Edit Menu

This menu contains the actions for exporting to and importing data from the System Clipboard, as well as undoing actions and selecting.

The clipboard can be used in two ways. First, the clipboard is useful for cutting and pasting within the Editor. Second, the clipboard is useful for pasting data into other applications.

Equation data targeted for other applications in general requires additional formatting. For example, some XML applications may require a namespace prefix for MathML markup.

At the same time, since selection, cut and paste are essential for efficient authoring, within the Editor, clipboard operations have been optimized to make them as convenient as possible. Regardless of any extra formatting applied to data on the clipboard, expressions can always be pasted back into the Editor. Expressions with open template blanks remain intact when pasted internally, and up to three cut and paste operations can be undone.

There are several commands in the Edit menu, each explained below.

Undo

This command will undo the last cut, paste or text editing operation. You can undo the last three operations.

Characters

Depending on how editing preferences are set up (see Customizing Editing Behavior, Recognize Common Functions), users may want to combine several characters into one <mi> tag or separate them into individual <mi> tags. To combine characters, select them and choose "group" from the menu. To separate them, select them and choose "ungroup."

Cut

This deletes the selected formula from the Editor, and places its MathML markup in the System Clipboard (so that it can be pasted into other applications).

Copy

This places a presentation MathML representation of the current selection on the System Clipboard without removing the selection from the current equation.

Paste

This command pastes an equation currently on the clipboard into the current equation at the current cursor location.

If the equation or expression on the clipboard was placed there by the MathFlow Editor, it can always be pasted back into the Editor regardless of how it is formatted. However, if an equation is placed on the clipboard by an external application, the equation must be in valid MathML format, and it MUST be enclosed by <math> tags. The MathFlow Editor will remove the <math> tags before pasting the expression into the current equation, but it will not paste clipboard data as MathML unless it begins and ends with <math> tags. The editor will ignore any data on the clipboard before the opening math tag, and after the ending math tag. In particular, if several MathML equations are in the clipboard data, only the first will be pasted into the Editor.

Select All

This selects the entire equation currently in the Editor.

Show System Clipboard

This option simply displays the data on the system clipboard so you can verify that you have what you were expecting. Note that this is also a handy way to directly inspect the MathML structure of the current equation.