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I get format errors when I copy / paste some array data from FamilySearch.Org into NotePad or Word or . . .

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  • Last reply by bosso3

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Using CTRL C to copy data from the family data from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYPX-26L And using CTRL V to paste this data into Notepad, I get one line per data item instead of one line per line of data. (See below, which I created via CTRL C / CTRL V from that site.) This is different from what I formerly got, which was one line per line of data. This appears to have changed within the last 6 or 12 months. I tried using FireFox's default profile, and received the same undesirable results. This is also different from what is done using GOOGLE CHROME, which copies and pastes one line per line of data on the original site, which is as expected.

Apparently, FireFox is inserting paragraph control marks after each data item, instead of after each line. I saw similar, but not exactly the same problems, reported about formatting of copy / paste for array items. This problem that I am reporting may have been caused by the fix to those problems.



Copied data from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYPX-262 ---------------------------------
Note particularly the format of the data that follows the word "Household" ---------------------------------

Cesar Tritz United States Census, 1940 Name: Cesar Tritz Event Type: Census Event Date: 1940 Event Place: Ward 4, New Orleans, New Orleans City, Orleans, Louisiana, United States Sex: Male Age: 45 Marital Status: Married Race (Original): White Race: White Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Head Relationship to Head of Household: Head Birthplace: England Birth Year (Estimated): 1895 Last Place of Residence: Same Place Household Role Sex Age Birthplace Cesar Tritz Head Male 45 England Mary Tritz Wife Female 42 New Jersey Dorothy Tritz Daughter Female 20 Louisiana Betty May Tritz Daughter Female 15 Louisiana

Using CTRL C to copy data from the family data from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYPX-26L And using CTRL V to paste this data into Notepad, I get one line per data item instead of one line per line of data. (See below, which I created via CTRL C / CTRL V from that site.) This is different from what I formerly got, which was one line per line of data. This appears to have changed within the last 6 or 12 months. I tried using FireFox's default profile, and received the same undesirable results. This is also different from what is done using GOOGLE CHROME, which copies and pastes one line per line of data on the original site, which is as expected. Apparently, FireFox is inserting paragraph control marks after each data item, instead of after each line. I saw similar, but not exactly the same problems, reported about formatting of copy / paste for array items. This problem that I am reporting may have been caused by the fix to those problems. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- Copied data from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VYPX-262 --------------------------------- ---------------------- Note particularly the format of the data that follows the word "Household" --------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cesar Tritz United States Census, 1940 Name: Cesar Tritz Event Type: Census Event Date: 1940 Event Place: Ward 4, New Orleans, New Orleans City, Orleans, Louisiana, United States Sex: Male Age: 45 Marital Status: Married Race (Original): White Race: White Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Head Relationship to Head of Household: Head Birthplace: England Birth Year (Estimated): 1895 Last Place of Residence: Same Place Household Role Sex Age Birthplace Cesar Tritz Head Male 45 England Mary Tritz Wife Female 42 New Jersey Dorothy Tritz Daughter Female 20 Louisiana Betty May Tritz Daughter Female 15 Louisiana

All Replies (9)

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Since that is a Registered account it will be hard to see what happened. Did you also contact the site to see if FF57+ has some issue with their site?

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I contacted FamilySearch.Org thinking that their site was the cause of the problem. They checked the copy / paste function using GOOGLE CHROME, and got the desired results. They concluded the problem was with FireFox and closed my problem report.

Anyone can create a FamilySearch account and use the site free of charge. Go to https://www.familysearch.org/hr/search and click the "Free Account" button in the upper right corner.

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Could you try copying into a slightly more sophisticated text editor to see whether that makes any difference? For example, you could try the "Wordpad" program (under Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories).

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I tried pasting into M/S Word (IBM compatible, not MAC) and got the same unexpected, unformatted results. Per your request, I tried copying into WordPad and got the same unexpected results. Actually, when I wrote my original posting of this problem, I copy / pasted into the text entry box on this site, and received the same unexpected results. To me, it does not appear to be related to the receiving software. And, since it works with GOOGLE CHROME, I conclude it is the browser - FireFox.

