# Selected text is overwritten when using the link toolbar action
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515
**Category:** Bug
**Created:** [December 6, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515 "2017-12-06T11:45:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@terraboss](https://meta.discourse.org/u/terraboss)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/1 "2017-12-06T11:45:14Z")
Hello,
Since the latest github commits, it seems, there is something broken. Workaround:
By selecting a few words and trying to insert a hyperlink with the symbol bar icon, I’ve got a problem: The link I’ve copied before will overwrite the selected text, insted of filling the text field of the hyperlink prompt.
Result:
If I wrote more than just a few words and overwrite them, they will be lost for ever! I can’t undo this to restore my text. :sadpanda:
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/2 "2017-12-06T11:49:34Z")
> [@terraboss](#):
>
> By selecting a few words and trying to insert a hyperlink with the symbol bar icon, I’ve got a problem: The link I’ve copied before will overwrite the selected text, insted of filling the text field of the hyperlink prompt.
Aha that does seem like a regression, but the temporary workaround is to not do that for now. How is this “urgent”?
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### Author:  [@terraboss](https://meta.discourse.org/u/terraboss)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/4 "2017-12-06T11:52:11Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> How is this “urgent”?
I would say, the link prompt is one of the most important functions at our Discourse instance. Especially for mobile / tablet users.
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### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/5 "2017-12-06T11:54:03Z")
Hello Markus,
I am able to understand the issue now. I am checking it. Thanks for reporting it.
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### Author:  [@terraboss](https://meta.discourse.org/u/terraboss)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/6 "2017-12-06T11:54:49Z")
Thank you very much!!! 🙂
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### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/7 "2017-12-06T12:01:49Z")
Also as a workaround you can use “Paste as plain text” from context menu or Ctrl + Shift + V to skip HTML pasting.
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### Author:  [@terraboss](https://meta.discourse.org/u/terraboss)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/8 "2017-12-06T12:08:45Z")
> [@vinothkannans](#):
>
> Also as a workaround you can use “Paste as plain text” from context menu
Thanks for the hint. 🙂
> [@vinothkannans](#):
>
> or Ctrl + Shift + V to skip HTML pasting.
Is it possible to generally disable HTML pasting? It seems to take much longer then before and won’t be kind of necessary / useful for us.
Maybe some kind of an integrated undo option inside the composer would be useful?
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### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 2:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/10 "2017-12-06T14:59:52Z")
It is fixed now 👍.
> [@terraboss](#):
>
> Is it possible to generally disable HTML pasting?
Currently there is no option to disable it. But you can always use the two workarounds above for plain text pasting.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/11 "2017-12-06T21:46:41Z")
> [@terraboss](#):
>
> Is it possible to generally disable HTML pasting? It seems to take much longer then before and won’t be kind of necessary / useful for us.
Can this be sped up @vinothkannans? Can there be a quick reject check where the code running sees that none of the special characters / data necessary for a fancy paste are present, and then it exits that code path to the traditional fast paste?
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### Author:  [@vinothkannans](https://meta.discourse.org/u/vinothkannans)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/12 "2017-12-07T16:20:02Z")
It’s done. Now HTML to Markdown conversion happening silently in background. So no more waiting.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [December 7, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/13 "2017-12-07T20:41:50Z")
I do like this a lot, I wonder though if long term we want to do this stuff in JavaScript both on server and client side. It just adds a tiny bit more polish to a wonderful feature.
Nothing urgent, something to think about longer term.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/14 "2018-01-22T10:26:26Z")
Is this fixed now, or should still be open?
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### Author:  [@terraboss](https://meta.discourse.org/u/terraboss)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2018, 11:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/15 "2018-01-22T11:28:44Z")
Solved. Thanks guys! ❤
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/selected-text-is-overwritten-when-using-the-link-toolbar-action/75515/16 "2018-01-22T11:35:24Z")