Clip selected text AND images to RTF file

[imagr8m8]

I'm seeking a better way to clip selected text AND images and get them into an RTF file in a folder I choose. Over the last few months I've often hunted for info or an add-on to help without luck.

Many times a day, I do this to notate work & content I do & get through Firefox and Thunderbird:
Select the region of a web Page or email I want, copy it to the clip board, open a blank RTF file, Paste from clipboard (though only the selected text gets pasted), then go back to the web page or email, "Copy Image" to clipboard, back to RTF file and paste the image(s) into their place amongst the text, save the RTF to the folder I want. I've found ways to shorten this task a bit (using the context menu within the folder of downloaded content to create a new rtf file and pasting the text from the clipboard will use the first line of text to name the file, then open the file and paste the complete text again)...but I still have to go back and forth between Firefox and Write to get both the text and the images. There's also a handy WinExplorer Utility called FileNote that creates/opens a TXT file with the same name as the selected file and another one called FileNoter that does something similar with selectable formats (including RTF)...can sometimes save me a step, but it only works when the content I'm notating is already download (as opposed to queued or in the process) and STILL I can only clip and copy text and images one at a time.

Ideally, I'd like to select a region on a web page or email that includes text and images then "Send to" an rtf file in a folder I select...like a "Clip to" function. I've tried "ScrapBook" and "Shelve" Add-ons without any success doing this (they're made for different functions).

All the back and forth between Firefox and WordPad (or Jarte) to get all the elements I need from the page wastes a huge amount of time every day...there must be a better way.

Any ideas or help making an add-on are MUCH appreciated.

[roparr2]

I use Clipmate from Thornsoft.com, which holds unlimited text clips and images until you're ready to paste them. Text formatting is retained. You do have to copy the text and image separately, though. I keep various kinds of clips in folders in self-made categories, and they can be pasted into any program. The clips stay in there forever, and don't disappear when you close the computer. You can see the database of clips in My Computer, not just in an imaginary memory space.

I've tried some other clipboard programs, but either they don't copy images, or they were clunky.

BE SURE to use the backup facility in the program.

[imagr8m8]

Thanks for the suggestion...I'll look into Clipmate. I guess I'm already doing the same type of thing with the rtf files in the folder that have web content I need to notate. BUT the big annoyance is that I can't seem to copy text and images at the same time, though they both are selected/highlighted...if I could it would be a four step process of select block, copy, open blank RTF, paste....instead of all the back and forth to get all the different elements.

Any suggestions on how to copy and paste all the content in selected blocks that include both text AND images are appreciated. If its an issue with FF, is there a work-around? If its an issue with Wordpad (I've also tried Jarte), is there a better choice for creating/editing the RTF file?

[roparr2]

Clipmate won't copy text and pics together. It's not an FF issue, but a Clipmate issue, something about programming. They're just copied in a different way. But you can do all your copying, then all your pasting at once. You can also keep the window on top, and successively choose your "pastes" or glue several clips together and paste them together. In that case, I don't think the image will end up in the correct place.

I have an older version, but it's worth whatever they're charging now. I use it in every program in my computer. It's like a combo of Post-it Notes, a notebook and a filing cabinet I even keep my letterheads, reminders and book lists in there.

There's a forum on Thornsoft's website, and see if they have a trial version.

[malliz]

ArsClip

http://www.joejoesoft.com/cms/showpage.php?cid=97

[imagr8m8]

Thanks for more suggestions. Ironically, I've been using ArsClip for a few years to store and paste repetitive and stored text. I have about 150 text blocks stored: standard info in reports, stock email responses, sigs, etc...use it many time an hour...VERY handy! I guess I completely forgot that it collects the 5 previous clipped items that can then be chosen and pasted from its menu. Thanks! I'll be trying that method now.

To further this dicussion: I was having a problem copying embedded images from emails..here's the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1539265
We found a work-around using code that existed in Tbird3, but somehow got lost in shuffle and never made it onto a menu.

It seems that copying "Rich Text" has been on the to do list for a while:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=466599

So here's the question: can someone help make a "ClipTo" add-on: select a block of text and images, right click to choose "Clip to" (sub-menu displays options like RTF, DOC, HTML, etc), opens default editor for the selected type with all items pasted. If text and images can't be copied at once, then a routine would use existing FF functions to fetch them into some sort of buffer and organize them OR fetch and parse the HTML into a format consistent with the selected document type.

[roparr2]

Gadwin Print Screen or Snagit copy just a chosen portion of your screen and either put it on the clipboard or output it to a jpg file. But if you want to retain text as text and image as image, you need a clipboard utility. Then you can put the image wherever you want in the text because it's a separate file. There are so many clipboard utilities out there, so why do you need FF to do this function? Copy-and-paste is already a function of Windows, which clipboard utilities just build on.

As far as using an rtf file, you can paste your clips into any kind of file you want.

[imagr8m8]

Thanks for the input. I often do screen captures. But, sometimes the content occupies more than a single screen, so screen capture wouldn't always work AND, of course, the text wouldn't be editable.

The reasoning to this thread is simply this: Web page content is a mix of ASCII text, special characters (foreign language), images, formatting, etc. Its all selectable at the same time (everything gets highlighted), but can't be "intuitively" copied and pasted as a group into external documents...it seems it always has to be manually reassembled. If there's multiple images surrounded by text, all the back and forth between a web page an EDITABLE document is a chore.

BTW: I have tried creating a PDF from the page, then convert that to RTF and edit away the unneeded content, but it is still a lot of steps.

I'm just floating the idea of selecting a block of content and being able to paste it intact somewhere else (text, images, formatting, foreign characters...everything). From research on the Mozilla boards (and the bug link above), it appears that its possible in other browsers (Opera or Safari on Mac?). The desire to copy and paste Rich Text from FF and/or TBird has been around for quite a while, but never really resolved. I'm just exploring how to move the issue along a bit.

[roparr2]

Maybe you want to create an extension. You seem programming-savvy.

Not sure exactly how much of the page you need, but how about saving it as HTML in something like Netscape Composer (the only one I've ever used, even though it's old)and deleting and editing sections there.

Or capturing the source (rt-click-view source) and editing it in an HTML editor?

I think no matter how you do this, there are many steps involved. How much of this do you have to do?

Don't know about Opera or Safari, have never used them. But some of the guys here are very savvy about other browsers, particularly Debian and, named after the Linux distro. Also dickvl and Limpet

[imagr8m8]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Sometimes I'm clipping text and images from 20-30 pages or rss feeds (FF and TB) in an hour...so it would be a big time saver if I could just clip "Rich Text" with text, images, links and formatting at one time. ArsClip is helping to trim the task a bit...get various texts and images into its buffer before opening and pasting into and RTF file.

Sadly, I never created an add-on before....but have advised and tested many through the creation and testing phase. So I'm just throwing out some ideas in hopes that someone more experienced in coding could jump in and work with me on something.