notebook / paste / bugs
The paste that pasted the wrong thing
Every so often, Pomvox pasted something you had copied earlier instead of what you just said. Waiting longer made it rarer. Only waiting smarter fixed it.
Pom’s shorthand
- To drop your words into any app, Pomvox briefly borrows your clipboard, then puts back whatever you had copied before
- If an app was slow, it sometimes grabbed your old copy instead of your new words
- Waiting longer helped a little. What actually fixed it was waiting until the app had really picked up your words
Here's the trick we use behind the scenes. When you finish talking, Pomvox needs to get your words into whatever app you're using: an email, a document, a chat. The easiest way that works everywhere is copy and paste. So Pomvox copies your words, pastes them for you, and then puts back whatever you had copied before, so your clipboard looks untouched.
The catch is that apps don't always paste right away. If an app is busy, it might take a moment. We were putting your old copy back after a fraction of a second. For a slow app, that was sometimes too soon. The app would finally go to paste, find your old copy sitting there, and paste that instead.
Imagine asking a friend to grab something from your desk, then swapping it out before they get there.
Fix one: wait a little longer
Our first fix was to wait a bit longer before putting your old copy back. It made the problem rarer. It didn't make it go away. A few days later we heard it again: every so often, it still pasted the wrong thing.
Along the way, a second problem
While we were looking at this, we found another issue. When Pomvox put your old copy back, it only kept plain text. If you had copied a picture or a file, it was simply gone. If you had copied formatted text, it came back plain. Now Pomvox saves everything you had copied, exactly as it was, and puts all of it back.
Fix two: stop guessing
The real problem was that we were guessing how long to wait. There is no right amount of time, because every app is different on every day.
There is no right amount of time, because every app is different on every day.
So we stopped guessing. Pomvox now gets a signal the moment the app actually picks up your words. Only then does it put your old copy back. And if an app never picks them up, Pomvox gives up after a few seconds and returns your copy anyway, so nothing ever gets lost.
The lesson
When something looks like a timing problem, waiting longer usually just hides it. Ask what you're really waiting for, and wait for that instead.