540729 - Message headers cannot be selected for copy & paste

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 167010

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect)

Description

[Nikolaus Rath]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8pre) Gecko/20100116 Ubuntu/9.10 (karmic) Firefox/3.5.7
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8pre) Gecko/20100116 Shredder/3.0.2pre

In Thunderbird 2.x, it was possible to select all visible message headers in the mail preview pane with the mouse and then copy them to the clipboard.

In Thunderbird 3.x, this is no longer possible. Only the date on the upper right and the message text itself can be selected.

Being able to copy & paste not only the message text but also the headers is a very convenient feature, and I did not find any indication that it was removed deliberately.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[bugzilla.domain.gauner]

It CAN be selected and copied, but not with the system shortcut Ctrl+C, only by context menu. :-(

Thunderbird 3.0.4, Windows XP SP3

Comment 2

[Matěj Cepl]

Attachment: screencast of the reproduction

Yes, can reproduce with thunderbird-3.1.9-6.fc15.x86_64

Comment 3

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

The header pane is a pita when it comes to keyboard behaviour, but comment 0 doesn't apply - neither to tb2 nor to current versions. There was a time when subject wasn't mouse-selectable and copyable in TB3-something, but we've applied a bandaid fix for that.

Nikolaus, for current TB12 or trunk, can you provide updated Steps (1,2,3...) and Actual Results as well as Expected Results so that we can see what's left.
Apart from focus, tab-ing, and cursor problems (which needs new bug(s)), I think it's only recipient addresses that can't be copied. And iirc there's another bug for that, which would make this a dupe.

Comment 4

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Unless of course this bug is Linux-specific. Is it?

Comment 5

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Thomas D. from comment #3)
> Apart from focus, tab-ing, and cursor problems (which needs new bug(s)), I
> think it's only recipient addresses that can't be copied. And iirc there's
> another bug for that, which would make this a dupe.

this is probably dupe of Bug 167010, unless it applies to Linux only, or to more advanced header fields.

Comment 6

[Nikolaus Rath]

Thomas, here are the steps:

1. Place the cursor in front of the "F" in "From: " in the message preview pane
2. Click and hold
3. Move the mouse to the lower right, into the actual message body

Expected result:

From, Subject, To, and Date headers are selected and can be copied with Ctrl+C

Actual result:

Nothing happens at all

This is with Thunderbird 12.0.1, 64bit, Debian testing.

Comment 7

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Nikolaus, (belated) thanks for providing requested information.

Your scenario of comment 6 is covered by bug 167010, which makes this a duplicate of that bug.
Feel free to comment in case I've missed anything.