Appending Text to the Clipboard.

Leasey contains a feature called LeaseyClips, allowing you to copy multiple text segments and paste them into a text edit area in any order of your choosing. However, Leasey also contains the ability to automatically append text to the Windows clipboard for those people who would like to use it in this way. This means that you can copy or cut text segments from multiple sources and paste them into a document or text edit area.

JAWS already contains the ability to press a keystroke to append selected text to the clipboard. The Leasey feature relating to achieving this however has a number of advantages:

• Pressing Control+X will cut text to the clipboard and it is appended to the previous segment if appropriate.
• Leasey allows you to separate each copied text segment with either a line break, a space character or a paragraph break.
• In addition, it is possible to insert any characters between the copied segments. A good example of this would be three asterisk characters. When the text is pasted into a document, it will be much easier for you to locate each segment.
• Leasey is much clearer in terms of its use of language when text is being copied to the clipboard. You will be in no doubt as to whether your copied text segment is the first or a subsequent item on the clipboard.
• Finally, an option is available to clear the clipboard when pasting has taken place.

Each of the above advantages will now be discussed.

Enabling and Disabling Clipboard Append.

Enabling and disabling the append clipboard feature can be done by pressing the Leasey key then Control+C.
The setting is retained even if JAWS is restarted.

When the setting is disabled, pressing Control+C or Control+X performs its regular Windows function by copying or cutting text to the clipboard whilst overwriting it. JAWS announces "Replace Mode".

Enabling the feature appends text to the clipboard when text is selected and you press Control+C or Control+X. When you enable this option, JAWS says "Append Mode".

If you copy an item and it is the first text segment on the clipboard, JAWS says "Copied". If it is a subsequent segment, JAWS says "Appended".

Changing the Clipboard Divider.

You can change the divider between segments you copy to the clipboard by pressing the Leasey key then Control+Z. This has three options.

• Line break. Each copied segment will begin on a new line. This is the default setting.
• Space character. This separates each copied segment with a space character. This could be useful if you are copying multiple Email addresses for example and each one needs to have a space in between.
• Paragraph break. This is a useful divider. One blank line separates each copied segment.

Characters to Separate Clipboard Segments.

This feature is activated by pressing the Leasey key then Control+X. An edit field appears requesting that you type the clipboard separator, such as three asterisk characters.
Type the characters and press Enter.
The characters are saved for later use, even if JAWS is restarted.

Note that this feature works in conjunction with the previous option relating to the divider. For example, if you had pressed the Leasey key then Control+Z so as to set the divider to a paragraph break, and three asterisk characters are used to further separate copied segments, the text will be presented in this format:

segment 1, blank line, star star star, blank line, segment 2, blank line, star star star, blank line, segment 3.

Note that if you decide you no longer require a string of text to separate each appended text segment, press the Leasey key then Control+X. The previous separator is displayed in the edit field. Press the Backspace key to erase it, then press Enter.

Clear Clipboard On Pasting.

This setting is enabled or disabled by pressing the Leasey key then Control+V. When enabled, and text is pasted into a text edit area, the clipboard is automatically cleared. JAWS says "Pasted, Clipboard Cleared".

Special Note: It is likely that you will be switching on and off the feature to append text to the clipboard. This is why it is placed on an easy-to-use keystroke: Leasey key then Control+C. If the option to clear the clipboard on pasting is enabled, enabling the append mode will automatically clear the clipboard in order that you can start again. JAWS advises you of this so you are in no doubt as to what has happened. While this is an advantage, there is also value in disabling this feature.

Let us assume that you have copied some segments to the clipboard and you paste them into a document. If the feature is disabled, you still have your text segments available. If necessary, you could paste them elsewhere if you wish. This feature is designed to be flexible so as to suit your way of working.

Clearing and Speaking the Clipboard.

If the option to clear the clipboard on pasting is disabled, you can always clear it yourself by pressing the Leasey key followed by Z. This feature has been in the product since it was released.

To speak the contents of the clipboard, press the Leasey key then X.

Additional Notes.

If you append text segments to the clipboard, then disable the special append feature with the Leasey key then Control+C, then copy text to the clipboard, the newly copied text will replace the appended segments. This is because disabling the feature ensures that Control+C causes the clipboard to adopt its usual practice of overwriting data. This also applies to cutting text with Control+X.

If the append feature is enabled, and you copy an element to it such as a folder in File Explorer, the clipboard is overwritten because that is default Windows functionality. The Leasey append feature only works with text.

Finally, it is important that we mention this. If you enable the Leasey append feature, then disable it and copy text to the clipboard so it replaces the existing text, Leasey will not warn you that the clipboard is about to be overwritten. This feature has been specifically designed for those who wish to improve their productivity. There are many JAWS users who do not wish for intervening dialog boxes warning them about something they already know. The expectation is that you are fully aware how the feature works before using it in everyday situations. You may like to practice using this feature prior to using it as part of your daily workflow. As is the case with all features native to JAWS, the regular functionality to append text to the clipboard is not disturbed in any way.