New Google Groups: EDITING help

[Mark Wilson]

I've been using the Classic Google Groups interface, and now that option seems to be GONE.

Which is a problem: I was using Google Docs to create a newsletter. Then each week I'd take the latest version, copy-and-paste it into the old classic Conversation editing window in my group, and send it off.

With the new Conversations editing window, when I copy-and-paste from Google Docs, ALL the formatting, images, etc. are GONE. Just plain ugly text. And it seems that the option to go back to the old UI, OR even just the better editing window, are GONE.

Is there any way to get the old functionality back, or am I just out of luck?

Without the ability to create a nice graphic newsletter, the new Groups is pretty useless.

I suppose I can try to re-build the newsletter from scratch IN the Conversation editing window, but then how do I maintain the working copy from week to week?

What a pain-in-the-you-know-what.

[bevhoward]

Looks like you are correct with the observation that composing in another rich text environment (in this case GMail's composer) a message composed in GMail that was copied and pasted into groups retained some of the formatting (bold, italics, list) but not size, color, etc.

Hello there this is large text

• This is a test ​This is a test ​
• This is a test
• ​This is ​bold
• ​This is green​ ​​

I'd report it as, since the formatting options that are still in the compose window and seem to work (i.e. this is green by setting it in the groups composer) the people who did this might be blissfully unaware of the fact that they broke things.

Beverly Howard

[bevhoward]

Still being moderated after being a member of this group for over a year, this group is obviously not being managed by anyone

[Mark Wilson]

Yeah, it's awful. I now see it can't even copy-and-paste properly from ANOTHER CONVERSATION IN THE SAME GROUP!!!!

Just a pitiful coding effort, especially considering how long the change-over period was.

I used the "!" button to report that "bug", but of course I have zero expectation they'll fix anything.

I'm forced to keep my "draft" in another group (since there's no "Draft" folder), which only sends posts to me.

And THEN, once I'm ready to go, I have to do all the last-minute edits I can't copy (images, background colors), and just HOPE I don't miss anything. 

As a retired programmer, this editor is a disgrace. 

And the general interface isn't much better, with old functions simply GONE, without any replacement or explanation or support.

Foo.

[Pamela Conroy]

You could just post it as a PDF.  Or post a link to it in your Google Drive. That is one of the options for sharing a Google doc. 

[Mark Wilson]

This is a useless suggestion, sorry. Our club uses Google Groups to distribute our newsletters. People get them as email. They are used to that, and like it. Following a link to view a Google Doc (with probable other complications and requirements) is NOT going to be accepted, and should not be necessary. Likewise posting a PDF. That is no help, and does NOT address the basic issue of copy-and-paste no longer working. 

Google should simply FIX THE EDITOR. Just get it back to where it was. 

Don’t break something and then tell the user it’s THEIR job to work around Google’s mess-up.

Sorry to seem testy, but I was a software developer for 30 years, and if I broke something I fixed it. If I couldn’t fix it, I explained why and got someone else to fix it. In NO case would I tell my customers it was now their job to work around my incompetence.