MS text won't copy/paste into a text document

• Sep 8, 2017 - 16:24

I cannot get MS operatic score text to copy/paste into Open Office text, which I use instead of Word.(including using the Cnrl + method) I have to get the entire libretto for my opera typed up and ready to go, which includes scenic descriptions, stage directions, etc.Everything a Producer needs to read. I knew I would have to type in all of the "Lyrics" for all of the sung parts, but I should be able to copy some text. I recall I DID get a lot text to copy/paste from MS 1.3 into MS 2+. Maybe that was only Frame Text? Can't remember. Please see attachment. Please see Act i File 2 score pg. 2, Soprano voice part (Zirancilla) "Entering menaciingly" etc. which is staff text stage direction, as an example of what I should be able to copy/paste in to Open Office. Thanks.


Comments

For the staff text, it indeed doesn't to just click the text once then copy. That copies the element as a staff text element, which OpenOffice won't understand. You need to copy the text within that element. So, first double click the text element to place it in Edit mode, then Ctrl+A to select all the text in that text element, Ctrl+C to copy (or use the menu or however you normally like to do copy operations). Now you can paste the text.

And actually, you can copy the lyrics too. Just go to Edit / Tools / Copy Lyrics to Clipboard. This grabs the entire lyric for the whole score. Now you can paste directly into OpenOffice.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I was able to get the staff text to work easily. However, the really biggie, saving lyrisa to clipboard is really buggy. Text is OK for stretches, then some text is scrambled (some sentences out of order, etc.), (maybe from picking up different characters' names in staff text on the actual music score? Any way, I guess there is no way to select shorter sections of lyrics? (to copy). The clipboard does do the entire file at once. The "bugs" are here and there throughout the whole file. Please see atachment,

In reply to by mike320

OK, I did all that, and then what? i imagine CTRL +COPY ? i did that, but then there is no paste option option when I go back to the text doc. Nothing copied/pasted. I can't imagine why the lyrics clipboard thing is so buggy to start with!

In reply to by mike320

It's not a bug really. Lyrics are not plain text, they are a very special format that will only make sense to MuseScore. That's why there is the separate "Copy Lyrics to Clipboard" function - this is what does the extra step of converting the lyrics to plain text so they can be understood by other programs. Similarly, a vector drawing program might have the ability to copy shapes internally within the program, but these shapes won't be an an image format that a program that accepts images will understand.

In reply to by delhud2

If you think there is some text that is "scrambled", please give us precise step by step instructions to reproduce the problem.

My guess is that you have simply used verse numbers inappropriately, having some lyrics in verse 2 that belong in verse 1, etc..

As for copying just a selection of lyrics, I believe you are correct - the "copy to clipboard" ignores the selection and instead does the whole score. I vaguely remember this coming up before and there being a reason for it, although it seems illogical to me.

In reply to by mike320

I guess the text elements are in some sort of container.
When you click on it, you are selecting this container.
If you copy it, you copy the container: location information, style information, type information, and the text in it. (Object, Element or both)
Therefore, they can not be copied as plain text. I think: This is the only way to copy and paste an element in Musescore along with all the features.
And that's why there's a separate copy command for lyrics.
For this reason it is possible to double-click on any single text element, and Ctrl + A (while Cursor is visible), and then copy it with Ctrl + C.


I guess no software is automatically creating a libretto from an opera work. (I'm not sure but it seems logically difficult)
It seems hard to line up the lyrics, speeches, descriptions and so on...
One day, if someone does a plug-in for this (If possible): at least it can be easier to work with lines separated by line breaks, sorted by time and included with the staff-name (and not just lyrics, but all text elements). Maybe it's easier to do in (future) versions, like 3.x.

In reply to by mike320

I did try it, but no being intimately familiar with the score, I can't tell which line exactly is somewhere other than exactly where it belongs. I agree it's not very readable as is, but that's not a bug - that's the inevitable result of lyrics not containing formatting such as line breaks etc. You'd need to add those later.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.