AutoCopy
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Autocopy is the lazy(smart) mans way of cutting and pasting text from within Firefox, Mozilla, or Thunderbird
Hopfully you are aware of what the clipboard is. If not you at least probably know about "Copy", "Cut", and "Paste" which is of course how you use the clipboard. You're probably used to copying things by selecting them and then either going to Edit-Copy and then putting your courser where you want and selecting Edit-Paste. You may even use the "Right Click" menu or the sleek and sexy ctrl-c and ctrl-v. Well I'm too lazy to right click anywhere, and I'm too week to lift my hand to the keyboard. Which is why I created autocopy.
With Autocopy all you have to do to copy text to the clipboard is to select it Thats all you have to do. Select anything on a webpage and it's automaticaly on the clipboard. No more ctrl-c, no more Rightclick-Copy, no more Edit->Copy.
I first saw this nifty feature in programs like mIRC and Trillian. This feature actually comes from the Linux operating system if I have been told rightly.
With Autocopy all you have to do to paste is to middle click into a textbox or other text input area This is another feature from the Linux world.
Autocopy's options can be access though the extensions menu, or by right
clicking on the status bar button. For Mozilla users the autocopy options
can be viewed from Edit->Preferences and looking for "Auto Copy" in the
categories section.
Autocopy Options in Firefox
Autocopy Options in Mozilla
Autocopy features
Explanation of Options
Paste On Middle Click
If your mouse has a middle mouse button or a scroll wheel you can paste in one dynamite move. Just click the middle mouse button over a text box on a web page, the location bar, the search bar, or the find bar. This feature works in a few other situations such as the google tool bar and most items in thunderbird that you would expect it to work. But don't be surprised if it doesn't work here or there. And NEVER ever complain that it dosn't work in Notepad or Word. This is for firefox (or thunderbird or mozilla). It dosn't touch any other application.
Copy Plain Text
If you have the Copy Plain Text extension and would like Autocopy to use it instead the standard copy you can enable this option. If this option is enabled and the Copy Plain Text extension is not installed then Autocopy will not be able to copy. You can get the extension here http://mozmonkey.com/copyplaintext/
Deselect After Copy
If you would like conformation that your selected text has been copied to the clipboard you can turn on this option. After autocopy copies the selected text it unselected everything to let you know that it worked. This feature is turned off by default.
Status Bar Button
If you frequently turn on and off autocopy for various reasons you may like to have the status bar button. It hangs out in the bottom of your browser in the statusbar and lets you know when autocopy is enabled or not. You can also quickly access the autocopy options by right clicking on the statusbar button. This is a firefox only feature.
Edit Menu Item
Another easy way to turn on and off autocopy is using the edit menu item. It hangs out in your edit menu and has a check mark next to it. Checked means that autocopy is active. If you're concerned about browser clutter turn this feature off. It's off by default and firefox only.
Context Menu Item
This item hangs out in the context menu (that menu that comes up when you right click a web page). It has a check mark next to it to let you know when autocopy is turned on. This feature is turned off by default and is firefox only.
Enable In Text Boxes
This option is turned off by default. However thunderbird users my want to turn this one on. After using autocopy for a while I noticed that it was hard to paste anything into a textbox such as the location bar or the search bar. Every time I would enter the textbox autocopy would see that text was selected and copy over the very thing I was about to paste into the textbox. So I made this option. This makes it so that autocopy ignores anytime you select text inside a textbox such as the location bar or the search bar.
Blink On Autocopy
This option is turned on by default. When this option is enabled the status bar button will blink twice to let you know that your selection has been coppied. When Deselect After Copy is eneabled along with this option then the selection will flash before being deselected to let you know that it's been coppied.
Autocopy Context Menu
This option is turned off by default. When this option is turned on a menu will pop up every time a selection is coppied to the clipboard. When the mouse is not over the menu then the menu will time out and hide itself. If the mouse is kept over the menu then it will not hide itself until a selection is made. Clicking outside the menu will make it hide itself just like normal context menus.
Context Menu Timeout
This option tells the Autocopy Context Menu how long to wait before hiding itself after the mouse curcer had left it. This number is in milliseconds and the default is 2000, which works out to be 2 seconds.
This option is turned off by default. However thunderbird users my want to turn this one on. After using autocopy for a while I noticed that it was hard to paste anything into a textbox such as the location bar or the search bar. Every time I would enter the textbox autocopy would see that text was selected and copy over the very thing I was about to paste into the textbox. So I made this option. This makes it so that autocopy ignores anytime you select text inside a textbox such as the location bar or the search bar.
Keyboard Shortcut
This is another way to turn autocopy on and off and is firefox only. The default is ctrl-shift-c. But I spent a rainy afternoon making it so that you could make the keyboard shortcut pretty much anything you want. Be aware that some keyboard combinations don't work.