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vug's avatar
vug
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

Paper iOS App Hyperlink Formatting

Hi! I’m enjoying using Dropbox Paper on my iPad using a Smart Keyboard. However, I couldn’t figure out how to format hyperlinks. I copy a URL. Then select a portion of text on Paper. Then press CMD+K and nothing happens. (This works on my desktop through web interface). I looked for a UI button but didn’t see any related to hyperlinks. Appreciate if you can tell me how to do that. Thanks!

  • vug's avatar
    vug
    6 years ago

    Thanks for the response and suggesting a solution! I should have thought about opening Paper in the browser instead of the app. :-/ 

    So, I did as you recommended. Opened Paper on iPad browser. (Worked with both Safari and Chrome.) And the mobile version did not allow me to edit the document. Asked me to download the iOS app. Instead, I requested the desktop version of the page. Which allowed me to edit. However, the CMD+K shortcut was not working. T_T

    After some fiddling, I figured how to get the hyperlink UI! First I select the text to which I want to attach a URL. Then I pressed the keyboard icon at the bottom right. (Might need to press the downward arrow at the bottom right side to hide the gray bar with suggestions and buttons first). Which makes the black bar with formatting options appear next the the selected text. Where I can click on the “link” button to set the hyperlink. Little bir cumbersome but it does the job!

    Thought I should share it here for future generations. :-)

    Thanks for letting the dev team know about this issue. Looking forward to switch back to native iOS version of the app when hyperlink feature is implemented. ^_^ Have a good day!

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey there vug - thanks for using Paper and welcome to our Community!

    As this option (i.e. adding hyperlinks to selected text) is not available on the mobile iOS app, I'd suggest using a web browser to do this.

    If you find that it's not possible on your iPad's browser, I'd suggest requesting the desktop version of the site where you should e able to achive the task at hand normally as you do on your computer too.

    Spoiler

    To request a desktop site on your iPad, simply follow these steps:

    1. Launch Safari on your iOS device and navigate to the website in question.
    2. Long press the Reload button in the far right of the address bar.
    3. On iPhone, tap Request Desktop Site at the bottom of the screen.

    I hope this helps to some extent while I'll also make sure to pass your comments to our dev team to let them know about your interest in this functionality within our mobile app. 

    Let me know if you have anything else to ask or add; I'll be happy to follow up!

    • vug's avatar
      vug
      New member | Level 2

      Thanks for the response and suggesting a solution! I should have thought about opening Paper in the browser instead of the app. :-/ 

      So, I did as you recommended. Opened Paper on iPad browser. (Worked with both Safari and Chrome.) And the mobile version did not allow me to edit the document. Asked me to download the iOS app. Instead, I requested the desktop version of the page. Which allowed me to edit. However, the CMD+K shortcut was not working. T_T

      After some fiddling, I figured how to get the hyperlink UI! First I select the text to which I want to attach a URL. Then I pressed the keyboard icon at the bottom right. (Might need to press the downward arrow at the bottom right side to hide the gray bar with suggestions and buttons first). Which makes the black bar with formatting options appear next the the selected text. Where I can click on the “link” button to set the hyperlink. Little bir cumbersome but it does the job!

      Thought I should share it here for future generations. :-)

      Thanks for letting the dev team know about this issue. Looking forward to switch back to native iOS version of the app when hyperlink feature is implemented. ^_^ Have a good day!

      • bigtimsb's avatar
        bigtimsb
        New member | Level 2

        Hi - I'm struggling to find an answer to this question, not sure if anyone else is having this problem. 

        I have created a document, and then added two links to the text, to two different documents. I have opened up the Paper app on my iphone for the first time, and I see two different formats of that text - one is blue, bold, and underlined. The other is blue, and regular font without underline. 

        On my desktop web browser, both links work the same. When I touch the bold, underlined link on my phone, it smoothly switches to the destination within the app, no hesitation. 

        When I touch the plain text link, nothing happens. The only way I get it to react is touch and hold, and then it gives me the option of opening it in a browser or the app, I select app, and then it sort of blinks / re-opens the app. 

        I can't find anything about different types of hyperlinking - can someone direct me? 

        there are subtle differences in the visual formatting, as far as I know, I made them the same way

    • takasa's avatar
      takasa
      Explorer | Level 4

      Hi Walter,

      I have the same trouble as Vug. I use Dropbox paper from my IPad to write down my journals and often paste links to external articles. It'd be great if you can update the mobile version so that we can paste links more easily and intuitively. 

      Also I'd like to request a future version update where we can access our files in Dropbox paper via Dropbox storage.

      Best,

      • Walter's avatar
        Walter
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hi takasa; thanks for joining our discussion here and happy Monday!

        I appreciate you taking the time to provide me with your feedback on this and I wanted to let you know that for feature requests specific to Paper you can always use the relevant section of our Community so other users can upvote your idea(s) to show their interest. 

        Here's a direct link for your reference: 

        Let me know if you have anything else to add or ask! 

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