Quoting from http://stackoverflow.com/a/30810322/225495:
The JavaScript document.execCommand(âcopyâ) support has grown, see the links below for browser updates:
- IE10+ (although this document indicates some support was there from IE5.5+).
- Google Chrome 43+ (~April 2015)
- Mozilla Firefox 41+ (shipping ~September 2015)
- Opera 29+ (based on Chromium 42, ~April 2015)
Sure @techAPJ if this is working in all browsers now we could auto-copy the link when the share dialog is popped. Might even be useful on touch devicesâŚ
At this time, reply as a related topic is still hidden behind the share icon.
Thatâs the biggest reason I have to click on the link icon at the bottom of the post, and Iâd rather not have my clipboard messed with, as itâs likely to have content I intend to use the reply Iâm posting.
Allen, as Spock once said to Kirk, and then in a 2009 reboot as Kirk said to Spock, âthe needs of the many outweigh the needs of the fewâ.
Iâm all for a copy function. Thatâs not the issue.
Moving the Reply as Linked topic out of the Share widget would be even better.
Iâm with @watchmanmonitor, please donât auto-copyâŚIâd be very disappointed if the contents in my clipboard were erased due to clicking a button (that doesnât say or imply copy) on Discourse.
Iâd much prefer an explicit button (Ă la bit.ly and other sites I cannot think of at the moment).
If we need a âbuttonâ then why notâŚ
see the link, press your right mouse âbuttonâ to copy it
see the link. Tap and hold to copy it
⌠use the âbuttonâ that is already there?
I could be wrong, but the way I interpreted the OP was a request for an explicit button. Essentially reducing the current 3 clicks to 2 clicks.
Both of your suggestions require three clicks: click share than either right click then left click, or hold then tap.
You can always right click the timestamp at upper right to get the link to a post as well. Thatâs one âclickâ.
And tap-and-hold is just two âtapsâ, not three. Tap one, expand the share dialog, tap-and-hold on the link is two.
I might be an edge case here but my tendency on desktop is to hit â#â and then enter (takes me to the top), cmd+L and then cmd+C. To me itâs a lot quicker to stay on the keyboard and skip the mouse entirely.
On mobile, I tap the time (just above the URL in the address bar) to get to the top, tap the timestamp of the post, tap/hold the link, and hit copy.
Both of those are when Iâm trying to share the topic and not necessarily a post. When sharing a post I skip the process of getting to the top on both. Itâs all the same at that point. But I should also point out that I donât worry about the ?u=joebuhlig string at the end of the url either.
Which button are you referring to?
I have an idea âthe buttonâ is the 
at the bottom of each post. I wonder if this mockup @tophee had in mind:
I went off on a tangent because this solution knocks the current âReplyâ button out of the link box.
I feel it doesnât really belong there anyway⌠Iâm clicking "link to this articleâ not âreply with quoteâ
I found the topic which is most relevant to my sidebar comment:
Solving the reply-as-linked-topic need would simplify the usage which is the heart of the current topic.
This just gets worse and worse. For such a small thing (seriously, count the actions saved here, it is at best one) it is a giant 
sandwich.
This is exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for visualizing it. I even agree that the â+ New Topicâ is not particularly well placed (nor well-labelled), but whether or not to move it is unrelated to this topic (so whoever wants to discuss that, please use that button to do so).
PR for it here:
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/4791
This feature is not supported on all browsers though. Here is the result from my testing on various OS:
Works on:
Does not work on:
What about we only auto-copy on the share dialog on the 
button, and donât copy on the dialog on the timestamp?
Or vice-versa 
Except that the âreplyâ button is currently in the way. The reply button was shoved in to this placement to make way for the current sidebar system.
The currently serves two purposes (share and reply), so it canât-not get addressed here.
Please, this⌠Right now I have to select the text I want to talk about, then go and click the " 
New Topic" button.
Auto-copying when I click on has this workflow going from bad to worse.
Agreed @techapj I thought we understood not to take any action on this for now as the benefits are minimal and the risk is high.
Okay, got it. I learned a lot in the process, so I believe it was time well spent.
Yep, closing the PR for now.
