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On my Nexus One's built-in browser, I am able to copy web page text to the clipboard by:

  1. selecting Settings > More > Select text,
  2. then dragging my finger from top to bottom (of the screen), seeing page content highlighted in pink,
  3. then the moment I release my finger, the pink highlight goes away and is replaced by a friendly message: "Text copied to clipboard".

I can then paste it to a clipboard "viewer" app (which is not really a clipboard viewer but rather a clipboard "paster").

The problem is that, no matter what I do, my finger doesn't seem to pick up the entire text on that page. There is always something missing: A few characters from the page start, or from the page end.

Is there something similar to Ctrl+A on Windows?

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Just curiosity -- why are you wanting to copy the whole page? Would saving the page serve your purposes? – Matthew Read♦ Mar 5 '11 at 19:07
@Matthew How do I save a page? (I tried Settings menu but there is only a 'share' option, which exports the link to a notepad). – Eternal Learner Mar 5 '11 at 19:29
You need to have a link to the page. For example, to save the page for this question, long press on the title ("How to select ALL text in web browser?", which is a link) and choose "Save link" when the menu pops up. – Matthew Read♦ Mar 5 '11 at 22:07
@Matthew Sorry but that only saves the link. I need to have a copy of the entire page, preferably text-only (no HTML), just as Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V on a Windows browser does. Is this possible? – Eternal Learner Mar 5 '11 at 23:12
It should save the page that the link points to, that's what it does for me at least. So you can save any page, as long as you can find a link to the page :P. I agree a direct solution would be better, but I don't know of one. – Matthew Read♦ Mar 6 '11 at 0:39
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1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

On my device running 2.2 Froyo, that method (from 2.1) was replaced by long-pressing on text to select it. Two "handles" appear at each end of the selection, and you can drag them wherever you want (e.g. to the top and the bottom). Maybe try that. If it doesn't work, what Android version are you using?

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I am using CyanogenMod Android version 2.2.1. The function you described doesn't work for me (I tried it on the Yahoo home page). – Eternal Learner Mar 5 '11 at 19:27
That doesn't work on CM or stock Froyo on my Droid. Is that a TouchWiz thing or part of your custom ROM? – Matt Mar 6 '11 at 2:07
Hmm. It might be a customization, but I'm sure I've seen posts from other people (without Samsungs) about it. I believe similar "handle" functionality is available when typing text in Gingerbread with the stock keyboard ... – Matthew Read♦ Mar 6 '11 at 2:22

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