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usonian

(13,836 posts)
Fri Oct 13, 2023, 11:36 PM Oct 2023

I lost my typing in a reply for the last time.

On mobile, it's insanely easy to poke the wrong thing and lose your typing, (like go to a new page and lose your typing) and even on desktops, when the DU server doesn't respond, it's good or bad luck whether you get your textarea back by "reposting the form"

I've been looking for ages for a way to edit text outside the browser that actually works, because text editors autosave and generally don't do crazy things due to fat fingers and so on. In the past, I have copied long text areas and pasted them into a text editor, but this is tedious, has to be done repeatedly, and is prone to the usual difficulty of selecting text with your finger. D'oh!!!

It's a little better if you have a keyboard connected to your phone or tablet, but skip to the solution I am trying, successfully so far.

Treat the phone or tablet as "read only" .... airdrop or message the link to yourself and reply on the desktop.

I finally found an "edit text externally" extension that works, and I just activated it while typing this sentence.

Sublime Text opened up with the contents of this text area!!. 🎉 And typing is being echoed as I type.

https://ghosttext.fregante.com/welcome/

I found "GhostText" and it comes in versions made for Opera (chrome store), Firefox, and safari (app store)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghosttext/godiecgffnchndlihlpaajjcplehddca/related
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ghosttext/
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ghosttext/id1552641506?mt=12

Checked it briefly on Opera and Firefox, using Safari now.
SOMETHING THAT WORKS.

YMMV, but none of the others I tried worked.
I get a little confused having three browsers open at the same time.
I know that this will result in a few thousand swear words not being voiced in the upcoming week (or day)

Be sure to pin it with Firefox and Opera.

I don't use chrome but the chrome extension works with Opera.

Spooky good 👻
But you say, you aren't using a UPS.
Sublime Text saves it.

2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
I lost my typing in a reply for the last time. (Original Post) usonian Oct 2023 OP
It pisses me off XanaDUer2 Oct 2023 #1
I just added it. I've had that happen too many times also. A long thought out post go into cyber Maraya1969 Oct 2023 #2

XanaDUer2

(13,872 posts)
1. It pisses me off
Sat Oct 14, 2023, 10:10 AM
Oct 2023

To type a long reply and then hit something and lost it. Sometimes I'll retype an abbreviated version, others times I say fuck it

Maraya1969

(22,997 posts)
2. I just added it. I've had that happen too many times also. A long thought out post go into cyber
Sat Oct 14, 2023, 05:05 PM
Oct 2023

space because you hit the wrong button.

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