System and method for selecting and processing information in an electronic document

A computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for selecting at least two associated noncontiguous information regions of an electronic document that are separated by at least one information separating region, wherein the electronic document is generated by a word-processing application, the computer readable program code in the computer usable medium comprising:

• computer readable program code for causing a computer to accept input that selects a continuous target information region within the electronic document;
• computer readable program code for causing a computer to accept further input that selects the at least one information separating region, wherein the at least one of the information separating regions is located within the continuous target information region to form the at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions, and wherein the at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions remain selected;
• and
• computer readable program code for causing a computer to process the at least two selected associated noncontiguous target information regions according to a selected function, wherein the deselected portion is not processed according to the selected function.

A method of processing at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions within an electronic document generated by a graphics based application, the method comprising the steps of:

• accepting input to select a continuous target information region within the electronic document;
• accepting input to deselect at least one portion of the continuous target information region to form the at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions, wherein the at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions remain selected;
• and
• accepting input to process the at least two selected associated noncontiguous target information regions according to a selected function, wherein the deselected portion is not processed according to the selected function.

A method of processing at least two noncontiguous target information regions within an electronic document, the method comprising the steps of:

• accepting input to select a first continuous target information region within the electronic document;
• accepting input to select a second continuous target information to form the at least two noncontiguous target information regions, wherein the first continuous target information region remains selected;
• and
• accepting input to process the selected at least two noncontiguous target information regions according to a selected function.

A method of processing at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions within two or more documents or two or more applications, the method comprising the steps of:

• accepting input to select a target information region within the two or more documents of two or more applications;
• accepting input to deselect at least one portion of the target information region to form the at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions, wherein the at least two associated noncontiguous target information regions remain selected;
• and
• accepting input to process the at least two selected associated noncontiguous target information regions according to a selected function.