protonscr

Support PRIMARY selection (aka mouse selection / middle-click clipboard)

steamclosed Feature Requestreviewed
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#175 · opened 2012-12-20 by paradigm · updated 2023-06-09 · 30 comments · github
Pparadigm 2012-12-20 github

Please support PRIMARY selection in addition to CLIPBOARD.

X11 has three selections (or "clipboards"):

CLIPBOARD is usually accessed by pressing ctrl-c to copy and ctrl-v to paste, and acts as one would expect from experience with other windowing systems such as what Windows uses. This works fine in Steam on Linux.

PRIMARY is copied into by simply highlighting something with the mouse, and pasted from by middle clicking or pressing shift-insert. This does not seem to work in the current-as-of-time-of-writing Steam on Linux.

SECONDARY technically exists but is rarely used and is safely disregarded.

This could be particularly useful for things such as pasting a Steam Guard key or pasting a game activation key set in the PRIMARY selection.

This is a low priority, as it is trivial to use another program which supports both selections to transfer from one to the other to get PRIMARY selection information (into CLIPBOARD and then) into Steam.

Thank you.

Nnsg 2012-12-21 github

Yes, please add support for PRIMARY. I always use PRIMARY when copy/paste:ing and I hate when applications do not support it for some arbitrary reason.

SSoulsuke 2013-02-10 github

I really hope this gets implemented too, ctrl+c/v is really the second choice on linux

Jjohndrinkwater 2013-02-13 github

Duplicate of #27, but this is a far better description…

WWhyNotHugo 2013-05-28 github

Any plans to add support for this?
My mail client doesn't support PRIMARY, so I have to manually copy any login code or steam code from one windows to the next (ie: retype all of it).

WWhyNotHugo 2013-06-03 github

Follow up: CTRL+V does not work either.
I just brought Humble Bundle 8, and had to manually re-type six fifteen-digit codes. That's definitely no fun! :(

Jjethrogb 2013-06-03 github

@hobarrera That is a different bug. (Also: works for me.)

VVelorumS 2015-01-10 github

How is the progress? Nobody uses ctrl+v usually.

Ttvannahl 2015-02-16 github

:+1: for this feature! I am using the mouse selection most of the time. Its kind of boring that steam doesn't fit.

Kkon14 2015-02-22 github

Please implement this. It's something most of us use and can be quite handy in many situations.

LLiamDawe 2015-02-22 github

@ChipmunkV "How is the progress? Nobody uses ctrl+v usually."

Since when? I do, as I imagine many others do.

SScoreUnder 2015-02-22 github

You'd be surprised. The only people I know in meatspace who use ctrl+v by default are people who use Windows as their primary OS. Middle click paste is just comfier.

Kkon14 2015-02-22 github

I use both of them, especially when I need to cut, paste and combine things, but usually I just select the text and middle click unless I'm on a laptop with no wheel :S

?ghost 2015-02-22 github

Middle-click for pasting in Steam would be nice indeed! :wolf:

Jjjkinas 2015-02-22 github

I use middle click to copy paste , +1

Ttadzik 2015-02-22 github

Yes please, it's annoying as hell to have to copypaste something to other app to be able to get it inside PRIMARY.

Ttomtomme 2015-02-23 github

+1, middle click copy paste was one of the reasons I switched to linux! This is a must have for every Linux App!

MMiroslavR 2015-02-23 github

+1, I also would appreciate this feature.

Ppstn 2015-02-23 github

Please implement it. I'm always confused when middle click does not work.

AArseniyShestakov 2015-02-23 github

Totally agree this should be implemented. Please!

PPlaque-fcc 2015-02-23 github

Well, +1, it is fast and convenient to use.

MMichaelAquilina 2015-02-24 github

I'd love to see this supported if possible!

VVelorumS 2015-03-04 github

And that was a bus from the r/linux_gaming!

VVelorumS 2016-05-05 github

People, let's celebrate! It's working at least partly now.

Ffyrkrans 2017-08-07 github

Not being able to use primary selection is such a letdown. It's sad that not much has happened over the last 5 years when it comes to that. I really hope it gets fixed as soon as possible.

Ffyrkrans 2018-09-21 github

Another year has past and apparently there has been zero progress regarding this issue. It might not be a big issue, but it's definitely something that makes using Steam cumbersome.

NNewbytee 2019-04-07 github

PRIMARY selection is working in the Steam client for me when using middle-click to paste, however, Shift + Insert pastes the CLIPBOARD, so I suppose this is partially fixed?

MManagor 2019-10-31 github

Yeah, you can paste to steam with middle click but you can't copy from steam by highlighting.

VVelorumS 2023-04-28 github

In current Steam beta you can copy from steam by highlighting. Do you agree that it's fixed now?

MManagor 2023-04-28 github

I can. PRIMARY selection works from the web view as well as the URL bar

Kkisak-valve maintainer 2023-06-09 github

Closing per the last couple comments.

Nothing extracted yet.