Thanks to both of you for the information.

Could Pegasus Mail be configured to recognise long url's when being pasted into messages so that it does not break them?

I now know that Paste Special solves this problem (thanks guys), but it would be great if you did not have to do this. It would make using Pegasus Mail a little easier.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but what do you do about text which exceeds the margins set for a line? Most languages do not have words that exceed line length. It is only technical "words" like Urls or mathematical expressions that would not have a natural spacing character to allow line-breaking.

For Urls specifically, look into TinyUrl.com (http://tinyurl.com/)

Martin

[quote user="irelam"]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but what do you do about text which exceeds the margins set for a line? Most languages do not have words that exceed line length. It is only technical "words" like Urls or mathematical expressions that would not have a natural spacing character to allow line-breaking.

For Urls specifically, look into TinyUrl.com (http://tinyurl.com/)

Martin

[/quote]

Thanks for replying Martin.

My point is that Pegasus Mail breaks the line. There is no wrapping and it inserts a space, breaking the link. All links start ftp:// or http:// or https://. So, I was wondering if it is or will be possible to program Pegasus Mail to recognise 'words' beginning with those strings and to format them differently so that it does not insert spaces.

I've used tinyurl quite a bit in the past and it is a very useful tool.

Check out these examples.

I sent an email from Pegasus Mail to my local Pegasus Mail account and to my G-mail account. The email contains a straight paste and a paste special (no styles, no wrapping)

Pegasus Mail:

G-Mail:

You should not be seeing a broken Url, as Paste Special Text Only Not wrapped option, should cause the editor window to scroll right to see the remainder of the line, not wrapped as shown in your screen capture.

 Martin

Just relying on my common sense, I feel that:

1. It's better without horizontal scroll
2. It's better without checking options
3. It's better without using external fixes like tinyurl

More generally, taking into account the scope of the Suggestions forum in the more genral scope of the development of Pmail, I feel it is  safer to acknowlledge the superiority of the competition whenever it occurs, rather than deny it by offering less easy, less elegant fixes.

I too want to copy paste my urls into Pmail messages, and I want Pmail to respect them without demanding fixes or awkward options.

[quote user="irelam"]

You should not be seeing a broken Url, as Paste Special Text Only Not wrapped option, should cause the editor window to scroll right to see the remainder of the line, not wrapped as shown in your screen capture.

 Martin

[/quote]

That is what is happening. By default, my view is 'Where a choice of view exists, display the fancy version', and Sending mail is set to 'Generate multipart/alternative versions of rich text messages'. When the mail arrives, it is displayed as a text mail - no clickable url. Clicking the view button transforms it to the view you see above, a broken url.

This is what I see after pasting the url in a new message:

The message, however, displays exactly as you see it in my previous post.

I have to agree with arnaudherve. This is something that should not require specific commands. A url should be automatically recognised for what it is and displayed as such. Useability is key to the success of any software.

I agree that this is something that could and should be fixed. I believe it is also a point where Pegasus can distinguish itself from some of the competition. I'm sure I remember seeing this problem in other mailers in the past, though they have probably fixed it now...    :)

[quote user="Greenman"]By default, my view is 'Where a choice of view exists, display the fancy version', and Sending mail is set to 'Generate multipart/alternative versions of rich text messages'.[/quote]

So when you compose a mail you are generating HTML - did you use the specific 'Insert a hyperlink' tool to do this?

[quote]When the mail arrives, it is displayed as a text mail - no clickable url.[/quote]

As it would if you are pasting plain text into an HTML document.

[quote]Clicking the view button transforms it to the view you see above, a broken url.[/quote]

When I paste your link and specify 'no-wrapping' it works fine in text emails - I have a clickable link that works as it should.  (You have to be careful not to force line reformatting or wrapping - F5/Ctrl+F5)

[quote]This is what I see after pasting the url in a new message:

[image snipped]

The message, however, displays exactly as you see it in my previous post.[/quote]

No indication there that you are generating an HTML link.

[quote user="PaulW"]

[quote user="Greenman"]By default, my view is 'Where a choice of view exists, display the fancy version', and Sending mail is set to 'Generate multipart/alternative versions of rich text messages'.[/quote]

So when you compose a mail you are generating HTML - did you use the specific 'Insert a hyperlink' tool to do this?

[quote]When the mail arrives, it is displayed as a text mail - no clickable url.[/quote]

As it would if you are pasting plain text into an HTML document.

[quote]Clicking the view button transforms it to the view you see above, a broken url.[/quote]

When I paste your link and specify 'no-wrapping' it works fine in text emails - I have a clickable link that works as it should.  (You have to be careful not to force line reformatting or wrapping - F5/Ctrl+F5)

[quote]This is what I see after pasting the url in a new message:

[image snipped]

The message, however, displays exactly as you see it in my previous post.[/quote]

No indication there that you are generating an HTML link.

[/quote]

Thanks for the input.

Using the option to create a link did not work. If I create a message and type 'link' and then use the hyperlink tool to insert the address the mail displays as straight text 'link'. This does not change in normal or 'fancy' view. It does not display as a link in Gmail either.

I also tried ctrl+F5/F5 with the same results as per my previous post when using the special paste function.

What are your sending mail options set to? I have MIME features and rich text = on. Formatting and use of styles = nothing checked.

