When trying to paste from Google Docs to text fields inside the MediaStorm Platform, you may experience extra paragraph returns. For example, it may look like this.
That's because by default Google Docs uses double line breaks when spacing between paragraphs.
There are multiple ways to fix this so the text appears right when published using the Platform.
For small amount of text: Manually remove the spacing in the Platform
The simplest way to solve the issue is to manually remove the extra line breaks in the Platform text fields.
Do this by putting your cursor in the extra space and deleting it. This will result in text that appropriately has only one break between paragraphs.
For long texts: Remove all the line breaks inside Google Docs
For longer texts such as film transcripts or stories, it may be better to remove the extra line breaks in the Google Doc prior to cutting and pasting it.
In order to do this, you'll use Google's search and replace feature to remove all the double line breaks at once.
First select the text you'd like to apply the changes to, or select all your text in the doc by using Command + A (Mac) or Ctrl + A (PC).
Then open the Find tool by clicking Command + F (Mac) or Ctrl + F (PC).
This will pop a dialogue box at the upper right of the page. Find and click on the settings icon represented with the three vertical dots.
In the dialog that opens, put the following characters in the to Find field:
\n(?=\n)
Leave the Replace With field empty.
Check the box next to Use Regular Expressions.
The form when filled out properly should look like this.
Click the Replace All button.
You'll notice that your text appears as one block with any spaces between paragraphs.
This text can now be copied and pasted into any Platform text field with appropriate spacing.
Fix visual spacing inside Google Docs
You can add visual spacing back into your Google Doc copy without changing the single spacing between paragraphs.
Again select the text you'd like to apply the changes to, or select all your text in the doc by using Command + A (Mac) or Ctrl + A (PC).
Click on the Format list in the Google Docs navigation, then select Line & Paragraph Spacing, then Select Add Space After Paragraph.
After this, you'll notice there is visual spacing between paragraphs.
You can continue to cut and paste anything from this doc to the Platform.