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On older versions of Android, the Cut/Copy/Paste edit menu (i.e., the menu displayed when the user selects some text) displays at the top of the screen, and can be dismissed by clicking the back arrow:

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On newer versions of Android (not sure when this changed), the edit menu is a popup. I don't see a back arrow here:

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How does the user dismiss this menu on newer versions of Android? I realize that this is a complete newbie question, but I can't for the life of me figure it out, and Google searches result in lots of hits for programmatically removing the menu. I'm interested in what the user needs to do to dismiss it.

EDIT/UPDATE: I neglected to mention what the context is here. I'm working within contenteditable <div> elements in a web view. The user is an older guy who sometimes holds down his taps too long, triggering the menu by mistake (although I would imagine other users with mobility issues could do this as well). He just wants to dismiss the menu without leaving the web page.

eb1
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  • Just press BACK on the device itself? The way of Android 4.x - pressing a back arrow at the top-left of the screen - is no more convenient. – Andy Yan Nov 22 '17 at 01:23
  • @AndyYan - the 4.x way dismissed the edit menu dialog, but did not go back one page in the web view. This is what I want; a way for older users / users with mobility issues to get rid of the edit menu if they enable it by mistake. – eb1 Nov 22 '17 at 17:20

2 Answers2

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On newer versions of Android all you have to do to dismiss it is, press the back button on the navigation bar. You can also dismiss it by pressing anywhere on the text box.

(The back button is on the bottom left of the screenshot below)

aBochur
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  • Looks like I was missing a bit of info. I'm on an edit field (contenteditable div) within a web page. When the edit menu is displayed, the keyboard is up. Clicking the triangle hides the keyboard; clicking it again goes back one page in the web view. I just want to hide the menu. – eb1 Nov 22 '17 at 17:17
  • In that case, you can dismiss it with the second option that i suggested which is pressing anywhere on the text box, like the next word or something. In your case i guess it is annoying that they removed the back button – aBochur Nov 22 '17 at 17:34
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I've been mulling this over some more, and thought of another kinda stupid solution: click on the COPY button in the edit menu. This would dismiss the edit popup menu while keeping the focus in the text field and the software keyboard displayed.

The only downside is the extra text copied to the clipboard. This would probably only be an issue if you're dealing with some sensitive text (i.e. you don't want it copied to the clipboard), or you've got something else on the clipboard that you don't want knocked out.

eb1
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