Extracting selected text for a document

Getting selected text

Text selected in a document can be extracted using the following functions:

• DocumentViewer.getSelectedText: Get the currently selected text as a string
• DocumentViewer.getSelectedTextQuads: Get an array of Quad objects for the currently selected text.

getSelectedTextQuads will return an array for each line of selected text. The following is an example of it being used

JavaScript (SDK v8.0+)

const quads = documentViewer.getSelectedTextQuads(documentViewer.getCurrentPage());

JavaScript (SDK v7.0+)

const quads = docViewer.getSelectedTextQuads(docViewer.getCurrentPage());

JavaScript (SDK v6.0+)

const quads = docViewer.getSelectedTextQuads(docViewer.getCurrentPage());

In the above sample, getSelectedTextQuads will return an array of Quad objects. The array will contain three Quad objects, one for each rectangle of selected text.

It's possible for a user to select text across multiple pages so if getSelectedTextQuads is called without any parameters then Quads will be returned for every page with selected text. The result is an object with keys for each page number:

JavaScript

{
  2: [{ /* quad1 */ }, { /* quad2 */ }, { /* quad3 */ }]
}

Where '2' is the page number where the selected text is found.

For the image above there is text selected on pages 2 and 3 so the result of getSelectedTextQuads will look like this:

JavaScript

{
  2: [{ /* quad1 */ }, { /* quad2 */ }],
  3: [{ /* quad3 */ }]
};

Getting selected text from events

Be notified when text is selected using the textSelected event as shown below:

JavaScript (SDK v8.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { documentViewer } = instance.Core;

  documentViewer.addEventListener('textSelected', (quads, selectedText, pageNumber) => {
    // quads will be an array of 'Quad' objects
    // text is the selected text as a string
    if (selectedText.length > 0) {
      console.log(selectedText);
    }
  });
});

WebViewerInstance DocumentViewer#textSelected

JavaScript (SDK v7.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;

  docViewer.on('textSelected', (quads, selectedText, pageNumber) => {
    // quads will be an array of 'Quad' objects
    // text is the selected text as a string
    if (selectedText.length > 0) {
      console.log(selectedText);
    }
  });
});

WebViewerInstance DocumentViewer#textSelected

JavaScript (SDK v6.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;

  docViewer.on('textSelected', (quads, selectedText, pageIndex) => {
    // quads will be an array of 'Quad' objects
    // text is the selected text as a string
    if (selectedText.length > 0) {
      console.log(selectedText);
    }
  });
});

WebViewerInstance DocumentViewer#textSelected

The textSelected event get fired whenever another character is selected or deselected. Also the textSelected event fires once for each page with selected text. So if text is selected on page A and B, and the selected text on page A changed, the textSelected event will fire once for each page even though there wasn't any changes for page B.

Getting selected text from browser events

Get selected text by listening for a keydown or clipboard copy event.

JavaScript (SDK v8.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { documentViewer } = instance.Core;
  const showSelectedText = () => {
    const page = documentViewer.getCurrentPage();
    const text = documentViewer.getSelectedText(page);

    if (!!text) {
        console.log(text);
    }
  }

  // Optionally use keyDown events
  documentViewer.addEventListener('keyDown', function (je, e) {
    if (e.keyCode == 67 && (e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey)) {
      showSelectedText();
      console.log('Ctrl+C pressed');
    }
  });

  // Otherwise use the copy event
  const iframeWindow = instance.UI.iframeWindow;
  iframeWindow.addEventListener('copy', function (e) {
      showSelectedText();
      console.log('Ctrl+C (copy) pressed');
  });
});

JavaScript (SDK v7.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;
  const showSelectedText = () => {
    const page = docViewer.getCurrentPage();
    const text = docViewer.getSelectedText(page);

    if (!!text) {
        console.log(text);
    }
  }

  // Optionally use keyDown events
  docViewer.on('keyDown', function (je, e) {
    if (e.keyCode == 67 && (e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey)) {
      showSelectedText();
      console.log('Ctrl+C pressed');
    }
  });

  // Otherwise use the copy event
  var iframeWindow = instance.iframeWindow;
  iframeWindow.addEventListener('copy', function (e) {
      showSelectedText();
      console.log('Ctrl+C (copy) pressed');
  });
});

JavaScript (SDK v6.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;
  const showSelectedText = () => {
    const page = docViewer.getCurrentPage();
    const text = docViewer.getSelectedText(page);

    if (!!text) {
        console.log(text);
    }
  }

  // Optionally use keyDown events
  docViewer.on('keyDown', function (je, e) {
    if (e.keyCode == 67 && (e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey)) {
      showSelectedText();
      console.log('Ctrl+C pressed');
    }
  });

  // Otherwise use the copy event
  var iframeWindow = instance.iframeWindow;
  iframeWindow.addEventListener('copy', function (e) {
      showSelectedText();
      console.log('Ctrl+C (copy) pressed');
  });
});

Getting selection complete from events

Use the text selection complete event with the TextSelect tool and listen for selectionComplete.

JavaScript (SDK v8.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { documentViewer } = instance.Core;

  documentViewer.getTool('TextSelect').addEventListener('selectionComplete', (startQuad, allQuads) => {
    // the startQuad and allQuads will have the X and Y values you want
  });
});

JavaScript (SDK v7.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;

  docViewer.getTool('TextSelect').on('selectionComplete', (startQuad, allQuads) => {
    // the startQuad and allQuads will have the X and Y values you want
  });
});

JavaScript (SDK v6.0+)

WebViewer({ ... }, viewerElement).then(instance => {
  const { docViewer } = instance;

  docViewer.getTool('TextSelect').on('selectionComplete', (startQuad, allQuads) => {
    // the startQuad and allQuads will have the X and Y values you want
  });
});