Transcript text is not selectable or copyable

[hyper-charlie]

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a meeting with a transcript in the app
2. Attempt to highlight/select transcript text with the mouse
3. Attempt to right-click on the transcript to access context menu (select all, copy, etc.)

Expected behavior

Users should be able to:

• Highlight and select transcript text with the mouse
• Right-click to access a context menu with options like "Select All" and "Copy"
• Copy transcript text for use in external applications

Actual behavior

Transcript text is not selectable via mouse. Right-click does not produce a context menu. There is no way to copy transcript content directly from the app.

Impact

Combined with the transcript export bug (#4585), users have no way to access their full transcript content outside the app.

Environment

• Platform: macOS
• OS Version: macOS 15.7.4 Sequoia
• App Version: 1.0.14
• Build: 57054b4

[devin-ai-integration]

Investigation Summary

Root Cause

The transcript text is intentionally non-selectable by default due to a layered CSS approach. The fix requires changing how and when select-text-deep is applied.

Global CSS (apps/desktop/src/styles/globals.css):

• Line 206: html, body { user-select: none; } — disables selection app-wide
• Lines 211-214: * { user-select: none; } — reinforces this on all elements
• Lines 216-220: Only input, textarea, and [contenteditable="true"] are exempted

The select-text-deep utility (lines 97-103) exists specifically to override this:

@utility select-text-deep {
  user-select: text !important;
  & * { user-select: text !important; }
}

The problem: select-text-deep is only applied when the transcript is in editing mode:

• apps/desktop/src/session/components/note-input/transcript/renderer/segment.tsx line 62: editable && "select-text-deep"
• packages/transcript/src/ui/segment-renderer.tsx line 72: same pattern

The editable flag is true only when sessionMode === "inactive" AND the user has clicked the "Edit" button (which sets isEditing state, providing operations). See state.ts line 68-69.

Context Menu

The right-click context menu (word-span.tsx) is also gated behind editing mode — it only renders when operations exists and word.id is set. In view mode, ViewerWordSpan is rendered which has no onContextMenu handler at all (packages/transcript/src/ui/word-span.tsx lines 28-63).

SelectionMenu Component

There's already a SelectionMenu component in renderer/index.tsx (line 134-138) that supports copy via navigator.clipboard.writeText. However, it is also conditionally rendered only when editable is true:

{editable && (
  <SelectionMenu containerRef={containerRef} onAction={handleSelectionAction} />
)}

Relevant Files

File	Role
apps/desktop/src/styles/globals.css	Global user-select: none and select-text-deep utility
apps/desktop/src/session/components/note-input/transcript/renderer/segment.tsx	Applies select-text-deep only when editable
apps/desktop/src/session/components/note-input/transcript/renderer/index.tsx	Renders SelectionMenu only when editable
apps/desktop/src/session/components/note-input/transcript/state.ts	Determines editable flag (line 68-69)
apps/desktop/src/session/components/note-input/transcript/mutations.ts	Returns operations only when isEditing
apps/desktop/src/session/components/note-input/transcript/renderer/selection-menu.tsx	Selection popup with copy support
packages/transcript/src/ui/word-span.tsx	ViewerWordSpan vs EditorWordSpan split
packages/transcript/src/ui/segment-renderer.tsx	Shared segment renderer with same editable && "select-text-deep" pattern

Potential Approach

The core fix would involve:

1. Always apply select-text-deep on the transcript text container in segment.tsx (and packages/transcript/src/ui/segment-renderer.tsx), not just when editable is true. This enables mouse text selection in view mode.

2. Add a read-only context menu (or always render SelectionMenu) in view mode with at least a "Copy" action. Currently SelectionMenu shows "Remove" and "Replace" which are editing operations — a simpler "Copy" menu would be appropriate for view mode.

3. Keep editing-specific features gated: The "Remove"/"Replace" menu and word-level context menu should remain behind the editable / isEditing check.

Recent History

The transcript renderer was recently restructured in commit 95e1fb80a ("various fixes and cleanup in transcript tab") which moved files from live-state/ to renderer/ and introduced the current component split. The select-text-deep conditional pattern has been present since the selection menu was first added in 450e7d031 ("add basic selection menu for transcript editor").