ratco wrote:

I want to open a document in Wordperfect or PDF

PDF, in DOS? It's hard to do anything with PDFs in DOS, let alone copy and paste from them.

I should say that there are patches for DOSBox that enable copy and pasting. But pure DOS would be tricky. There might be something simpler out there, but I'm pretty sure DESQview will do it. (Copying and pasting is of pretty limited utility outside of a multitasking environment anyway, isn't it?)

I seem to remember PRTSCR being able to dump screen buffer to an LPT device as I recall. I don't explicitly remember any TSRs that supported copy/paste but I wouldn't be surprised to find one...

I'm pretty sure there is something like this for DOS. It may have come with Desqview or some kind of other multisession DOS. I remember reading about it in an old copy of PC magazine. I can't remember how flexible it was though.

HUm, so only using DesqView right? I was thinking about a "non multitasking" approach. Well, I will use it if I must, but was hoping for a TSR app. Expected it to be easier.

ratco wrote:

I was thinking about a "non multitasking" approach.

But why? "Non-multitasking" implies that you'd start one program, copy some text to this "clipboard", quit the application, start the other application, and "paste". But if you're going to do that, why not just export stuff to a text file with the one program, and then import stuff from the text file with the other program? It is certain to cause far fewer problems.

But if you're going to do that, why not just export stuff to a text file with the one program, and then import stuff from the text file with the other program? It is certain to cause far fewer problems.

Because, while this would work, it's certainly less convenient than a clipboard since you have to save a separate file instead of simply using a key combination.

keenmaster486 wrote:

But if you're going to do that, why not just export stuff to a text file with the one program, and then import stuff from the text file with the other program? It is certain to cause far fewer problems.

Because, while this would work, it's certainly less convenient than a clipboard since you have to save a separate file instead of simply using a key combination.

Exactly.
Besides I am interested in using TSR programs to mount a "sort of multitasking" environment. Not that I find a lot of those anyway 🙁

keenmaster486 wrote:

Because, while this would work, it's certainly less convenient than a clipboard since you have to save a separate file instead of simply using a key combination.

Any such TSR is bound to have other awkward limitations that will likely cause more trouble than any convenience it may provide.

Jorpho wrote:

ratco wrote:

I want to open a document in Wordperfect or PDF

PDF, in DOS? It's hard to do anything with PDFs in DOS, let alone copy and paste from them.

I should say that there are patches for DOSBox that enable copy and pasting. But pure DOS would be tricky. There might be something simpler out there, but I'm pretty sure DESQview will do it. (Copying and pasting is of pretty limited utility outside of a multitasking environment anyway, isn't it?)

There was a very, very old version of Acrobat Reader for DOS (v1 ?).. It's pretty useless in our modern world, though.
I highly doubt it still can read normal PDF files we do use about every day. Better use the OS/2 or Win 3.1 versions instead.
Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 can at least open normal files, even though their formatting is way off.

Here's a picture of Acrobat Reader for DOS. I've found it on someones personal website/gallery.
He/she has other cool pics about vintage hardware and software.

It occurred to me to take a gander at http://www.opus.co.tt/dave/apps.htm , which does in fact suggest a couple of DOS PDF programs (including ones for text extraction).

No utilities for text copy and paste there, though. I did a search for <dos text grab tsr>, though, and it turned up a few things. http://www.pc-tools.net/dos/dosutils/ mentions a utility that will save a text screen to a file; http://archives.scovetta.com/pub/fehq/DOSUtils/00_index.htm mentions "GrabTSR" and "TEXTSNAP". http://freesoft.cyberside.net.ee/FreeSoft/screen.htm looks the most promising, though.

Oh yeah, MouseClip! Boy, I forgot about that. Wonder if it would work.

So did you already had a look at Sidekick? It was rather popular...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borland_Sidekick
It has some clipboard functionality as well.

Thank you so much everyone! I am gonna take a look at those. I am surprised that in my countless searches for dos software I never found that link ( http://archives.scovetta.com/pub/fehq/DOSUtils/00_index.htm )
Thanks everyone. I hope I will find what I need.