fix(text): cut selection into sub-note loses the selection (closes #9890)

The command took the note and parent path from the tab manager, and
createNote() dropped saveSelection whenever the *active* note was not a
text note. But the editor firing the command is not always the active
tab's: it also runs in a split, the quick editor, the tree popup and the
embedded panes of the map and calendar views, whose note contexts live
outside the tab manager. There the selection was discarded without a
word — an empty sub-note under an unrelated parent, the source text left
where it was. Which is the "randomly" of the report: it turns on what the
active tab happens to hold, not on what was selected.

Both are now answered by the editor that fired the command: its own note
context for the note and parent, and its own editor rather than
noteContext.getTextEditor(), which races the round trip through the event
bus against a 200 ms timeout and resolves to null when it loses — the
same empty sub-note by another road. Cutting with nothing selected says
so instead of creating an empty note.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

apps/client/src/services/note_create.spec.ts

@@ -205,22 +205,57 @@ describe("createNote", () => {
         );
     });
 
-    it("disables saveSelection when the active context note type is not text", async () => {
+    it("saves the selection of the editor it was handed, whatever the active context shows", async () => {
+        // The editor handing us the selection belongs to a split / the quick editor / an embedded
+        // pane, so the active context is a different note of a different type entirely (#9890).
         setActiveContext(true);
-        tabManager.activeNoteType = "code";
+        tabManager.activeNoteType = "book";
         const removeSelection = vi.fn();
         const textEditor = {
-            getSelectedHtml: vi.fn(() => "<h1>x</h1>"),
+            getSelectedHtml: vi.fn(() => "<h1>Heading</h1><p>body</p>"),
             removeSelection
         } as any;
 
         await noteCreateService.createNote("root", { saveSelection: true, textEditor });
 
-        // selection parsing was skipped, so getSelectedHtml/removeSelection untouched
-        expect(textEditor.getSelectedHtml).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+        expect(server.post).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+            expect.any(String),
+            expect.objectContaining({ title: "Heading", content: "<p>body</p>" }),
+            undefined
+        );
+        expect(removeSelection).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it("creates a plain empty note without touching the source when there is nothing selected", async () => {
+        setActiveContext(true);
+        const removeSelection = vi.fn();
+        const textEditor = {
+            getSelectedHtml: vi.fn(() => ""),
+            removeSelection
+        } as any;
+
+        await noteCreateService.createNote("root", { saveSelection: true, textEditor });
+
+        expect(server.post).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+            expect.any(String),
+            expect.objectContaining({ title: undefined, content: "" }),
+            undefined
+        );
         expect(removeSelection).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     });
 
+    it("does not attempt to save a selection when no text editor was passed", async () => {
+        setActiveContext(true);
+
+        await noteCreateService.createNote("root", { saveSelection: true, title: "Plain" });
+
+        expect(server.post).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+            expect.any(String),
+            expect.objectContaining({ title: "Plain", content: "" }),
+            undefined
+        );
+    });
+
     it("honors an explicit target and targetBranchId in the URL", async () => {
         setActiveContext(true);
         await noteCreateService.createNote("root", { target: "after", targetBranchId: "tb-9" });

apps/client/src/services/note_create.ts

@@ -65,14 +65,17 @@ async function createNote(parentNotePath: string | undefined, options: CreateNot
         options.isProtected = false;
     }
 
-    if (appContext.tabManager.getActiveContextNoteType() !== "text") {
+    // Whether there is a selection to save is the editor's answer, not the tab manager's: the editor
+    // handing us the selection is not necessarily the active tab's (a split, the quick editor, an
+    // embedded pane). An empty selection means there is nothing to cut, so the note is created as an
+    // ordinary empty child and the source note is left untouched.
+    const selectedHtml = options.saveSelection ? options.textEditor?.getSelectedHtml() : null;
+    if (selectedHtml) {
+        [options.title, options.content] = parseSelectedHtml(selectedHtml);
+    } else {
         options.saveSelection = false;
     }
 
-    if (options.saveSelection && options.textEditor) {
-        [options.title, options.content] = parseSelectedHtml(options.textEditor.getSelectedHtml());
-    }
-
     const parentNoteId = treeService.getNoteIdFromUrl(parentNotePath);
 
     const { note, branch } = await server.post<Response>(`notes/${parentNoteId}/children?target=${options.target}&targetBranchId=${options.targetBranchId || ""}`, {

apps/client/src/translations/en/translation.json

@@ -1557,7 +1557,8 @@
     "editor_crashed_details_intro": "If you experience this error several times, consider reporting it on GitHub by pasting the information below.",
     "editor_crashed_details_title": "Technical information",
     "auto-detect-language": "Auto-detected",
-    "keeps-crashing": "Editing component keeps crashing. Please try restarting Trilium. If problem persists, consider creating a bug report."
+    "keeps-crashing": "Editing component keeps crashing. Please try restarting Trilium. If problem persists, consider creating a bug report.",
+    "nothing_selected_to_cut": "Select some text first to cut it into a sub-note."
   },
   "empty": {
     "open_note_instruction": "Open a note by typing the note's title into the input below or choose a note in the tree.",

apps/client/src/widgets/type_widgets/text/EditableText.tsx

@@ -196,18 +196,30 @@ export default function EditableText({ note, parentComponent, ntxId, noteContext
             }
         },
         async cutIntoNoteCommand() {
-            const note = appContext.tabManager.getActiveContextNote();
-            if (!note) return;
+            // The note this editor is showing, not whichever one the tab manager considers active: the
+            // editor also runs in a split, in the quick editor and in the embedded panes of the map and
+            // calendar views, where the active context is a different note entirely. Asking the tab
+            // manager there put the sub-note under an unrelated parent, and — since the selection was
+            // only saved when the *active* note was a text note — usually created it empty (#9890).
+            const sourceNote = noteContext?.note;
+            const parentNotePath = noteContext?.notePath;
+            // This component's own editor, rather than noteContext.getTextEditor(): that one races the
+            // round trip through the event bus against a 200 ms timeout and resolves to null when it
+            // loses, which again meant an empty sub-note and a selection left where it was.
+            const textEditor = await waitForEditor() as CKTextEditor | undefined;
+            if (!sourceNote || !parentNotePath || !textEditor) return;
+
+            if (!textEditor.getSelectedHtml()) {
+                toast.showMessage(t("editable_text.nothing_selected_to_cut"));
+                return;
+            }
 
             // without await as this otherwise causes deadlock through component mutex
-            const parentNotePath = appContext.tabManager.getActiveContextNotePath();
-            if (noteContext && parentNotePath) {
             note_create.createNote(parentNotePath, {
-                    isProtected: note.isProtected,
+                isProtected: sourceNote.isProtected,
                 saveSelection: true,
-                    textEditor: await noteContext?.getTextEditor()
+                textEditor
             });
-            }
         },
         async saveNoteDetailNowCommand() {
             // used by cutToNote in CKEditor build

packages/ckeditor5/src/plugins/cuttonote.spec.ts

@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ describe("CutToNotePlugin", () => {
         expect(html).not.toContain("data-list-item-id");
     });
 
+    it("returns an empty string from getSelectedHtml when nothing is selected", () => {
+        // What the host takes as "there is nothing to cut here" before it creates a sub-note (#9890).
+        setModelData(editor.model, "<paragraph>foo[]bar</paragraph>");
+
+        expect(editor.getSelectedHtml()).toBe("");
+    });
+
     it("removeSelection deletes the selection, inserts a paragraph and saves the note", async () => {
         setModelData(editor.model, "<paragraph>foo[bar]baz</paragraph>");