Live view: split a paragraph, all about paragraphs

[wbear]

In the documentation for DW (when you can find it), regarding live view, it states DW will automatically insert paragraph tags when pasting text. Mine does not, no matter if I use CTRL-V or EDIT-PASTE. If I hit enter to start a paragraph in a blank doc to add my content, it inserts 2! Both have non-breaking spaces in them. Handy, having to remove the extra, then the space, then add my text. Making things far slower and complicated.

Then, there's the paragraph splitting, which is the main issue I'd love some help with. If I paste something in that needs to be broken into paragraphs, there's no way to do this that I could find other than manual code edits. In design view, it's place the cursor, hit enter, it splits it (end one, begin a new one). In live view, that same key makes it so you're editing that block/P. No keys I hit from there will split it into 2 as it does in design mode. Tried insert paragraph...it inserts a full pair at the start of the paragraph (or before/after, depending on choice).

Nothing I've tried will do the simple task of breaking the paragraph in two at the cursor. Clearly I've either missed something or this makes live edits fairly useless. Any suggestions? This paragraph split is the more important one. I can't always go to design view to edit content since that really blows things up and it's hard to work that way.

Any suggestions?

(Win 10, Dreamweaver 21, but this has been ongoing through many versions)

[anissa_thompson]

Hello!

I have a feeling we're missing a little bit of detail on the source of the content you're pasting... But in the meantime, let's start here:

Take a look at your Edit > Preferences > Copy/Paste setup, and make sure the "Text Only" is NOT your selection. I leave mine on "Text with structure plus basic formatting (bold, italic)" by default; if this is your current setting, you might want to dig deeper into how your source content (does it already have paragraph marks, unusual platform-specific markup, or MS Word styling?) - if so, check the other two boxes I indicated above ("Retain line breaks" and "Clean up Word paragraph spacing"). 

Hope this helps!

[Nancy OShea]

From which app(s) are you copying formatted text? 

MS Office injects junk code into HTML files.  So I'm a little more protective of my code than Anissa. I prefer to use Edit > Paste Special > Text Only or Text with structure (paragraphs, lists...).  Basic formatting comes from my CSS.  I don't want help with that and would prefer to strip formatting before it ever reaches my HTML.

If you've been doing this awhile, your code may contain critical errors that need attention. 

Use the Validation service to check your code: 

Window > Results > Validation.  Click the triangle to check current document (see screenshot).

Post back if you need more help.

[wbear]

Nancy,

I feel the same about my code, but this is not an option in live view in mine. Paste special is greyed out (code or live view) until I switch to design mode.  

"I prefer to use Edit > Paste Special > Text Only or Text with structure (paragraphs, lists...).  Basic formatting comes from my CSS.  I don't want help with that and would prefer to strip formatting before it ever reaches my HTML."

[Nancy OShea]

@wbear,

Use Split view with Live.  Click inside the code panel to Paste Special.

DW 21.0 on Win10.

[wbear]

I am using split view with live and that's the result I get. In live or within the code window (during live view), there is no active paste special option available via edit or even keyboard. The only time it's not greyed out is in design view.

[Nancy OShea]

OK. Restart your computer. 

1. Validate your code and fix reported errors.

2. If that doesn't fix it, Restore Preferences.
https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/kb/restore-preferences-dreamweaver.html

I need to sling up some Thanksgiving leftovers for the tribe.  If my power doesn't go out again, I'll be back online tomorrow.  Good luck!

[wbear]

No luck on that. After all those steps, same result. If live mode is active, paste special is disabled.

[Nancy OShea]

See my screenshot.  No code errors.  Cursor inside <h5> tag in Code panel.

Split View

[Jon Fritz]

I can confirm the same behavior in CC2021 as the OP.

Pasting doesn't carry over paragraph formatting and Paste Special is not an available option when right clicking in Live View.

It does work as expected in Design View, and both Code and Design have Paste Special as an active option when right clicked.

I'm guessing the lack of Paste Special is a "feature" of Live View.

