# Quote quick command? **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [July 16, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611 "2021-07-16T05:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/1 "2021-07-16T05:03:06Z")
I don’t know what they are called: the single-click functions at the top of the text input box that do _Quote whole post_, boldface, italics, hyperlink, etc. Is there a way to add one of these that would produce the quote tags? [quote.] [/quote.] Like that? Basically, the same as the preformatted text command, but for quotes? It looks like one could be squeezed in up there without too much fuss… It would be great for me because I’m lazy and don’t want to type those out nearly as much as I have in the past year. And it would be great for other people who forget exactly how the quote function works in Discourse as opposed to vB. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/2 "2021-07-16T06:31:26Z")
See [Question: is there a way to add extra buttons in the textbox?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-is-there-a-way-to-add-extra-buttons-in-the-textbox/945861) ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/3 "2021-07-16T14:46:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I don’t know what they are called: the single-click functions at the top of the text input box that do _Quote whole post_ , boldface, italics, hyperlink, etc. > > Is there a way to add one of these that would produce the quote tags? That’s already in there; at least I’ve been seeing it all along. Far left: quote whole post. Moving right in order: bold, italic, insert link, **quote** , and so on. Looks like the right hand half of curly quotation marks. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/4 "2021-07-16T14:50:26Z")
The quote mark produces > Blockquote (I inserted an extra space there). I don’t know what Blockquote is but it doesn’t appear to be the same as what I described above; I don’t see the bracketed commands. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/5 "2021-07-16T14:57:21Z")
I’m not sure what you’re after, then. If I type in [quote] text text text [/quote] that’s what I get. If I put it on its own line I get > [@](#): > > text text text which is the same thing that I get if I highlight > text text text and use the quote mark. Do you mean that you want to see the bracketed commands? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/6 "2021-07-16T15:03:23Z")
No; I mean that I did not know and had no way of knowing what “Blockquote” is. If it is just the same as what I described, why don’t I see the bracketed command lines? And why does it have that nebulous name? I just want to paste text in between the bracketed commands without having to type the commands. For some reason, I now know, the quote box is now called a quote block and it displays without the command lines, which makes it difficult to guage whether or not it is the same thing I want or something completely different. Thanks for your help ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/7 "2021-07-16T15:05:23Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I don’t know what that is It’s a block quote. It says so right on the tin. You’re supposed to replace the canned text “Blockquote” with whatever (presumably external) text you are quoting: > True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth, universal brotherhood and good will, and a constant and earnest striving toward the principles and ideals on which this country was founded. – Eleanor Roosevelt [How to Use Block Quotations in Writing](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-block-quotation-1689173) The quickest way to do a partial quote of another post – probably the most common use case around here – is to highlight the portion of text in the original post you want to quote and the click the popup “Quote” button that comes up at the end of the highlighted portion. This opens the editor for a new post with the highlighed original text properly quoted and the cursor positioned for your response. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/8 "2021-07-16T15:10:09Z")
“What’s a dingus?” “It’s a dingus; it says so right there.” 🤨 Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/9 "2021-07-16T15:25:19Z")
Did you stop reading at that point? The remaining 80% of the post explains what a block quote is, why you may use it, and provides a possible solution to your specific question (which actually doesn’t involve block quoting). Otherwise, if you’re just going to set up the joke, I am morally obligated to follow through. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/10 "2021-07-16T16:06:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > No; I mean that I did not know and had no way of knowing what “Blockquote” is. So you didn’t try using it, or try Googling the term, or look at the how to use Discourse pages here on the site that have been up for over a year? > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > If it is just the same as what I described, why don’t I see the bracketed command lines? Because there are numerous markup code conventions, and this one uses the \> rather than [quote]. That’s the only difference that I see. Discourse recognizes several markup conventions and posters can mix them as they please. As mentioned above, you can highlight a phrase in the post and a Quote button will appear. Clicking on that gives the quote with [quote] brackets. > [@](#): > > I find that adding a quote manually needs the =, as in [quote=]. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/11 "2021-07-16T17:19:44Z")
No, i didn’t do those things; i started this thread. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/12 "2021-07-16T17:28:47Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > So you didn’t try using it, or try Googling the term, or look at the how to use Discourse pages here on the site that have been up for over a year? That seems a bit harsh. If I am looking for a feature that I can’t find, I don’t usually google the name of every other feature in the software. Sometimes I do click randomly on everything to see what it does, but that doesn’t always end well. 😉 The two things that make sense to me are asking google and asking a group of humans who might know the answer. Snowboarder\_Bo did the latter – and it worked. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/13 "2021-07-16T21:22:40Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It would be great for me because I’m lazy and don’t want to type those out nearly as much as I have in the past year. I take it that you don’t have a generic macro program? (How does anyone function without a macro program?) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/14 "2021-07-16T23:43:40Z")
I don’t have a generic macro program, no. I don’t even know what one is. I mean, I can surmise from the nomenclature, but no, I don’t have anything that let’s me use macros. I did just try and use the Block quote function, and it is _not_ the same as using the bracketed quote commands. The block had no grey bar on the left > [@](#): > > while the bracketed commands produced that grey bar, clearly indicating it is a quote. That is what I would like to see enabled. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/15 "2021-07-17T00:09:37Z")
Aren’t you seeing that grey bar indicating a quote > for this bit of text here which I turned into a quote using that quote function? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/16 "2021-07-17T00:15:09Z")
Maybe it’s different if you’re quoting a post, but entering text into the Block quote box does not produce a grey bar on the left side of the text. My cite is this block of text that has no grey bar on the left. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/17 "2021-07-17T01:23:49Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Maybe it’s different if you’re quoting a post, but entering text into the Block quote box does not produce a grey bar on the left side of the text. I wasn’t quoting a post. What I get if I’m quoting a post is what you see above these couple of sentences. What I did was put a bit of text on its own line > like this highlight that, and click the quote button in the strip at the top of the replay window. If you’re doing that and not getting a grey bar, I don’t know why; unless it’s something to do with the device or theme you’re using, in which case you shouldn’t be seeing a grey bar when I do it, either. The bar’s pale in the theme I’m using, but it’s equally visible with the quote button as it is when quoting a post. – let’s see what happens if I use the quote button first and then fill in the text, as it looks to me like that’s what you’re doing: > text here OK, I at least am still seeing the grey bar. When you put text in, are you deleting the carat that shows up to the left? Because I think if you do you’re disabling the quote button again. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/18 "2021-07-17T01:38:24Z")
Aye; that was it. The carat and the text are both highlighted in blue, so I just typed or pasted. So can I just type the sideways carat and it puts the text after in a quote box? > does it? It does. So there’s no need to type the brackets, the entire thing can be done with the sideways carat and a single space. Okay, then. Thanks again for your help, **thorny**. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/19 "2021-07-17T01:51:01Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > The carat and the text are both highlighted in blue Yeah, that was kind of odd. I wonder whether whoever set it up assumed everybody would do it like I always have: type the text first, highlight it, then click the quote button. It never occured to me to click the quote button first and then type until I was trying to figure out what you were talking about; I was surprised that it did anything at all with no text highlighted. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611/20 "2021-07-17T01:59:17Z")
On vB, clicking the Quote icon got you the bracketed commands with the cursor placed in between the ] and the [. I got used to that and to typing it in by hand (I generally do my HTML formatting by hand as I write). However, because Discourse requires each quote HTML command to be on it’s own line, the hand-coding seems more cumbersome than it did in vB. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-quick-command/946611.md?page=2)