Inline Query Results: Please allow us to Select and Copy these as text or markdown

[goodsignal]

Use case or problem

Inline search query is amazing! Not being able to select and copy the text results that show in Preview Mode is a significant handicap. Everything in Preview can be selected, except for this.

Proposed solution

Please let the text be blocked for copy if the mouse is dragged from white space across the text of interest.

Example

I accumulate numerous tags like #email/boss with a line of intended communication across so many notes. Copying search context would allow me to collect all of these notes and paste them into en email in one single action.

Related feature requests (optional)

Copy Search Results: Please add option to copy CONTEXT

Use case or problem The search pane has a great UI for including context (collapse, expand, show more). When we need to copy the results, all of that valuable context is stripped. [20210714-125342results] Proposed solution Please add the same controls that the search pane has for context to the Copy Search Results window. Or, give an option to match the information shown in the search pane. Example I accumulate numerous tags like #email/boss with a line of intended communication across so m…

The related feature request is a more powerful solution because it offers granular control on list presentation and which style the links are presented. But it’s not as speedy as a simple block-copy-paste action.

[GLight]

I like this idea.
I think enable the user to copy the markdown shown in the search result items can be fair enough.
It can be integrated into the context menu.

Currently, I use OCR to do this…well, it’s just a workaround.

[TMR123]

I like this idea as well.

I comment on it here since I found a slightly easier way to do this than using OCR. If you access the command menu (CMD P on my Mac), and run Export to PDF, the whole page, including the inline search results, are converted to text in the PDF and can be easily copied out to an email or any other document.

[tophee]

@GLight

I think enable the user to copy the markdown shown in the search result items can be fair enough.

Yes, I was hoping to find a way of copying the content of pretty much any code block that renders the results of some kind of query. I suppose this would fall under this feature request.

@TMR123

If you access the command menu (CMD P on my Mac), and run Export to PDF, the whole page, including the inline search results, are converted to text in the PDF

Thanks for pointing that out. Although I’m not sure how often I will actually use this procedure in practice, it fact that it is possible makes me optimistic that it already is possible to capture these query results programmatically.

Note that there is an even easier (manual) way: if you select only the output of the query and none of the surrounding note, then you can actually copy the markdown right there. I have not tested this extensively, but it works for task queries and dataview queries. It is a bit tricky, but if you manage to get the selection right, it works.

Related:

Save dataview query result to a note

Is it possible to save a dataview query as text in a note, which updates with the query result? For example, I have a frontmatter field called ‘keywords’ with an array of strings as its value. The strings are reused in hundreds of notes. The set of unique strings accumulate overtime. I would like a way to suggest existing values as I type in a new note. I can copy and paste the dataview query results into a custom dictionary, then the auto-completion part is taken care of by a community plugin…

[CawlinTeffid]

The community plugin “Text Expand” lets you convert an embedded search to actual text in the note, and update it manually or automatically.

[goodsignal]

It feels rather unpolished that Obsidian blocks users from copying search results. This should be fixed. But the Text Expand plugin that @CawlinTeffid found seems to work pretty well as a workaround. I’m marking it as a solution.

[CawlinTeffid]

Unmarking solution because the request is still valid (but I’m glad the plugin helps!). If you want to highlight it you could mention it as a workaround in the main post.

[ryanjm]

This also applies to the Copy Search Results in the main search. Right now it only lets you get the pages, but I want an option for the contents that was matched.