Forum Discussion
Announcing a new way to paste URLs, Link format!
Recently, we wanted to dig into how users feel about copying and pasting a URL from their browser. We looked to understand what they do when they copy and paste URLs, as well as the pain points they experience.
What did we find?
We found that one has to regularly edit the URL they copy to make them understandable for sharing or remove seemingly extra parameters. This led us to what we call Link format, an easily readable URL that also preserves the details of the URL.
We also learned that nearly everyone, at one point, wants the full, plain-text URL exactly as it was copied. When one first copies a URL, it’s not always obvious that the full text is needed. Other times, it’s desired to have both a readable format and the plain-text version.
With both in mind, we are excited to not only introduce Link format for URLs but also options in the context menu that lets you paste both styles of URL regardless of your default paste setting!
How can you use it?
Starting this week, you should see Link format available on Windows devices running the Canary channel of Microsoft Edge. When you copy from the address bar and right-click to paste, you will see that Paste now has a fly-out menu and that plain-text URL pasting is now Ctrl+Shift+V.
Jump list options from right-click, hovering over "Paste as" to show new options for pasting, "Plain text", "Link (Default)", and "Change default".
If you want to revert this change, you can head to edge://settings/shareCopyPaste (or navigate through the … menu > Settings > Share, Copy & Paste) and select Plain text as the default for your URLs. Once you do that, Ctrl+V will be for the plain-text URL.
Screenshot of the settings page for edge://settings/shareCopyPaste
What’s next?
Right now, this feature is only available on Windows devices. We are working on bringing this to Mac. Additionally, it’s important to note that this only works for URLs copied from the address bar at this time. Link format support will be available for in-page links soon.
There’s a few things we’re aware of, too, and are working on getting these resolved:
- When Link format is default, pasting into a LinkedIn post is resulting only in the title appearing without a hyperlink. We’re working closely with the LinkedIn team to address this.
- When Link format is default, pasting into a Word document using Word Online is resulting only in the title appearing without a hyperlink. We’re working closely with the Word team to address this.
- In general, some sites or web apps may introduce their own formatting on paste. We want to know when you notice this, so please submit feedback letting us know what you’re seeing (Alt+Shift+I or … menu > Help and feedback > Send feedback).
In addition to the above, we want to know if you see encounter any issues with this feature! If you have it set to Link format as the default and notice anything amiss while pasting, let us know via the browser so that the team can dig into what might be happening.
Thanks!
- The Microsoft Edge Team
87 Replies
MissyQ This breaks in some cases.
Copy from: GitHub issue page in Edge
Paste to: Slack app
URL: https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/20332
When pasted, I get a mess where part of the text is a hyperlink (image attached)
Because it's the Slack App, I get no right click > paste as plain text.
However, ctrl + shift + v does allow me to paste just the URL.
MissyQ This function is not currently not working for me when I use Office desktop apps.
The Ctrl+V works correctly adding the tittle of the header with the hyperlink. But the Ctrl+Shift+V doesnt paste the plain hyperlink test.I'd suggest to keep the standard Ctrl+V behaviour ( pasting plain text ) and adding the new function ( Paste Title + Hyperlink ) to Ctrl+Shift+V to avoid problems with standard apps.
All that said I think it is a clever function and a really nice productivity boost, so I would like to congrat and thank you for the great idea.
Thanks, ManuelGPz. I'm glad you find this to be helpful and I understand that you prefer the plain text paste method in Office desktop apps.
The Ctrl + Shift + V shortcut key isn't guaranteed to work in every app. It works on most websites (though even some websites override shortcut keys). The Office desktop apps each offer their own paste menus that allow you to paste the full URL as plain text.
If you would like the default paste format to behave like it used to, there is a setting you can set to make URL paste always paste the plain text URL by default (which will also set Ctrl + V back to the full plain text URL).
Note, that within Edge, you can right click and use the "Paste as" menu to paste in a format other than the default (much like Ctrl + Shift + V) but again, that is only within Edge and will not necessarily work on every website.
Thank you again and I hope this helps!
My suggestion would be to put Ctrl+V back the way it was, and instead makes Ctrl+Shift+V do this cool new function.
