copy/paste text between layers breaks text into separate lines

[Ted H]

What I'm trying to do is copy a text block from one layer and paste the same text in a different layer. I create a block of text (I've been doing it with three lines of text, separated with returns) then switch to the move tool, click on that block of text to select it, cmd-c to copy, then I click in a different layer in the Layers panel to select that layer, and do a cmd-v. What I would expect is for my block of text to be pasted into that second layer. Instead, it's creating a whole new layer above the layer I wanted to paste into. (FWIW, this also happens with objects, and the whole "create a new layer" thing is driving me crazy.) Back to the issue at hand, when I click the little arrow to expand this new layer and show me what's inside it, instead of an exact copy of the text block I copied and pasted, I see a group. Expanding that group, it's got three SEPARATE text blocks, each containing one line of text from my original three-line text block. I'd really just expect my original text block to be copied, and into the layer I had selected. I've tested this with text created using both the Frame Text tool and the Artistic text tool, and each behaves the same.

FWIW, if instead of clicking on the layer I want to paste the text block into, I click on an object in that layer, and then do a cmd-v, it creates a new layer within that layer (weird) and that layer contains a group which contains three separate text objects as described above.

I'm on a M1 Mac Mini  with Venture 13.4 running Designer Beta 2.2.0

[Hangman]

Hi @Ted H,

Are you doing anything differently to this...

[Ted H]

Hi Hangman, thanks for the reply. (Apologies if this reply isn't formatted correctly, I don't know how to tag you in this like you did for me.)

I watched your video a few times to make sure I was following along exactly. What I've been doing is *slightly* different, in that I've been clicking on the text block itself and then doing a cmd-c, where I see you're actually clicking on the text block's listing in the Layers panel, and then selecting copy and paste from the popup menu instead of using the keyboard shortcuts. So I tried doing exactly what you did to see if it would behave as it does in your video, and sadly I'm still getting the behaviour I originally described (a new layer is created, which contains a group of three separate lines.) I've tried doing it by clicking on the thumbnail for the layer as you did, and also clicking the name of the layer, and I get the same behaviour each time. Thank you for your example!

[Ted H]

Addendum to my original statement: this is happening with objects as well, where I copy an object from one layer, select another layer I wish to paste it into, and instead of going into that layer, it creates a new layer, and within that layer I find a new group, and that group contains my original object. Very odd.

[walt.farrell]

You say you're trying to paste into a different layer.

The term layer is ambiguous. Every object is a layer (small "l"). So, for example, Rectangle shapes are layers. So are Frame Text layers.

If you're in Designer or Publisher you can create a Layer layer (capital "L", small "l" respectively). This kind of layer is a container, and can contain other objects/layers.

So, in Publisher, try Layer > New Layer (or the icon at the bottom of the Layers panel), and then select that in the Layers panel, and paste into it.

[walt.farrell]

However, none of this seems to describe what you said in the topic title, that you're getting "separate lines" rather than a block.

Can you clarify whether that title is incorrect?

[Hangman]

26 minutes ago, Ted H said:

What I've been doing is *slightly* different, in that I've been clicking on the text block itself and then doing a cmd-c

Hi @Ted H,

You can tag someone by typing the @ symbol followed by their screen name (no spaces)...

I only really selected the text frame in the Layer's panel so you could see that I was copying and Pasting... Here I'm using Cmd C, Cmd V and using both Layers with a capital 'L' and layers with a small 'l'...

I think we're slightly baffled as to what is happening when you are doing this. Would you perhaps be able to make a screen recording so we can get a better idea of your process, ideally showing the complete UI with the Layers panel visible?

[Ted H]

Hi @walt.farrell, Thanks for looking into this.

Apologies for using the "layer" term ambiguously. When I'm saying layer, I probably mean Layer, as in what you get when you go to the Layers panel and click the "Add Layer" button. At our place, we've always referred to these containers as layers, and anything that goes into a layer as objects. Layers within layers we've always referred to as sublayers. So yes, what I mean in this case is Layers. So my post title should probably be "copy/paste text between Layers breaks text into separate lines." And yes, it's separate lines instead of a block like the original text object, and furthermore they are collected together as a group. I've since noticed that it also happens when copying text objects (or any objects) between separate documents. They won't paste into an existing Layer;they go into a new Layer, as groups (even if they were copied as curves).

[Ted H]

Hi @Hangman (thanks for the tip about how to tag folks!)

I'm happy to do a screen recording to show you what's happening. Bear with me; I haven't done this in a while. Back in a bit…

[Ted H]

Hi @Hangman

Here's my attempt at doing the screen recording you requested. Let me know if I need to show more of the real estate; I was trying to make the file as small as possible.

It actually did something slightly different this time—not only did it create a new layer and separate those individual lines of the text block into three groups, one for each line—it also had groups within those groups and split each line into two text objects (stripping off the initial letter of each line.)

[Ted H]

And just for fun, here's the same behavior with a shape object.

Now, when I did a quick test before making this screen recording, I ended up with a new Layer with the same object in it (ie, it was labelled "curve" instead of "group.") Then I remembered that the "group" behaviour was happening when I had multiple curve objects selected, so I duplicated that shape, flipped it horizontally, selected both objects, and tried to paste them into Layer2, and the result was a new Layer with one curve and one group. But as you see in the video, now that I do it with a single object, it results in a group and not an object/curve. Very odd.

[walt.farrell]

Next time a recording is needed, it's best to show the complete application window. That can provide additional useful information you may not realize is relevant

Question: Do you have any kind of Clipboard Manager applications running? If so, which ones, and does this still happen if you disable it/them?

 

[Ted H]

15 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Next time a recording is needed, it's best to show the complete application window.

Duly noted! Will make sure I have the whole window next time. I was trying to minimize file size and follow @Hangman's example.

 

15 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Question: Do you have any kind of Clipboard Manager applications running? If so, which ones, and does this still happen if you disable it/them?

I have a number of clipboard manager type programs running…more than I remembered! I tried turning them off one by one, and quit and restarted Designer each time. And the culprit has been found! Once I quit PurePaste, text objects copy and paste as they should. PurePaste has a feature that removes identifying references from urls you copy so that you can avoid trackers, etc. I guess it was garbling the copy and paste in Designer. So odd that it made it behave exactly as it did though, creating new Layers and grouping objects oddly.

I'll continue to do some tests, but it looks like the problem may have been solved! PurePaste does have an Exclusion panel that you can add apps to, so I've put all the Affinity programs in that list in hopes it won't mess around with Designer anymore. I also sent the PurePaste developer a note detailing what we discovered.

Thanks folks!

[Hangman]

Glad you found the culprit, courtesy of @walt.farrell...

[Ted H]

Thank you @walt.farrelland @Hangman! ❤️