Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms

From	Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com>
Newsgroups	alt.comp.software.firefox, comp.sys.mac.system, alt.os.linux
Subject	Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms
Date	2026-02-15 20:43 -0500
Organization	BWH Usenet Archive (https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com)
Message-ID	<10mtsn4$eo2$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> (permalink)
References	(8 earlier) <mv9j4uF6a35U3@mid.individual.net> <10mrqg8$1r7h$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com> <mvdrjqFt2ahU1@mid.individual.net> <10msflj$p2h$1@dont-email.me> <10mt99m$a68a$1@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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Lawrence 'Oliveiro wrote:
> On Sun, 15 Feb 2026 07:54:11 -0500, Paul wrote:
> 
>> There's no guarantee any clipboards softwares will even agree on
>> what is on the clipboard. Some of the clipboard items could be
>> automatic translations of things submitted by the sourcing
>> application.
> 
> If the source application supplies a format for the Clipboard, it
> makes sense for any app examining the Clipboard to see that format.
> 
>> And Wayland being a latecomer, of course it's going to have to do
>> weird shit, to get a name for itself.
> 
> Feel free to reproduce my tests, in a suitable way, on a pure-X11,
> Wayland-free system, then, just to see what "weird shit" means.

Hi Lawrence,

I, for one, greatly admire and appreciate what Lawrence has done for the
team, especially as Apple, Linux and Firefox users are on this thread.

I ran NirSoft InsideClipboard on Windows today and saw the same pattern
that Lawrence showed on Linux. Chromium placed CF_TEXT, CF_UNICODETEXT,
CF_LOCALE, HTML Format, and two Chromium internal formats on the
clipboard. That matches his Linux results one for one, just expressed in
Windows clipboard terminology instead of MIME types

==================================================
Format ID         : 1
Format Name       : CF_TEXT
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 244
Index             : 6
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 7
Format Name       : CF_OEMTEXT
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 244
Index             : 7
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 13
Format Name       : CF_UNICODETEXT
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 488
Index             : 2
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 16
Format Name       : CF_LOCALE
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 4
Index             : 5
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 49426
Format Name       : HTML Format
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 1,204
Index             : 1
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 49661
Format Name       : Chromium internal source RFH token
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 24
Index             : 3
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 49683
Format Name       : Chromium internal source URL
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 58
Index             : 4
==================================================

What Lawrence didn't do, since he wasn't cleaning text and I am, is run it
through the Notepad++ macro, which puts things back on the clipboard.

This is the NirSoft InsideClipboard result after running Control+B
(which adds a space, deletes it, cleans the text, & repopulates the
clipboard with the cleaned text and wipes it off of N++ in 1 step).

==================================================
Format ID         : 1
Format Name       : CF_TEXT
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 330
Index             : 3
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 7
Format Name       : CF_OEMTEXT
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 330
Index             : 4
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 13
Format Name       : CF_UNICODETEXT
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 660
Index             : 1
==================================================

==================================================
Format ID         : 16
Format Name       : CF_LOCALE
Handle Type       : Memory
Size              : 4
Index             : 2
==================================================

I have no idea, just yet, what that means in detail, but it seems to show
a. Chromium always puts plain text formats on the clipboard.
b. Chromium always puts HTML Format on the clipboard.
c. Chromium always puts its internal metadata formats on the clipboard.
   CF_TEXT
   CF_OEMTEXT
   CF_UNICODETEXT
   CF_LOCALE
   HTML Format
   Chromium internal source RFH token
   Chromium internal source URL

This appears to match Lawrence's Linux results one for one.
Hence, I believe it confirms the Chromium part of the PSA.

While the Notepad++ macro is really part of a separate Windows thread, we
note here that after the CTRL+B macro ran, the clipboard contained only:
   CF_TEXT
   CF_OEMTEXT
   CF_UNICODETEXT
   CF_LOCALE

The control+b macro stripped out all non text formats, including:
   HTML Format
   Chromium internal formats
This means the shortcuts.xml macro is not only cleaning the text.
It is also replacing the clipboard contents with a new, plain-text-only
clipboard (since everything we do is always tuned to a single step).

That new clipboard no longer contains the HTML Fragment land mine.
This explains how and why the Notepad++ macro fixes the problem.

In summary, 
 a. Chromium puts HTML Format on the clipboard.
 b. Notepad++ sees that HTML Format exists.
 c. Even though Notepad++ requests plain text, the presence of 
    that HTML Format changes how the paste is interpreted.
 d. Which breaks Ctrl+A.

The macro wipes the clipboard and replaces it with plain text only.
Once the HTML Format is gone, Ctrl+A works again. Voila!

The macro fixes the problem because it removes the HTML Format block by
rewriting the clipboard, which is exactly the invisible land mine described
in the PSA's original post.

Without everyone's help, particularly that of Lawrence, Paul & Carlos, I
never would have gotten this far in testing and explaining how it works.
-- 
My brain is wired for Occam's Razor, but to be always 100% logically 
correct, I need to have as many facts as I can to fit into the picture.

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Thread

PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-12 15:26 -0500
  Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 12:02 +0100
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms R Daneel Olivaw <Danni@hyperspace.vogon.gov.invalid> - 2026-02-13 12:19 +0100
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 12:32 +0100
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-13 08:42 -0500
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:37 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-13 14:36 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-13 19:37 +0000
              Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 15:17 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-13 21:21 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 23:32 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-13 22:57 +0000
                Ratcatcher/2.0.0.25 (was: Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms) onion@anon.invalid (Mr Ön!on) - 2026-02-14 01:05 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 00:26 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 21:07 +0100
              Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 15:29 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:24 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 01:52 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 13:13 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-15 07:54 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lew Pitcher <lew.pitcher@digitalfreehold.ca> - 2026-02-15 15:06 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 19:43 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 14:49 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 22:04 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 22:30 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 14:59 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-15 20:11 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-15 17:13 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-15 23:33 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 21:58 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-16 03:11 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 22:44 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 20:43 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 21:01 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms vallor <vallor@vallor.earth> - 2026-02-16 03:15 +0000
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 14:37 -0500
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-15 22:08 +0100
                Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 22:53 -0500
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-14 00:39 +0000
              Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 02:16 -0500
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:07 +0100
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 17:19 -0500
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Jim Jackson <jj@franjam.org.uk> - 2026-02-13 17:17 +0000
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms R Daneel Olivaw <Danni@hyperspace.vogon.gov.invalid> - 2026-02-13 18:35 +0100
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:14 -0500
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-14 00:34 +0000
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2026-02-14 09:22 -0500
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Frank Miller <miller@posteo.ee> - 2026-02-13 15:59 +0100
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:25 -0500
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:12 -0500
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 21:13 +0100
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 16:01 -0500
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:31 +0100
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-14 00:33 +0000
            Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 00:41 -0500
        Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com> - 2026-02-14 10:31 +1300
          Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-02-13 22:57 +0100
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-13 13:12 -0500
  Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-02-13 23:17 +0000
    Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 01:14 -0500
      Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-15 21:29 -0500
  Re: PSA: Clipboard differences between Chromium & Firefox across platforms Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-02-16 03:15 +0000

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