You've probably received a message that contains five things but needed only one: an address, a reference number or the last sentence of a long plan. Google Messages is finally making that little job less fiddly. Its redesigned long-press menu now lets users select and copy only part of a text rather than the whole bubble.
Here's the gesture. Long-press the message to open the new action menu. Then long-press the words inside the message, drag the selection handles across the bit you want, and choose Copy. The same selection box offers Translate and Select All. It is a two-stage press, which may not be obvious if you're used to tapping Copy once and trimming the result in another app.
Google described partial copying as one of the most requested changes when it announced the redesigned menu. According to 9to5Google's updated report, the menu is rolling out widely in the stable Android app. It replaces the older top toolbar with a floating list of actions, putting common options close to the message being pressed. The update also supports light and dark themes and a landscape layout.
The usefulness is in the everyday messiness of real chats. A friend sends a restaurant address together with directions and a joke; a delivery company sends a code in a longer notification; a colleague writes an entire paragraph when you only need the meeting time. Copying a selection means less editing after pasting and less chance of sharing unrelated lines. It doesn't change what the sender wrote or turn Messages into a document editor.
If the new menu hasn't appeared on your phone, it may still be reaching your app. Check that Google Messages is updated and try the same gesture again later. There's no need to install an unfamiliar app for a feature Google says is part of Messages itself.
It is a small feature by any measure. But the best phone updates often remove a step you repeat every week, and this one may be noticed the next time a long message hides the one detail you actually need.
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