some table text cannot copy in view mode

[Pasi Putkonen]

Hello,

Why some confluence page or table in page is such that you cannot select and copy text without you go to EDIT mode?

And how you can change it so that that you can select text in table without going to Edit mode?

BR,

Pasi

[Mark Sanders]

I came across this same issue.

I already had text on the page when editing.  When viewing I did not like the way it looked.  I went back into edit mode and added a single table cell.  After I put the text in the table and updated, I could not select the text in the table.

Turned out that when I created the table it was a header cell.  When you are in edit mode click the down arrow for a table.  Wait a few seconds and you will tool tip pop up that says,

"Hold SHIFT for a table without a heading..."  Not using a heading was my solution.

[Fabio Racobaldo _Catworkx_]

Hi @Pasi Putkonen ,

welcome to the Atlassian community!

It's weird that you can't select text in view mode. Please could you attach a screenshot about your issue?

Fabio

[Pasi Putkonen]

Hello,

 I don’t know is screeshot very describable….

[Fabio Racobaldo _Catworkx_]

All text should be selectable. Did u try with another browser?

[Pasi Putkonen]

Yes I did, it is not browser issue....

[Eric Mills]

Giving this thread a bump as this thread describes the problem better than most, and no other thread that I could find has had an actual resolution to it yet.

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Hello @Fabio Racobaldo _Catworkx_

I'll +1 Pasi's latest post above, this is not a browser issue.  This issue occurs on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, multiple users across multiple computers and Operating Systems.  This issue is specific to some Confluence Tables.

As Pasi described (and attempted to screenshot), when this issue occurs, text in the table cannot be selected in view mode.  When editing the page, the text in the effected table is then able to be selected using a cursor or keyboard commands.

I've also found that this issue usually persists until a particular row or seperate table, where the problem will then cease, and any further text in the non-affected parts can be selected in view mode.  More over, if the page is copied, the problematic table will continue to have this issue, as if there is some sort of bad data that was entered to the table, that isn't being shown and can't be deleted without completely removing the table all together, that is otherwise preventing the table or suite of cells to be selected while in view mode.