# Why has Chrome for Android suddenly stopped letting me copy the site's address? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071 "2019-05-16T17:29:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/1 "2019-05-16T17:29:13Z")
I click in the address bar and it goes blank. This doesn’t happen in Opera. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/2 "2019-05-16T18:11:31Z")
It annoys me too, but if you click on the address bar, there should be a drop down of the last few addresses visited, and the most recent will have the symbol to click on to copy the URL - looks like a “pages symbol”. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/3 "2019-05-16T18:35:25Z")
But that doesn’t let me copy or modify the address. This problem is recent, like as of last night. Clicking does not allow me to select the address, it just blanks it and gives that menu you mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/4 "2019-05-16T18:40:55Z")
You should have three icons in the drop down: copy, share and edit. If you click the edit (pencil) icon, the last address appears in the address bar with the edit cursor positioned at the end. At least, it does for me. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/5 "2019-05-16T20:07:36Z")
I get the pencil, but no editing. Perhaps I haven’t made myself clear: Before last night and as long as I have used Chrome, WinOS and Android, when I click in the address bar I could highlight, edit, or copy the contents. That ended last night and now I get that useless menu that doesn’t behave as y’all say it should. I’m hard-pressed to tell if it was Chrome’s fault or mine. I cannot find a setting for that behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/6 "2019-05-16T21:22:12Z")
Check the SDMB theme that you’re using. Sultantheme behaves differently than Straightdope 3.7.3 and may be the cause of your problem ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/7 "2019-05-16T21:31:55Z")
Now it adds an extra link with the url directly below the current one. You CAN use the pencil icon, but I also have copy (two papers) or share icon (has option to copy there, too). Seems like a solution in seek of a problem to me, not sure why they changed it but it’s not just you. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/8 "2019-05-16T21:41:08Z")
When I tap the address bar in Chrome (Android 8.1) it empties the field but shows the URL I was viewing in the first line of the drop-down menu. Next to that address are the Copy, Share and Edit icons. Looks like this: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/s6LlzXF.png "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/s6LlzXF) Tapping the Edit (pencil) icon returns the URL to the address bar and allows me to edit from there. Does yours look different than the above screenshot? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/9 "2019-05-17T01:52:45Z")
This just started happening today for me too on chrome with android. I just noticed it today. I’m guessing its a software update. However when I open mine I do have the 3 options. The copy, share & edit options. Using the copy option allows me to copy the url. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/10 "2019-05-17T06:43:11Z")
Having played with it a couple of days… I like it now. You copy a url, then try to paste it in the title bar. Before you had to erase the existing one. Now you can just paste and go. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/11 "2019-05-17T11:05:06Z")
I saw this for the first time last night. I have a bookmark to a SharePoint site, but needed to go one level above that. So I clicked on the SharePoint bookmark expecting to just tap on the address bar and edit it. But I got this instead. Unexpected and non-intuitive. It took me a few minutes of dicking around with it to figure out how it worked. It’s part of the “mobile first” trend and it’s fine once you know how it works. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/12 "2019-05-17T16:12:03Z")
I like the new version way better, but you have to know what the copy, share, and edit icons are. Those should be labeled with text as well, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/13 "2019-05-17T17:05:50Z")
Funny, the only change I’ve seen in Android Chrome recently is that the menu stuff has moved from the top to the bottom of the screen. I can still copy addresses the same as always. I have a Samsung phone on Android 8.0 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/14 "2019-05-17T18:52:51Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Check the SDMB theme that you’re using. Sultantheme behaves differently than Straightdope 3.7.3 and may be the cause of your problem I’m running Straightdope 3.7.3 and were it the theme it wouldn’t affect other sites. > [@Dahnlor](#): > > When I tap the address bar in Chrome (Android 8.1) it empties the field but shows the URL I was viewing in the first line of the drop-down menu. Next to that address are the Copy, Share and Edit icons. Looks like this: > > [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](https://imgur.com/s6LlzXF) > > Tapping the Edit (pencil) icon returns the URL to the address bar and allows me to edit from there. > > Does yours look different than the above screenshot? No. The difference is because Copy doesn’t copy, Share doesn’t share, and Edit doesn’t edit. They basically do nothing. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/15 "2019-05-17T18:56:03Z")
And yes, I have turned it off and turned it back on again. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/16 "2019-05-18T15:12:04Z")
Chrome works the old-fashioned way in incognito mode. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/17 "2019-05-18T15:32:39Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’m running Straightdope 3.7.3 and were it the theme it wouldn’t affect other sites. > . Sorry about that. I jumped to a conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-has-chrome-for-android-suddenly-stopped-letting-me-copy-the-sites-address/834071/18 "2019-05-18T20:04:06Z")
No prob. And you can be sure I checked before replying! 😃