quicklook defualt select & copy text EL Capitan

Can anyone tell

a. if this also happens in 10.13 High Sierra,

b. if actually it's Apple's QL plugins preventing text selection or it's the framework itself that would also block this feature in 3rd-party plugins? (Strangely enough this preference is applied to the Finder)

A practical alternative for some people might be to buy pathfinder (Mac finder on steroids)

This has a preview feature in a pane or separate window, in which the text is selectable, which works in pdfs, text files, source files etc. - there is even an option to view files whose text is not preview-able as hex files.

I still use find quicklook really useful for checking things out quickly however, especially with various plugins (e.g. syntax highlighters, markdown preview...) even with its limitations.

PS - I don't work for Cocoatech (the company behind pathfinder), but am just a contented user.

It seems I cannot reply to pigopl's post. Pathfinder most probably uses the QuickLook.framework. What happens when you quick look a file in pathfinder (not in the preview pane), can you select the text?

It's not that the defaults write command fails. I verified the file, and it wrote the variable to it.

The problem is somewhere in the design. Maybe they have moved it?

I have been looking in the containers and other files but no luck yet.

I hope they didn't completely kill it.

Maybe there is a way to copy the old Yosemite version of QL back?

If I figure it out, I will update here.

I haven't quit yet. I actually copied in the Yosemite version of Text.qlgenerator into the system, and still no luck, but I am learning.

I had to disable system file protection because I couldn't modify any system files, even as root.

I was able to fix my keyboard layout once I disabled SIP. (Keyboard-en.plist) so, now at least I know how to do it, and I have my special characters back.

I will keep working on it. I was just checking back to see if anyone had figured it out yet.

Fred

Apple giveth and Apple takeawayth. Users be ******. Always fixing things that worked perfectly. I have come to dread updates. The learning curve. The inexplicable modifications. The workarounds. The Apps that must be updated often at significant cost. But I'm supposed to be thrilled by the Host Of New Features most of which I'll never use. It's like there's some drive to change just for the sake of change. My favorite focus of hate, to give a ferinstance, would be iTunes 12 which I don't think I'll ever figure out. What a bloated mess. And here's another one I just found: when I right click to look up a word it used to be that one could double click on any word in the floating definition window and be taken to the Dictionary page for same. No more. Just an oversight I'm sure. Or, maybe some focus group decided that was just silly old code that nobody wants. Who knows. It's gone. Get over it. But it would be nice if Apple published a list of all the stuff that's lost in a given version instead of making us all go through the aggravation of discovering these things piecemeal.

But to get back on topic; I find that the relevant check box in TinkerTool 5.51 doesn't do the trick either. Best wishes to you Fred!

I agree with you on almost everything but I assure you that itunes is not so complicated, adjusting the settings it manages to be always the same itunes ever.

however in TinkerTool or Onyx the function is hidden or not focusable unfortunately.

I found the answer via this Gist...

Instead of...

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE

in El Capitan, it should be...

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool YES

unfortunately not work

Correct, this does not seem to work (changing Bool to YES from TRUE. Kinda frustrating....

Did you even try this before posting you found the answer? It does not work for me.

So disappointing when a good feature goes by the wayside, just because it may have not been mainstream (i presume). Thats apple for you. Don't worry they'll "innovate" another feature that windows or andriod has had for years and tag it as magical or revolutionary. (window snap/NFC, etc.)

//Disappointed

I also noticed that this functionality had been removed from El Capitan.

I'm very disappointed as well, but I can't say that I'm surprised.

If I'm not mistaken, there used to be a time when you could also view hidden files in the Finder, either from the menu or by a keyboard combination. This also has been removed.

We keep having to discover and re-learn how to use our Mac computers after each and every update and a lot of the time some very nice features are removed.

Personally, I'm getting more and more annoyed with Apple's dictatorial behaviour and poor decision making.

Why aren't users given the possibility to customize their OS to their likings?

I tried everything as well guys and still nothing. WHY APPLE HAS KILLED such a useful feature????