Elinks is a console-based webbrowser that allows some interaction with mouse. At first glance it’s impossible to grab text, but this works by point-click-and-drag when holding down Shift key. This post is about a specific mismatch of default settings between Manjaro Openbox desktop and Elinks web browser.
For a while I was puzzled why Shift+Left-Click+Drag doesn’t select text in Elinks in Manjaro Openbox desktop, but the answer is stated openly in the default conky script on the desktop: Left-Click+Drag is reserved for moving windows around on the desktop and this conflicts with the function in Elinks despite the distinction of Shift being pressed or not.
I decided to change the desktop default. The solution is to find, in Openbox RC (.config/openbox/rc.xml), the guilty section that causes the mouse behaviour and to remove it or comment it out. Since I removed it already months ago, I don’t even remember what the actual section was – and I am happy about this.
The result is that Shift+Left-Click+Drag will select text in Elinks again. Also, dragging windows around remains working, only not in the entire window area any more. Now you have to select precisely the upper window bar to Left-Click+Drag windows on the desktop.
