One of the most obvious features missing in the iPhone is the Copy and paste functionality. We have seen some interesting videos like the one here on how this should be implemented.
However since Apple did not mention it in the announcements made last week, there is little hope to see the feature in the iPhone anytime soon.
Anyway until Apple figures out a neat way to implement the feature, you can use iCopy which brings Copy & Paste to at least your iPhone’s Safari browser.
The best part is you can do all this without hacking your iPhone.
Preston Monroe has developed a bookmarklet called iCopy that gives you the ability to copy and paste text or URLs within Safari on the iPhone.
In order to get iCopy to work you need to install iCopy as a bookmark. You can either drag this Copy/Paste link to your bookmarks bar in Safari (under Mac OS X or Windows) then simply sync your bookmarks to your iPhone via Safari or follow the instructions mentioned below:
1. Click here with your iPhone to get the application link.
2. Click the plus (+) to add a bookmark.
3. Click "Save".
4. Click the bookmarks icon to open Bookmarks.
5. Click "Edit" near the bottom of screen.
6. Click on the Copy/Paste bookmark.
7. Tap on the URL portion of the page.
8. The cursor will be at the end of the URL. Scroll to the beginning of the URL.
9. Delete everything before the word "javascript" (everythin in red below)
http://www.biocow.com/iCopy/link.php?javascript:function%20doBio……..
10. Press Return.
11. Click "Bookmarks" near the top to return to your bookmarks.
12. Cick
"Done" to exit edit mode.
13. Click "Done" to exit bookmarks.
In case of step 8, the following tip from the developer will be useful:
"You need to get to the beginning of the URL to edit part of it. Click and hold on the URL until you get the magnifying loop. Now slide your finger to the left until it’s just barly off the page. The URL text should be scrolling now. Keep scrolling until you get to the very beginning. If your finger slips don’t tap the URL or you’ll go back to the end. Again, click and hold until you get the loop. When deleting the beginning of the link, again make sure you click and hold to get the loop."
Once this is done you are ready to use the copy and paste feature on your iPhone, go to the page from which you would like to copy the URL or the text.
Then Access iCopy i.e. the Copy & Paste bookmark you had just saved above, clicking on the bookmark should display a dialog box with the Copy and Paste options.
Tap Copy, you then need to select the type of copy option you will like to use from Copy Text, Copy URL, Email Text, Email URL. After you have selected one of the options you will get a message "Ready To Copy", you can then select the paragraph or URL you want to copy by tapping it, instantly a new email message is created with the text or URL in the body of the email message. You also have the option to copy and paste text or URL within Safari browser to fill a form etc.
I guess except for the option to email, this should work for the iPod Touch as well. I haven’t tried this out yet, but you can checkout the video demonstration of the features below (its quite impressive):
Copy and Paste Text Demo:
Copy Text and Email Demo:
Monreo also has put up a disclaimer which you should be aware of:
"Before installing please understand that the information you copy and paste is sent across the internet in the URL. This is a VERY UNSECURE way to transmit information so please be sure not to copy/paste important private information."
If you are interested in finding more details about the iPhone application, you can checkout the developer’s website.
Congratulations Monroe for figuring out a way to bring Copy and Paste to the iPhone at least for Safari.
As always folks it would be great to get your feedback on this nifty way of Copy and Pasting on your iPhone. I am sure you all have been waiting for it (even though its just for iPhone’s Safari browser for now).
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