I would find it very helpful to have a copy button in the line view. Thus when the user is looking at one line of the text or audio clip, pressing a button would copy the foreign language text to the buffer. I could then paste the text into Anki, or wherever. Sometimes the translation is, let’s say, less than ideal, and this would also allow me to paste the text into a translator.
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I wish that were an available feature also.
Meanwhile, I do one of two things:
- in sentence view, “edit sentence” and copy the sentence from there.
- for longer portions I want to copy, open “edit lesson” and copy the sentences one by one from there.
or - if you have the Rooster extensions I believe there’s a way, but I’m kind of lost regarding how to use it. @roosterburton could probably help you with that.
Edited to add:
If it’s just one word you want to copy/paste, the word can be copied from inside the LIngQ.
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Thank you. That makes life much easier. A button would be nicer, but it’s close.
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Unfortunately it looks like that is a browser extension, and I use the iOS app. Even then I’m not sure I can install browser extensions on iOS. Apple are very controlling.
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I don’t know about iOS, but on Android, if you’re very, very, careful to click the exact right spot (it may take a few tries), you can click and drag to select the words in a short sentence or phrase and copy/paste them into your translation app. It may involve an intermediate step when the app tries to create a new LingQ for the phrase you just selected. (Limited by length, I hear, although I haven’t tried to exceed that # of words personally). Good luck!
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For what it’s worth, when you are highlighting a word or phrase, you can copy it from the “widget”/sidebar (on PC). I used that extensively when I was using LingQ, Google, and Wikipedia together to teach myself the Persian alphabet 
A workaround for the app would be to click on one of the dictionaries like Google Translate and then highlight and copy from there. A “copy” or “share” button would be quite neat, though!
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Oh, right! I forgot about copying from the dictionary entries. That works great. I used to do it that way, too. It’s probably faster.
It’s just that sometimes the automatic captions provided by YouTube are inaccurate, so I have to edit them anyway, so I may as well copy the words I need while I’m there anyway, so that ended up being my default method. 
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I usually save entire phrases, or a large portion of a phrase, I prefer to learn words in context, it works better for me.
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I would use the ‘copy sentence’ button from sentence-mode about 20 times a day.
I think that a further (better?) way would be to place the sentence automatically into the OS clipboard when in sentence-mode. That way you could just paste directly into the target app. (Anki for me).
I currently have to carefully drag to copy the sentence from within the sentence editor and mess the sentence up about twice a month.
Outside of lingq, I use Anki-connect a lot with browser extensions, or just triple-click.
A slicker way to copy sentences in sentence mode would be a very used feature!
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I would also like to have this option!
I often copy/paste entire sentences many times in ALL my reading sessions. An important detail: In languages like Japanese, which do not have spaces, I would like it to be copied WITHOUT spaces. In the lesson, it is saved with spaces (a split of words is done to be able to separate each of the lingqs) but the sentence in reality should not have spaces.
@zoran , please, could you take a look at it? Thank you!
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The browser extension by @roosterburton has a good copy feature. Also you can paste into any word processor and do “replace” to replace all spaces with nothing. (I.e. remove spaces).
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Also, I just checked and it is possible to do this:
open lesson
click on “…” in upper right corner of lesson window to open menu
select “print lesson”
select word(s)/sentence(s) and copy to clipboard
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–Via Print Lesson–
- Open Lesson
- Click on …
- Select print lesson
- Click in the opened tab
- Search for your sentence.
5a. Optionally do some QA to assure that you have the correct sentence, - Carefully drag around your sentence
7, copy to the clipboard - Click back to your sentence-mode tab.
- Regain your thoughts
VS.
–Via Sentence Editing–
- Click …
- Select edit sentence
- click into sentence to active editing
- Carefully drag around the sentence
- Copy to clipboard
- exit edit mode, lest you accidently modify the sentence
- Regain your thoughts
Vs.
–A copy button for sentence-mode–
- Copy to clipboard from sentence mode and continue learning.
OR
–Having the sentence place automatically on the clipboard–
0. Done! - Sentence is already on te clipboard.
Respectfully, Just because something is possible, doesn’t mean it is most desirable.
Last time I looked, the rooster stuff wasn’t fully available on all browsers.
I don’t know how to express my rationale to support this request any further. It is clear that some people want it; I being one of them.
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Yes, it would be helpful.
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I believe it does not work on iOS devices such as an iPad. Apple have a very closed OS.
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Another questionable, I would say poor, design choice in LingQ.
Why can’t a user just copy from the main window like any other normal application? Then paste it wherever.
Instead LingQ copies the text without spaces which is not at all what any user wants or expects.
The workaround is to go to the right panel and copy the text there. Extra work for the LingQ user.
Plus the triple-click which in normal applications would select the whole line almost never works.
I just don’t understand.
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Agree with everything, except the point on triple-clicking. True, it would normally select the whole line/paragraph, but clicks already have a defined function in LingQ that is incompatible with this. (Click: LingQ/select word, double-click: LingQ/select phrase)
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Perhaps I’m missing something, but given that the user is forced into a standard text field in the right-hand panel, I see no reason for LinQ to repudiate standard mouse-handling.
For instance, editing text here in the comment section follows the triple-click standard.
Why not in the Sentence View?
For what it’s worth, you are not forced into using the side panel, you can also switch to a pop-up panel that works like in the mobile app. I prefer that a lot because my eyes don’t have to jump around on the screen nearly as much.
But in any case, clicks have a defined function: a click selects a word, a double-click selects a phrase. That’s part of LingQ’s core functionality. It would not work otherwise. Selecting more than 9 words at a time is simply not part of how LingQ works. Being able to highlight and copy text is not an intended function, as seen by the fact that it deletes spaces if you do it.
Notably, a triple-click doesn’t select the line/paragraph on e.g. Kindle, either – neither on the browser, nor the desktop app. That is because a click has a defined non-standard function there, as well.
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