[Nancy OShea]

OK.  One more time:

Code | Split | Live.

Copy some text with Ctrl+C.

Click anywhere inside the Code Panel.

Edit > Paste Special or right-click > Paste Special or Ctrl + Shift + V works every time.

However, if cursor is inside the Live panel, it doesn't work.

[wbear]

At least I'm not alone with this odd bug, so thanks Jon. 
Nancy, are you on Windows 10 or Mac? Maybe that's a difference?

Also, no one seems to be commenting on the 2nd question, which is about splitting a paragraoh in live view. Just not possible? I've created a workaround by making a snippet and key so inserting it into the code window is faster, but the old way is really simple and had been a part of DW for many, many years. I get the feeling assigning the enter key to "edit this element in live view" removed that function.

[Nancy OShea]

I'm on the latest version of DW 21.0 and Win10 (ver 2004, build #19041.630).

If the problem can be repeated with other files and other sites, then please submit an official Bug report to DW Uservoice from your DW Help menu.

"no one seems to be commenting on the 2nd question, which is about splitting a paragraph in live view. "

Assuming your code contains no errors, click inside Live view until a gold box appears. Hit Enter to insert a paragraph.

[wbear]

Using that method, it simply does nothing. I have the gold box, place the cursor by the word, hit enter, no response. This is in a brand new page, an existing page and so on. Hitting enter does nothing to break a longer paragraph into two. It also does nothing about starting a new one after the last word (or before the first) in an existing one.
Frustrating. 

[wbear]

Did some testing, and think I see the issue. Dreamweaver isn't allowing the enter key to break a paragraph in files ending in .php vs .html. Even if there's no PHP rendered code in the page (and I do have a testing server set up), it ignores the enter key for inserting paragraphs. On error free HTML named pages (page.html) it works. Save that same page as page.php, it ignores the key press. 

[wbear]

Further testing reveals it is most likely related to templates. If I take a page where it's ignoring the enter key and detach it from the template, it works as expected, inserting a closing p and opening a new one (oddly, it also inserts a non breaking space before the closing tag while doing so).

So, before I report the issue as I've found it to be, if anyone has the time to try this, that may confirm my findings and hopefully see a fix from Adobe. Basically, create a page from an existing template, stick a paragraph of text in it, then try using enter to split it into two. If it fails as mine did, detach that page from the template (you need to be in design view to detach), get to where you can edit the live view of the detached page and try again. In my test, it did this every time. (template based page in live view, no p using enter. Detached same page, it now works).

[Nancy OShea]

#1 Templates are an important piece of information that you neglected to mention in your original question.  I can't help wondering what more you haven't told us.

#2 PHP files are editable in Live view.  I just tried it with an error-free, template driven child page saved with a .php extension.  Assuming you're in an Editable Region, there should be no problem. See my Before and After screenshots.

[wbear]

I create and use templates on all the sites I work on, and assumed (incorrectly) it wasn't related in any way to the issue. If I worked on sites without them, it might have been seen sooner, and therefore mentioned. It was only after a lot of testing, and eventually hitting on that possible connection that I brought it up.

"I can't help wondering what more you haven't told us."

That being said, for whatever reason, did you try the step with a template based page and then detached?

[Nancy OShea]

Did you see my screenshots? It's a template child page.  And no problem splitting text into 2 paragraphs.  So why would I want to detach from Template?

[wbear]

Thanks for the replies!

This content in plain text, and pasted as such (text only, convert smart quotes, nothing else selected). If I take and paste the same into a text editor that can show all characters (including hidden ones), there are no surprises. If I take a brand new page in DW and paste just a few manually typed words (directly on the clipboard), it's the same result. Paste has no P tag pair. If I paste nothing, and simply hit the enter key once on a blank new page; 2 P tag pairs with non breaking spaces in it.

No validation errors.

Inconvenient that it's not inserting the tag, but the larger and more painful issue is not being able to split a paragraph in some convenient way. Hitting enter in design mode was simple; nothing like that in live mode?