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Reduce sensitivity of automatic copy selection #14955

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opened 2026-01-31 04:24:12 +00:00 by claunia · 0 comments
claunia commented 2026-01-31 04:24:12 +00:00
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Originally created by @timadye on GitHub (Aug 24, 2021).

Description of the new feature/enhancement

My proposal is to make automatic copy selection less sensitive to small mouse movements while the button is held down.

Issue

The automatic copy selection feature is quite fragile. It is far too easy to accidentally select a single character, overwriting the paste buffer and losing what you actually were planning to paste. The most common way this impacts me is when I copy from another window, and select the Windows Terminal window with a left-click in the text area. If my mouse moves even a fraction during the click, then I lose my paste buffer.

It is possible to guard against this, eg. by only selecting the window using the title bar, or by right-clicking to select and paste at the same time. But these need to be learned and make Windows Terminal feel delicate and hard to use.

Proposed technical implementation details

  1. This could be implemented in terms of how much of the character cell is traversed before starting the selection (or including the next character in an ongoing selection). Other programs only seem to add the character to the selection once the mouse has traversed the full width or height of the character cell. This implementation might have the added benefit of making the copy less prone to including an extra character at the end.

  2. Another option would be to provide a configuration option to specify the minimum mouse movement (in pixels) before starting automatic copy selection. The default should be larger than is currently implemented - unless there is some issue with compatibility of UI experience. Or maybe it doesn't need to be configurable, just use a better minimum movement.
    Since it is unlikely that anyone wants to select a single character (or even two?), I think a reasonable default might be 1 character width. Actually anything up to 1 character height (to select a full line, moving down) would probably work.

I'm using Windows Terminal Preview v1.10.1933.0 on Windows 20H2 with an external USB mouse.

Originally created by @timadye on GitHub (Aug 24, 2021). <!-- 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 I ACKNOWLEDGE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE PROCEEDING: 1. If I delete this entire template and go my own path, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 2. If I list multiple bugs/concerns in this one issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 3. If I write an issue that has many duplicates, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement (and without necessarily spending time to find the exact duplicate ID number). 4. If I leave the title incomplete when filing the issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 5. If I file something completely blank in the body, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. All good? Then proceed! --> # Description of the new feature/enhancement My proposal is to make automatic copy selection less sensitive to small mouse movements while the button is held down. ## Issue The automatic copy selection feature is quite fragile. It is far too easy to accidentally select a single character, overwriting the paste buffer and losing what you actually were planning to paste. The most common way this impacts me is when I copy from another window, and select the Windows Terminal window with a left-click in the text area. If my mouse moves even a fraction during the click, then I lose my paste buffer. It is possible to guard against this, eg. by only selecting the window using the title bar, or by right-clicking to select and paste at the same time. But these need to be learned and make Windows Terminal feel delicate and hard to use. <!-- A clear and concise description of what the problem is that the new feature would solve. Describe why and how a user would use this new functionality (if applicable). --> # Proposed technical implementation details 1. This could be implemented in terms of how much of the character cell is traversed before starting the selection (or including the next character in an ongoing selection). Other programs only seem to add the character to the selection once the mouse has traversed the full width or height of the character cell. This implementation might have the added benefit of making the copy less prone to including an extra character at the end. 2. Another option would be to provide a configuration option to specify the minimum mouse movement (in pixels) before starting automatic copy selection. The default should be larger than is currently implemented - unless there is some issue with compatibility of UI experience. Or maybe it doesn't need to be configurable, just use a better minimum movement. Since it is unlikely that anyone wants to select a single character (or even two?), I think a reasonable default might be 1 character width. Actually anything up to 1 character height (to select a full line, moving down) would probably work. _I'm using Windows Terminal Preview v1.10.1933.0 on Windows 20H2 with an external USB mouse._ <!-- A clear and concise description of what you want to happen. -->
claunia added the Issue-FeatureResolution-Duplicate labels 2026-01-31 04:24:12 +00:00
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Reference: starred/terminal#14955
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