"Copy link address" for 🔗 share link popup?

Am I the only one who finds it a bit of a nuisance (given all the other luxuries on discourse) that there is no “copy” button on the :link:-popup? It would be great to have, similar to copy invite link button.

2 Likes

Great idea! Would save a lot of unnecessary clicks

1 Like

Copy to clipboard is not really supported on all browsers as of 1-2 years ago. Maybe that changed in latest versions. You can check if you are interested.

1 Like

Do you mean I should find out if all browsers now support copy to clipboard?

Well, I’d simply say that if it’s possible for invite links (in August 2015), why not for any link?

Feel free to do the research.

Quoting from How do I copy to the clipboard in JavaScript? - Stack Overflow

The JavaScript document.execCommand(‘copy’) 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)
7 Likes

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 devices…

4 Likes

At this time, reply as a related topic is still hidden behind the share icon.

That’s the biggest reason I have to click on the link icon at the bottom of the post, and I’d rather not have my clipboard messed with, as it’s likely to have content I intend to use the reply I’m posting.

3 Likes

Allen, as Spock once said to Kirk, and then in a 2009 reboot as Kirk said to Spock, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”.

2 Likes

I’m all for a copy function. That’s not the issue.

Moving the Reply as Linked topic out of the Share widget would be even better.

I’m with @watchmanmonitor, please don’t auto-copy…I’d be very disappointed if the contents in my clipboard were erased due to clicking a button (that doesn’t say or imply copy) on Discourse.

I’d much prefer an explicit button (à la bit.ly and other sites I cannot think of at the moment).

If we need a “button” then why not…

  • see the link, press your right mouse “button” to copy it

  • see the link. Tap and hold to copy it

… use the “button” 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.

1 Like

You can always right click the timestamp at upper right to get the link to a post as well. That’s one “click”.

And tap-and-hold is just two “taps”, 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 “#” and then enter (takes me to the top), cmd+L and then cmd+C. To me it’s 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 I’m 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. It’s all the same at that point. But I should also point out that I don’t worry about the ?u=joebuhlig string at the end of the url either.

Which button are you referring to?

I have an idea “the button” is the :link: 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 “Reply” button out of the link box.

I feel it doesn’t really belong there anyway… I’m clicking "link to this article’ not “reply with quote”

I found the topic which is most relevant to my sidebar comment:

Solving the reply-as-linked-topic need would simplify the :link: 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 :poop: sandwich.

This is exactly what I had in mind. Thanks for visualizing it. I even agree that the “+ New Topic” 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).

2 Likes

PR for it here:

This feature is not supported on all browsers though. Here is the result from my testing on various OS:

:heavy_check_mark: Works on:

  • Latest Safari on macOS
  • Latest Chrome on macOS
  • Latest Chromium on macOS
  • IE11 on Windows 10
  • Latest Chrome on Android 5
  • Latest Safari on iOS 10

:heavy_multiplication_x: Does not work on:

  • Latest Firefox on macOS
  • Edge 14 on Windows 10
5 Likes