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  • Using Westlaw's Copy with Reference Feature Does Not Copy Text *and* Captures the Wrong Page Number

  • BugsDesktopDone

Steps to reproduce:
I select text as shown in this screenshot and then choose Copy with Reference (Standard):

I then paste the resulting copied information into a document. (I have tried this both with Compatibility mode on and off - no difference in results.)

Expected behavior:
I expect the Copy with Reference command to add to my clipboard both the selected text and the citation for the selected text (including the name of the document and the correct page number where the selected text appeared). That is what happened in Safari. Below is the paste from Westlaw's Copy with Reference command for the image above:

As we construe our obligations under the Act, particularly as set forth in Section 14 thereof and section 214(d)5 thereof, we could find a carrier remiss in its duties as a licensee if it does not, in fact, undertake improvements in facilities and expansion of services to meet public demand.

In the Matter of Rca Commc'ns, Inc., 44 F.C.C. 613, 618 (1956)

But that is not what happened with Orion RC, where this is what pastes following using Copy with Reference:

In the Matter of Rca Commc'ns, Inc., 44 F.C.C. 613, 624 (1956)

So while the case name and basic cite is correct, the selected text is missing and the page number is wrong.

(While I've not repeated this with this example, I have used Copy with Reference successfully in the past in Chrome, Arc, and Firefox on MacOS and Chrome and Edge on Windows.)

Orion, OS version; hardware type:

Using Version 0.99.124.4.3-rc (WebKit 616.1.14.11.1)
Mac mini M2 - Ventura 13.4.1 (22F82)

I recognize this is likely a niche issue -- and probably something that you can't troubleshoot without a Westlaw subscription. Happy to help in any way I can. Thanks.

  • Vlad replied to this.

    scottharris1014 I am assuming you are referencing some kind of extension? Can you add proper URL for download?

        Sorry ... not an extension. Westlaw is an online legal research tool for lawyers (info about it here: https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/westlaw). I don't think it offers any kind of free trial (like most US law firms, mine pays for a subscription).

        I'm happy to dump any kind of logs or console that shows what's going on while I'm using the Copy with Reference command on both Orion RC and Safari if it helps you find the difference. Or make a screen recording or even set up a time to share my screen so you can see what's going on. Whatever would be useful to you in diagnosing. Thanks.

          a month later

          No change in behavior with today's release (Version 0.99.125-beta (WebKit 616.1.22)). Was hoping the new WebKit might have fixed the problem (since it still works as expected on Safari).

          As before, happy to help however I can in providing more information about what's going on when using the Copy with Reference option.

            a month later

            I am having the same issue with Westlaw Edge! And Bloomberg Law's copy with reference as well. Thanks for creating this post, wasn't sure if I was the only one having this difficulty. Please let me know Vlad if I can provide any other helpful information 🙂

            • Vlad replied to this.

              tammykeen Nope, just patience as we have over 2,000 other issues 🙂

                  a month later

                  Try Firefox....It works as expected.
                  Safari (at least the current version in Sonoma) only seems to copy the citation, not the text above the citation as expected.

                    Yeah … Safari used to work just fine. I don’t know what happened to mess it up. Works fine in Arc too.

                      8 days later

                      Westlaw's copy with reference works as expected with the latest RC build (Version 0.99.125.6-rc (WebKit 618.1.1)).

                      Not sure what changes to this latest RC led to it being fixed, but it is! Thanks.

                      It appears that the fix was on Westlaw's end, per this email from Westlaw tech support:

                      We recently discovered that the identical Copy with Reference issue was happening with the latest version of Safari (17.0) on the new MacOS Sonoma and iOS 17. Last week, we released a fix for this issue. Although we still do not support the Orion browser, our understanding is that it’s based off of the most recent Webkit used in the Safari browser. Therefore, it’s possible that our fix for Safari might have also resolved the issue for Orion.

                      I also just checked and confirmed that this fix also works in the current Orion beta, so I think you can tag this as closed.

                      12 days later
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