Thanks, Adam Fowler
I appreciate the suggestion of reverting the default and having a shortcut key for the new behavior as an option.
Note that you can change your default paste option in Edge settings under "Share, Copy & Paste" to set it back to the full plain text URL and then use the right-click "Paste as" menu to paste as a link within Edge. I hear you though on also wanting a shortcut key for link when plain text is the default.Thanks again!
Jared
Hi Everyone,
We're excited to announce that the Link format and its settings (including the "Paste as" menu and the shortcut key support) is now available in Edge Canary on MacOS.
If you have a Mac, please update to the latest Canary build and give this a try. We would love to hear your feedback!
Thanks,
Jared on behalf of the Link format teamMissyQ I'm not loving this feature.
Too many times I want to paste the actual URL, but I cannot. One example is when pasting a URL from Edge into MS Teams. I think I'd prefer the option to "Copy as Formatted Link" and "Copy as Text". This would help when pasting into something that does not support "Paste as Text".
It would be nice if there were additional Share --> "Copy Link" options. One to copy the formatted URL and one to copy the content that ends up the email body when sharing via Outlook.
I realize there is a way to disable this feature, so I'm not complaining. Just giving feedback. Thanks!
- Thank you for the feedback regarding options at copy time vs. at paste time. That's helpful to understand.
rjpaulsen in MS Teams and some other apps I discovered that you can use the Control + Shift + V which pastes as the plaintext and so you get the raw URL, same if you copy some other formatted text from say MS Word, hopefully that helps you as well 🙂
- Absolutely love this feature. Why didn't anybody think of this before!
Hi Everyone,
I'm happy to announce that in the Canary and Dev channels, copying links within the contents of the web page now supports the Link format, much like copying URLs from the Address Bar has since Missy's original post.
Please give copying and pasting links within a page a try and send us your feedback.On behalf of the team working to simplify pasting of links, thank you in advance for your feedback on in-page links!
Jared
JaredB81 One bug I reported via feedback is when you right click on Articles above and copy link.
This produces Articles (microsoft.com). Where is the " (microsoft.com)" text coming from? Click on the Microsoft Edge Insider link that is adjacent and it produces Microsoft Edge Insider without the extra text.
The the Link Preview Format clipboard data JSON has a different title still.
{"description":"","domain":"microsoft.com","favicon_url":"https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/html/assets/favicon2.ico",
"image_url":"https://cdn.techcommunity.microsoft.com/lithium/TechCommunity-DefaultHero-2.png","preferred_format":"text/h
tml;content=titled-hyperlink","title":"Articles - Microsoft Tech Community","type":"website","url":"https://techcommunit
y.microsoft.com/t5/articles/bd-p/EdgeInsiderAnnouncements"}Thank you, rshupak. As always, you have a very keen eye. We append the domain when it isn't included in the title text so that it's clear what the content is related to.
Do you have a preference between the text in your example (with the appended domain) vs. the Link text as specified in the Link Preview Format clipboard data's JSON payload?
Thanks,
Jared
- I have to admit, I never knew I needed this feature until I started using it and now I see how useful it is in my everyday usage, it just fits right in my workflow, automatically!
- I was part of a call where you asked for input on sharing content. I suggested using Open Graph meta data (which is what Facebook and Twitter use for when you share a link). I hope this is what's coming.
This solves a problem I didn't know I had!
Why hasn't pasting links always worked like this?? Of course, there will always be the dinosaurs who don't like anything changing 🙂
Thanks
Thank you, CSearle! We are glad you are happy with this feature!
Note that some people have workflows that aren't working. There are always the folks that just dislike change, as you correctly pointed out, however we are listening carefully to those who are running into issues as well. Our goal is for everyone to be as satisfied as you are :).
Thank you again for the feedback!
Jared
MissyQ This doesn't work in Google Hangouts/Gchat within gmail. It results in text only and it wasn't intuitive to figure out what was going on.
Thank you, dcephilpott! We've taken note of this.
Note that you can use Ctrl + Shift + V or you can right-click, select "Paste as" and choose "plain text" to paste the plain text URL into Google Hangouts.
If Google Hangouts is a place you paste URLs into very frequently, you can also change your default back to plain text in edge://settings/shareCopyPasteThanks again for the feedback!
