How to hide text-image on drag?

[johnywhy]

Mint 19 xfce

When i drag highlighted text, an image of the text being dragged sticks to the mouse. That image obscures the drop point-- you can't see the insertion point because it's blocked by the image. You can't see where you're about to drop the text.

How to turn off the image that sticks to the mouse, or change it's opacity?

Screenshot_2018-07-30_11-31-03.png

[johnywhy]

i discovered i can change the opacity of the text-image in Window Manager Tweaks > Compositor. The specific setting is "Opacity of popup windows". That changes opacity of the text-image.

Unfortunately, that setting also changes opacity of window icons when cycling with alt-tab, AND changes opacity of right-click context-menus. That is a problem.

Any way to just turn off that text-drag image, instead of changing it's opacity?

(I had turned off Compositor to reduce RAM usage. Not sure it helps, as when i toggle Compositor on/off, i see no change in RAM usage in Task Manager. Would i need to reboot to see the difference?)

THX

[mint4all]

Greetings!

I'm trying to be of some help, but am not sure that what i'm discussing is applicable to your particular needs ...

To begin with, i tested DND in libreoffice and could not duplicate your problem -- LO simply shows a tiny icon/square below the cursor during DND thus does not obscure the insertion point. Mint's Xed, on the other hand, shows that very ghost image you're talking about (as per the gtk+ spec listed in the reference doc on gnome.org). Likewise, firefox & thunderbird show that very ghost image.

Further search on mozilla.org turns up an option in the browser's about:config that controls that very DND-ghost you're talking about (see "nglayout.enable_drag_images" @ http://kb.mozillazine.org/Nglayout.enable_drag_images). Sooo, if you're dealing with html-based docs & webpages, you might have a way to get what you want -- disable those ghosts. Lastly, there might be a GTK-based setting somewhere to provide a system-wide option to suppress ghost images, but i haven't been able to find it (if it exists). Perhaps cross-post your question on xfce.org or gnome.org?

Good luck. Cheers, M4A

[richyrich]

I dunno, but once I've highlighted something, all I have to do is middle-click in the application where I want to paste it . . no clicking and dragging involved.

[mint4all]

I dunno, but once I've highlighted something, all I have to do is middle-click in the application where I want to paste it . . no clicking and dragging involved.

Indeed, your suggestion was my first reaction -- easy ... Not really, though. Having worked with tons of docs over the years, the default behavior of DnD (select, drag, then drop) is the same as select, cut & paste. The middle-click is simply a COPY operation. Moreover, the middle-click does not allow for the ctrl modifier key (converting it to a cut+paste) ...

[johnywhy]

option in the browser's about:config that controls that very DND-ghost you're talking about (see "nglayout.enable_drag_images" @ http://kb.mozillazine.org/Nglayout.enable_drag_images). Sooo, if you're dealing with html-based docs & webpages, you might have a way to get what you want -- disable those ghosts.

thx! but seeking a global solution, not html-only. Also, i'm not running a Mozilla browser

once I've highlighted something, all I have to do is middle-click in the application where I want to paste it

i believe that's also the mouse-wheel click-to-paste. Which i have disabled, because i was constantly pasting accidentally, when only intended to scroll. (no middle button on my mouse, just wheel).

i could also do cut/paste. I like the drag action.

THX