obviously a bug.

Originally when you are reading an email (just reading *without replying) you were able to SELECT ALL. This is not the case now. If you want to SELECT ALL you need to actually click 'reply' to the email where it will then be in an editable state. You can then SELECT ALL.
 

Lunaharpua

macrumors newbie
Oct 25, 2011
3
0
It's there, it's just hard to find

In any app in iOS5, tap and hold in any paragraph break or other white space in the center of the page until it brings up the circular magnifying window, then drag your finger to either edge of the page. This will bring up the option to cut, copy, or select all.

It took me a week and a half to discover this trick. Thanks a bunch, Apple. Why they changed it, I have no idea.
 

imacken

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2010
1,232
127
Nope, doesn't do that for me in ANY app I've tried.
For example, I'm typing this is Safari on my iPad, and just holding my finger on the screen brings up Select, Select All and Paste.
In the email I received about your response, if I held my finger down on a white space and move to the edge, I get a word highlighted and Copy showing.
 

YoYoCome

macrumors newbie
Apr 17, 2010
27
0
You can still do "Select All" option easily in Notes.

However, seems like in iOS 5 Mail, it is difficult to get the "Select All" option to show up when you are "reading" the mail.

You can easily bring up the "Select All" option in the Mail if you are in "Reply" state though.
 

rocknblogger

macrumors 68020
Apr 2, 2011
2,346
481
New Jersey
What yo say is true, but...

... i could have the select all option in a received email, doin some kind of gesture...
Btw it would be stupid from apple, u need access to the dictionnary when u write an email, to check the spelling or find the good word, not to understand the emails u receive... and who need to copy all of what he just wrote (and anyway u have a copy in ur sent folder)....?
U need to copy paste mostly from mail to another app...




Okay, I think I figured this out.

In a new mail message, a double tap on the screen brings up "Select Select All Paste and an arrow."

In a received mail message, only "Copy Define" show up if you hold a finger down or double tap.

So, Select All is not gone, just purposed in a different way.




----------

OKAY BOYS, i almost figured this out:
double tap or hol, it will select a word with the copy and define options available.
Hold when the word is highlighted and move ur finger til no word is selected (goin at the beginning of the message works well here), then release:
select all is available...
but, it seems to work only with a certain format of email, and even with the same mail it's not always easy to reproduce... well, so, maybe, simply havin select all by double taping ... ,)
pffff....[/QUOTE]

Yes it seems that on certain HTML mail you can slide your finger of the left side of the screen or down and select all does appear. But will not for any plain text emails. Strange. I would think its a bug. As someone else pointed out your more like going to want to select all when reading email rather than when composing.
 

ii1111

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2011
1
0
Workaround for this very annoying change

I cannot get select all back in read email using tricks above.

Select all still appears in notes on double tap or hold but not in read email.

You can get select all to appear in reply or forward with double tap or hold.


I wrote a post yesterday on it with pics here


This is very annoying because I use select all when I read my email ALL THE TIME.

I use an app called Speak It to read long form articles to me in a wonderful British voice and I listen to these articles on my iPhone.

I collect the articles, email them to myself where they wait patiently in my inbox to be read.

I used to select all then copy and paste into Speak It. But NOOOOO not now.

Speak It app is here

I consider this one of the best apps ever and love listening to topical articles that are too long to read sitting but delightful for driving or working out.

I stopping listening to music.

My IQ has gone up at least 5 points from this app alone.

:)

cheers


Just curious.....does anyone know if the update to the iPad did this too?
 
Last edited:

greatcomet

macrumors newbie
May 22, 2011
4
0
Select All

I echo the sediment of not having "Select All" within the mail window. Reply to a message is the only option that works for me.

Another button that would be nice is a "Speak E-mail" option instead of requiring a section. I'd be just happy for a select all though.
 

Cripps

macrumors regular
Jun 22, 2011
175
0
In any app in iOS5, tap and hold in any paragraph break or other white space in the center of the page until it brings up the circular magnifying window, then drag your finger to either edge of the page. This will bring up the option to cut, copy, or select all.
...

This is the one that works for me. :)
 

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2004
3,504
792
Hi

I'm back after a few months because I suddenly needed this feature again and couldn't get it working before.

So it looks like many of you realized what I was talking about. I eventually sent a dev report to Apple.

Using the method above with the white space trick seems to work HOWEVER this is very finicky and cumbersome.

To make it clear for others this is what you do.

1.) Select anywhere that gives you ONLY the circle magnifying glass. [if any light blue highlight appears you're doing it wrong.]

2.) You want to release the magnifying glass without selecting anything.

3.) That's it. The Select and Select All options will pop up.

* NOTE This takes a couple of tries moving it around a bit but it does work.

This needs to be fixed ASAP.
 

Ashwood11

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2010
1,153
0
US
Nope, doesn't do that for me in ANY app I've tried.
For example, I'm typing this is Safari on my iPad, and just holding my finger on the screen brings up Select, Select All and Paste.
In the email I received about your response, if I held my finger down on a white space and move to the edge, I get a word highlighted and Copy showing.

The OP stated he was in iOS Mail. You state you are in typing in Safari. Could be different features in two different apps.
 

MaxBurn

macrumors 65816
Nov 25, 2010
1,456
390
That is weird, didn't notice it till now.

The tap and hold and then move around until there is no text selected then release to get select all works.
 

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 23, 2004
3,504
792
That is weird, didn't notice it till now.

The tap and hold and then move around until there is no text selected then release to get select all works.

Yeah, to save time, first tap on a white space [without blue highlighting showing]. That way you don't have to move around and search for a spot. Release on any other white spot and you're golden.

I often copy 3,000 word emails since I'm translating every day. I guess others simply don't copy that often to notice or they don't need to copy ALL text. This is a pretty significant email/text bug imo though.
 

Arelunde

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2011
980
28
CA Central Coast
It sure appears that the only way to copy an entire email is to touch/hold > select and drag the handles up and down until all is blue. Not an efficienet way to do it, but it works.

I tried the white space thing and it didn't work for me. Always something became highlighted in blue - even the tapped white space turned blue. Oh well.
 

MaxBurn

macrumors 65816
Nov 25, 2010
1,456
390
Yeah, to save time, first tap on a white space [without blue highlighting showing]. That way you don't have to move around and search for a spot. Release on any other white spot and you're golden.

In the statement notification email from ameriprise I tried that with it wouldn't work, I think because there was a background image so the dialog where there was no text changed to the save picture dialog. So the selecting text and moving to an area where there is no text selected gets around that but doesn't trigger the save picture dialog, I guess because you started working with text.
 
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