Bug report — unable to select and delete text-area objects in PDF Edit mode

When editing a PDF in PdfCraft, I am unable to delete or move an existing selected text-area object.

The text area is detected and its contents can be edited or deleted, but the entire text-area object itself cannot be selected as an object. As a result, it cannot be repositioned or removed from the page.

Neither keyboard shortcuts nor standard deletion methods work — Delete, Backspace, and other shortcuts have no effect.

Expected behavior:
Users should be able to select a text-area object, move it to a different position, or delete the entire object.

Actual behavior:
Only the text inside the detected text area can be edited or deleted. The text-area object cannot be selected, moved, or removed.

Steps to reproduce:

Open a PDF in PdfCraft.
Choose Edit PDF / Edit text & images.
Click an existing detected text area.
Try to select the entire text-area object and move or delete it.
Press Delete or Backspace.
Attachment: Screenshot showing the detected text-area object and the affected table heading.

This is indeed an issue I encountered quite quickly, a pretty fundamental one.

yes, cant delete a full text box/block after selecting and clicking delete.. only individual text can be deleted.. pls fix.

I think this topic is extremely important. Severity level: critical. No normal user editing with PdfCraft for more than a few minutes can do so without running into this frustration.

After testing this on MacOS and Windows, there is some strange behavior that is especially confusing if you have Add Content > Text selected.

The simplest way to look at this is by selecting Modify Page > Edit text & images.
Click on a text field.
Two boxes appear. One is a long horizontal box that I would expect if I had a defined text field boundary. The second is a smaller box that fits closely around the text itself. Only one of these boxes should exist. Preferably, we define the text box boundary and PdfCraft should not automatically move or resize it.

Trying to drag the text box often has a problem because of this dual box design. Sometimes when I click to move, it does nothing, because I think the wrong box took focus and has no effect.

If I drag a text box, then I can delete it, if Edit text & images was the option I had selected.
Edit text & images should be come highlighted in some way to indicate this mode is selected.

There should be a right click > delete context menu option where the comments option appears.

If you try to use Add Content > Text and you're adding text boxes, while also trying to manipulate previous text boxes, it gets more confusing.
For example focus is in the new text box, but I can move an old text box and when I let go, the focus is still in the new text box. So the delete key is capture by the new text box's text area instead of allowing me to delete the text box I just moved. So that should trigger a end of the Add content and select the Selection tool (V) automatically. Or don't allow adjusting text boxes in that mode to uncomplicate it, but make it less intuitive.

When Edit text & images is selected, and you have a text box selected, the corner resize elements and left & right vertical rectangle selection objects are not precise or accurate or consistent. For example, sometimes I can't get them to appear at all, other times, I can see the diagonal mouse cursor icon but then it won't resize at all. Or I hover over the vertical rectangle and it gives me a horizontal stretch cursor and I am able to move it diagonally as well.

Status on current main (418ac6a):

Delete on a selected text box: fixed by fix(edit): Delete removes the selected paragraph or objects in Edit text #4111. Select a paragraph by its frame (or several objects with an area selection) and Delete or Backspace removes them as one undo step.
Two boxes around an open paragraph: not reproduced. I took screenshots of a one-line heading and a three-row paragraph hovered, clicked open and typed into: each stage draws a single frame. What still changes on the click is the frame's shape (rounded with width handles on hover, square once open), which M7: a paragraph opens in the frame its hover drew, with a hairline caret #3987 addresses.
Right-click ▸ Delete for the document's own paragraphs and images: planned as a follow-up to M7: a right-click menu for added text boxes and images (#2636) #4268, which adds that menu for added text boxes and images.
Resize handles (hard to grab, a resize cursor that doesn't resize, a side handle that moves diagonally): still open; related to Cannot Extend the text box in Edit text & images #1660 and Feature Request: Edit text - move / resize existing text boxes #2495.

Resize handles, measured on main (and on #4190, identically) for an upright one-line paragraph: within about 6 px either side of the left or right edge the cursor is the horizontal resize arrow and a drag changes the width; further inside it is the move arrow and a drag moves the box. The cursor always matched the drag, and a width drag never moved the box diagonally. Widening a paragraph whose text already fits does make an edit, but nothing visible changes because the box is drawn around the text; #4190 keeps the chosen frame, which makes that visible. A slightly wider grab zone for the edge is proposed separately.

Also new: #4620 makes Esc in an open paragraph select its box, so Esc then Delete removes it without aiming for the frame.

feat(edit): Esc in an open paragraph selects its box, so Delete remov…

fix(edit): catch paragraph edges and frames without aiming for the ha…

Status on current main (418ac6a):

Delete on a selected text box: fixed by fix(edit): Delete removes the selected paragraph or objects in Edit text #4111. Select a paragraph by its frame (or several objects with an area selection) and Delete or Backspace removes them as one undo step.

Two boxes around an open paragraph: not reproduced. I took screenshots of a one-line heading and a three-row paragraph hovered, clicked open and typed into: each stage draws a single frame. What still changes on the click is the frame's shape (rounded with width handles on hover, square once open), which M7: a paragraph opens in the frame its hover drew, with a hairline caret #3987 addresses.

Right-click ▸ Delete for the document's own paragraphs and images: planned as a follow-up to M7: a right-click menu for added text boxes and images (#2636) #4268, which adds that menu for added text boxes and images.

Resize handles (hard to grab, a resize cursor that doesn't resize, a side handle that moves diagonally): still open; related to Cannot Extend the text box in Edit text & images #1660 and Feature Request: Edit text - move / resize existing text boxes #2495.

Re-tested on Windows:

Delete on a selected text box: not entirely fixed. There is a way to do it, but it's not intuitive. It takes a minimum of 2 clicks to select the text box object and double-click does not work to expedite the two clicks. What should work: click on the border at any time to select the box. Instead, I have to do 1 slow click on the box, anywhere, to put the cursor in the box, then I have to click on the border of the box. Left click drag to highlight works to select the box (and multiple boxes). Also, after dragging the box it should be selected and delete should work, but does not because it de-selects the box (when multiple boxes are selected, they do not get de-selected so multi-box is working correctly).
Hidden selection margin around text box, when blinking cursor is in the text field, does not change mouse cursor: I while testing the above, I found there is a 1 pixel margin or so where I can click to select or drag the box, but my cursor does not change to the move mouse cursor (4 way arrow) icon as expected. To reproduce: click into a text box so the cursor is blinking, hover over the border where the 4 arrow icon appears, then move 1 pixel further out and the icon disappears, but you can still click to select the box.
Two boxes around an open paragraph: resolved on Windows.

fix(edit): catch paragraph edges and frames without aiming for the ha…

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Bug report — unable to select and delete text-area objects in PDF Edit mode #2203

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Bug report — unable to select and delete text-area objects in PDF Edit mode #2203

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