Rationale: it is not possible to select and copy text from the information panel.
Why would someone want to copy image information? Here is an example:
I was using the viewer to find a particular image within a collection. The image filenames are rather long, based on the original image names with suffixes. I wanted to copy a filename to the clipboard in order to rename another file: I would simply edit the suffix in the rename operation. The image browser was hidden, and I used the information panel with the intent of copying the filename. Impossible.
As he said, the filenames are long. He wanted to copy an existing filename, then use that to rename another file and just slightly edit it so that he didn’t have duplicate filenames. It’s something he could do outside of PL3, but he’d have to open up his File Manager and navigate to the file(s).
In Windows (I don’t know about Mac), the image properties window (Ctrl+I) offers a link to locate the image file in Explorer. You can also select the filename for copying in PhotoLab 3 by going to the PhotoLibrary and clicking on the name under the thumbnail in the image browser (filmstrip).
It’s common to be able to copy uneditable text from applications. It is also unfortunately common that this is impossible.
For instance, you can copy any of the text on this web page, including purely functional text like “replying…” and column headings in the Suggested Topics section, however you cannot copy any button text nor the text in the timeline on the right. These distinctions are usually as a result of the uncopyable text being “smart” in some way (dynamically styled, animated, etc). I don’t believe any of the text in the PL information panel serves any purpose other than informative, so I don’t see, logically, why all of it should not be copyable. Of course, there may be technical reasons.
I just checked Lightroom Classic and you also cannot select text there unless it is editable. In ON1 Photo RAW 2020 however, you can copy anything like this focal length: 135 mm. Clearly not editable content.
m-photo
( Marc (macOS Sonoma on MBP16" Intel))
7
I can understand the purpose and I voted for it.
Sometimes it is nice to copy a lens reference or a path etc… way better than a screenshot (who likes to type complicated text like serial numbers or activation keys ?).