I use NotePad because I also access subscription data bases from libraries on the libary's PCs, and NotePad is easy to access there.

The source data is formatted in an array or table. I presume (but can not be certain) that the data elements on the same line are separated by tabs. If so, FireFox is translating those tabs into paragraph markers or end of line markers.

It is possible that the data is presented in a table and that FF is misinterpreting the end-of-table-entry marker as an end of line marker.

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We have seen issues like this that were caused by the difference of the text/html and text/unicode flavors on the clipboard. the text/html flavor seems to be working much better then text/unicode when it comes to paste data from the clipboard.

Can you select text/html format on the clipboard in Word (paste special)?

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I am using MS Word 2016. Okay, this is getting much, much more complicated as I try various Paste Special into MS Word sequences. The results of the Paste Special vary depending upon which Paste Special option I perform first in that or any other open Word document, maybe even in CPU sessions.

In my initial CPU session, I got the following results in this order:


Results of Copy / Paste (Special) into MS Word follow: 1) Paste Special > HTML Format gives results as expected, with array items in neat columns, apparently in a table.

2) Paste Unformatted Unicode gives mostly acceptable results, with the array items appearing on the same line as on the web site, but with tab characters between the data items on the same line. The data items on the same line do not align vertically. 2A) Exception - the Heading line in the array on the web site, which contains the titles for each column, is pasted onto multiple lines in the Word document. For this case, the lines in Word are 1 line for each Text Title, followed by another line containing only the tab character. This is true for each column title on the web site except the final column title. The final column title is not followed by another line containing a tab character. Thus 5 column titles, all on the same line in the array on the web site, result in (4 * 2) + 1 = 9 lines in the Word document.

3) Paste Special > Unformatted Text - I forgot to do this.



Then I tried different sequences in the same CPU session, but closing and reopening MS Word each time.

A) If I Paste Special > Unformatted Text first, then all subsequent Paste Special(s) (HTML and Unicode) actions give the same results - unformatted text, one line per entry in the web site's array. There is one exception to this in that Hyper-links in the web site's array are displayed as hyper-links in the Word results when using the HTML option.

This is true if I use the same contents of the clipboard or if I refresh the clipboard's contents by doing another copy of different lines on the web site.

B) If I Paste Special > Unformatted Unicode Text first, then all subsequent Paste Special(s) (HTML and Unformatted Text) actions give the same results - unformatted text, one line per entry in the web site's array. There is one exception to this in that Hyper-links in the table are displayed as hyper-links in the results when using the HTML option.

This is true if I use the same contents of the clipboard or if I refresh the clipboard's contents by doing another copy of different lines on the web site.


I am going to post this info, shut down my PC and try one more sequence which I will post very soon.

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I am back and continuing my reporting for pasting into MS Word.

I shut down and restarted my PC. I immediately opened FF, went to the web site and copied the data. I then immediately opened Word and tried to Paste Special > HTML and could not reproduce the results I initially got. The results of this Paste were one line per text entry in the array, with Hyper-links in the web site's array displayed as hyper-links in Word.

This is very frustrating to me. Now, I can not even get the results in Word that I could when I started. I'm assuming something changed in Word's controls, but I have no idea what, or how to rectify it.

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I don't know whether this is relevant to that page, but when copying from tables:

(A) It can be helpful to overselect, that is, include at least one character before and after the table to ensure that all of the necessary tags are included.

(B) There is an alternate method of selection, which is to hold down the Ctrl key and click each cell you want in your selection.

This is most useful when there is a wide table of many columns and you only want a couple rows of a couple of columns. However, if you paste as HTML into Word, it's often faster to "clean up" in Word than to make this kind of selection.

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Thank you for your suggestion. I am copying the entire table.

Right now, the paste as HTML in WORD is not functioning as expected for me. It is pasting one line per table entry, not as a table. (As noted above in the long epistle, I did get the result as a table the first time i tried it, but since trying other paste special options, I can not get that result again.)

Additionally, my original issue was not the pasting into Word, it was pasting into NotePad. Further, GOOGLE CHROME seems to do this just fine.