Cannot type or paste anything in text boxes at some websites
After upgrading to the most recent Firefox 3.x.x release, I was experiencing lots of inexplicable crashes, so I upgraded to Firefox 4.0. I also just upgraded to Mac OS X 10.6.7, so I don't know whether this problem is due to one or both: While logged in to my bank's website, I tried to send them a message using their secure messaging system, but I am unable to enter any characters in the text fields, either by typing OR by pasting, even if I select the Paste command from the Edit menu. I also had the same problem trying to type in text boxes at the website of a completely different bank and at the Macintouch.com website, yet I do not experience the same issue when using the Safari browser. Even more odd: I am using Firefox to post this question, and I am able to type in the text box! Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be the cause of this problem? Could it be Java related rather than a Firefox or OS X issue?
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All Replies (14)
Although it's reassuring to know that someone else has experienced the same problem, it would be even better if someone could offer a solution or share any knowledge they might have about what is likely causing this problem.
I never had any difficulty in typing or pasting characters into a text box on a website before when using earlier versions of Firefox. The fact that the issue does not affect Safari certainly indicates that the problem is probably related to Firefox 4.0 -- unless it is somehow associated with the font issues reported by some Mac users after installing the OS X 10.6.7 system update.
Can anyone shed some light on the problem? Hello? Anyone? Bueller?
OK, so what have we learned thus far?
(1) At least three people are having this problem.
(2) Apparently, no-one has ANY recommendations for how to resolve the issue.
(3) Not even one person has posted a reply, unless you count me trying to raise some interest in this question about an unsolved problem.
Great. Thanks so much for the help. </sarcasm>
Now six of us have reported that we are experiencing this problem, and still, not one reply from anyone with a suggestion about what is causing the issue, let alone how we might be able to resolve it. Isn't this supposed to be a users' support forum?
Just in case anyone ever does want to offer some assistance to those of us reporting this issue, I can add one more piece of information: When I use Safari to access the bank websites where I have been unable to type or paste anything in some text boxes, I see that those text boxes contain the previous typed correspondence between me and personnel at the bank. When I access those same bank websites with Firefox 4.0, the unusable text boxes are empty; they appear blank, with none of the text that is shown when I view them in Safari.
Again, I'm wondering if this is a shortcoming or incompatibility in Firefox or in the Java implementation in Mac OS X 10.6.7 ("Snow Leopard"). Doesn't anyone have any ideas that could be helpful in investigating or fixing this problem?
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....and we are now up to ELEVEN users who have experienced this problem, but still not one single response from anyone with a suggestion about what might be causing the issue, or how we might be able to figure that out, or how we might be able to resolve the problem, or a workaround to help us bypass the issue....
It appears that I have a flawed understanding of what constitutes a user support forum. You see, I thought that perhaps other users, especially knowledgeable ones, might, oh gee, I don't know, actually try to offer some support. The Firefox user community has not been of any help at all so far on this problem -- and trying to search this support site for anything related to the words type, paste, and text is a pointless waste of time: the search results don't even include this question, which I posted here a week ago.
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Just noticed a new posting on this forum that reports the same problem. That makes twelve of us, by my count, although there are probably a lot more Mac users who have not yet discovered that this issue affects them, or who have not yet added their voices here.
See [Firefox 4 for Mac After Upgrade I cannot type in the comments box of several web sites]
Misery may love company, but some assistance would be appreciated a lot more.
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Thanks @ClickClack53. I did not see this post so apologies for the reposting but maybe it gets someone's attention. It is making FF 4.0 totally unusable as a primary browser. This morning I could not do a live chat with a customer support team for another product. Really need some help from someone out there!
No apology needed, Robert. Even if you searched this support site for the words type, paste, and text, you would not have seen this post among the search results. Your post did not appear in the search results, either. That means there are probably a lot of people posting questions here about identical problems because they never see the existing posts that discuss the issue they are having, and possibly a solution. That is neither efficient or helpful to users seeking answers here.
You are absolutely right about this problem making it impossible to use Firefox 4.0 as a primary browser on a Mac that is running OS X 10.6.x "Snow Leopard" (don't know about earlier versions of OS X). So far, I have not been able to find any discussion of this issue elsewhere, so we can only hope that both Mozilla and Apple are aware of it.
If anyone reading this has seen any reports on any other websites about the same problem, please post a reply here telling us about it -- especially if those other discussions of the problem include any likely solutions. Thank you.
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I haven't seen any solutions online, but this problem is really annoying and time consuming when I have work to do! I have had to close FF4, sometimes I can log off and log back on (I have vista) but I have even had to restart my computer to get the text boxes to work! They need to fix this! I already wasted a ton of time figuring out how to save my tabs when I close, I am not happy with Mozilla.
Is anyone in Mozilla going to do anything about this prob?
This is the only site I have been able to type into in days.
Say something Mozilla before I migrate back to Safari.
Over a month and still no reply. Arrgh. Well FF is gone. Time to move on to Safari or Chrome. Ugh.
I had a problem like this, and it was due to fonts that were corrupted in Snow Leopard 10.6.7. Apple has a fix on its support page.
The apple update seems to fix the problem. Thanks @GreenMind!
I have the same typing into text boxes problem when running Firefox. It started a few weeks ago and nothing I have tried seems to resolve the problem. I am using a Windows PC and was running Firefox v10 when it first started to occur. I subsequently upgraded to Firefox v11 beta but with no improvement. I have had to resort to using Opera more and more these days to get around the problem. A pity because I really do prefer to run Firefox normally.
If anyone has a solution please post it here for all us, now 85 in total, sufferers.
I suddenly have the same problem .text boxes are just a narrow stripe or don't accept typing. Also my text pages have changed to a much smaller font. I'm working with Windows 7 and Firefox 11.0 the cursor in google search has also disappeared at the same time. System restore does not make any difference.i reinstalled windows still the same problem . My virusscanner is up to date and reports that there are no viruses.