Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

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livin1965
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Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:02 pm

Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

Post by livin1965 »

When I select "Copy Citation" (any version of this from the contextual menu, Bookends copies AND pastes the citation at the location of the cursor in whatever Word document is selected, EVEN IF that is not the active window that I was most recently using. Why does a copy command result in copy AND paste and not just copy so that I can then paste where I want it? I should also mention that this was the default behavior when I first used Bookends, then at some point that appeared random to me, it stopped pasting (even when I used the exact same command) and only copied and I would have to paste for that action to occur. Then it restarted with copy doing the copy+paste. I have not changed any preferences that could possibly alter this behavior. But, as initially noted I am perplexed why "copy" would result in "copy+paste" under any circumstances. Why is this happening and how do I simply copy the citation so that I can paste where I want it?
Jon
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Re: Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

Post by Jon »

Why? -- because it's useful. That's always been the behavior of Copy Citation (and if the paste stopped working for a while, it was either due to a change in the Word AppleEvents dictionary, which did occur years ago and was resolved, or because the security setting of macOS interfered). This behavior is quite popular, and won't change. The solution is to either (1) set the insertion point in the Word document before doing the copy/paste, (2) while in Word, use the Insert Citation command in the Bookends tab, or (3) for the behavior you're asking for, hold the Option key down when clicking Copy Citation -- then you can switch to your word processor yourself and paste where you want.

Jon
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livin1965
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Re: Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

Post by livin1965 »

Jon wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 5:37 pm Why? -- because it's useful. That's always been the behavior of Copy Citation (and if the paste stopped working for a while, it was either due to a change in the Word AppleEvents dictionary, which did occur years ago and was resolved, or because the security setting of macOS interfered). This behavior is quite popular, and won't change. The solution is to either (1) set the insertion point in the Word document before doing the copy/paste, (2) while in Word, use the Insert Citation command in the Bookends tab, or (3) for the behavior you're asking for, hold the Option key down when clicking Copy Citation -- then you can switch to your word processor yourself and paste where you want.

Jon
Sonny Software
Jon, you crack me up! I agree it's useful... when I want it. Perhaps I should have included that as well. I like that it automates the process, when I want it to. The option key plus Copy Citation is exactly what I need and thanks for letting me know how to obtain the desired behavior. However, I do stand by my statement that calling it "Copy Citation" when it performs a copy and paste is misleading. I suspect any person new to the application will be confused by it. Calling it "Insert Citation" would far more accurately describe what "Copy Citation" presently does and would also free up the "Copy Citation" command to actually just, y'know, copy the citation :wink:
Jon
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Re: Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

Post by Jon »

Point taken.

The term was chosen 20 years ago, and it it emphasizes that the temp citation is now in the clipboard. Insert Citation works, too, but it can also be misleading. For some word processors, like Pages, the insertion can't be done (due to lack of the appropriate command in the Pages AS dictionary). There are some other apps that you might link to as well, such as those that aren't scriptable. For example, Just today a user wrote to me about using Copy Citation with inDesign. inDesign didn't didn't accept the paste event, he had to do it himself. So I think I'll leave it as is. Perhaps surprisingly, I don't recall anybody writing about confusion concerning how Copy Citation works in all this time (you weren't confused, you just wanted a different behavior, which the Option modifer provides). While we're on the subject, another occasionally useful modifier is Shift, which when held down prevents the surrounding punctuation, e.g., curly brackets, from being included in the temp citation. There are edge cases when people fine that useful, too.

Jon
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DrJJWMac
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Re: Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

Post by DrJJWMac »

Is this behavior also a function of setting the File->Link To->… to an active state? When linking is off, Copy Citation just copies. When a link is active Copy Citation copies and pastes.

I too would prefer that the phrase “Copy” be reserved solely for copying. Indeed, if the behavior of a specific menu is to change due to a toggle state of the application, the menu phrasing should change. Otherwise, as noted, an uniformed user will get lost. A clearer appreciation of what is to happen would be conveyed using terms such as Transfer or Copy Over or Paste In when this is the action that will be performed. Alternatively, when the linking method is active, the term Copy should still designate only the base action to copy, and the modifier Option key should add on this action by also doing the copy + paste (not the other way around as is the case currently).


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Jon
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Re: Why does "copy citation" result in copy+paste of citation?

Post by Jon »

Typically one sets the default word processor in preferences, and when it is running Copy Citation switches and pastes into it. If it's not running just the copy occurs. If this is confusing, think of it as copying the temp citation to the word processor document, which is what it is meant to convey.

The switch and paste is by far the preferred use of this function (what good is copying the temp citation if NOT to insert it into a word processor document?). That is not going to change. I've explained (as does the documentation) the way to avoid this in those cases where you don't want the paste to occur, it's not hard.

Jon
Sonny Software
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