Cheers!

[quote user="Greenman"]

Using the option to create a link did not work. If I create a message and type 'link' and then use the hyperlink tool to insert the address the mail displays as straight text 'link'.

I don't understand where you are typing the word 'link'. You must do it in the pop-up window or else there is no hyperlink generated.

[quote]This does not change in normal or 'fancy' view. It does not display as a link in Gmail either.[/quote]

I haven't looked at gmail yet, but both TB and fastmail display it exactly as Pegasus Mail does: In the HTML view, the hyperlink works but the plain text is not a link, and in plain text view the opposite happens - the hyperlink is just shown as 'link' but the plain text is now a live link.

[quote]

I also tried ctrl+F5/F5 with the same results as per my previous post when using the special paste function.

I'm not sure they have any effect if you are viewing HTML.

[quote]

What are your sending mail options set to? I have MIME features and rich text = on. Formatting and use of styles = nothing checked.

Same as yours.

[quote user="PaulW"][quote user="Greenman"]

Using the option to create a link did not work. If I create a message and type 'link' and then use the hyperlink tool to insert the address the mail displays as straight text 'link'.

I also tried ctrl+F5/F5 with the same results as per my previous post when using the special paste function.

What are your sending mail options set to? I have MIME features and rich text = on. Formatting and use of styles = nothing checked.

[/quote] Same as yours.[/quote]

I type the word link, highlight it, click the hyperlink button, paste the url quoted above (making sure there are no spaces) and click OK. If I send that mail message to my Pegasus and GM accounts, it displays as plain text.

I tried ctrl+F5 and F5 after pasting the URL.

What other controls, either in the options or in the message sending pane affect the formatting of text?

Why do we need to do this? Seriously, it would be so much easier if a url was formatted as a hyperlink when the message is opened. Please don't misunderstand me - I value everyone's help with this, but I feel like I'm having to ensure that every switch is in the correct position before I can even begin to type a message. We've been using Pegasus Mail for years and I've always been wary of pasting url's in messages. I've always placed the line: highlight the link, right-click it and choose Open selection as hyperlink from the context menu.

[quote user="Greenman"]I type the word link, highlight it, click the hyperlink button, paste the url quoted above (making sure there are no spaces) and click OK. If I send that mail message to my Pegasus and GM accounts, it displays as plain text.[/quote]

That's what I would expect because you are not creating a hyperlink.  You have to type the text into the text box in the hyperlink window.  Then the text is highlighted and underlined in the edit window.

[quote]Why do we need to do this? Seriously, it would be so much easier if a url was formatted as a hyperlink when the message is opened. Please don't misunderstand me - I value everyone's help with this, but I feel like I'm having to ensure that every switch is in the correct position before I can even begin to type a message. We've been using Pegasus Mail for years and I've always been wary of pasting url's in messages. I've always placed the line: highlight the link, right-click it and choose Open selection as hyperlink from the context menu.[/quote]

That's to do with reading emails not creating them.  Different mailers work in different ways, but if you are looking at HTML, only links in href tags will be clickable, and that depends on how the code was generated.

Ok, so, does that mean that we have to give the wish of automatic link paste/display for the future version of Pmail?

It's not about you particularly PaulW, but it's the first development forum that I EVER saw where you can expect ANY simple plain obvious suggestion to be denied legitimacy.

Not only in this thread, but in many others too, the suggestions are so obvious, the features are so widespread in all major competition, and there is almost always someone appearing saying it is useless or not pertinent to implement them in Pmail.

Just think about it, I repeat my question: Does that mean we have to give up the simple paste/display of links in the next version of Pmail? Look around you, look what happens in thunderbird, Opera, all Webmail... You don't feel there is something strange in my being compelled to write that question?

Show me ANY mail client forum WHEREVER on the net where features like paste/display of links are not IMMEDIATELY received as common sense and legitimate.

And if you have time look at many threads in this Suggestions/wishlist forum. Sometimes you wonder if the principle of building something that doesn't look like a Windows 3.1 app is even accepted. You will even find people that tell you to change a line of code, or rename a file in the program folder, in reply to a suggestion for an obvious improvement of the interface.

I am convinced that this is a place for the power users of the already existing versions. But is the principle of improvement accepted? I am still not sure...

[quote user="PaulW"]

[quote user="Greenman"]I type the word link, highlight it, click the hyperlink button, paste the url quoted above (making sure there are no spaces) and click OK. If I send that mail message to my Pegasus and GM accounts, it displays as plain text.[/quote]

That's what I would expect because you are not creating a hyperlink.  You have to type the text into the text box in the hyperlink window.  Then the text is highlighted and underlined in the edit window.

[quote]Why do we need to do this? Seriously, it would be so much easier if a url was formatted as a hyperlink when the message is opened. Please don't misunderstand me - I value everyone's help with this, but I feel like I'm having to ensure that every switch is in the correct position before I can even begin to type a message. We've been using Pegasus Mail for years and I've always been wary of pasting url's in messages. I've always placed the line: highlight the link, right-click it and choose Open selection as hyperlink from the context menu.[/quote]

That's to do with reading emails not creating them.  Different mailers work in different ways, but if you are looking at HTML, only links in href tags will be clickable, and that depends on how the code was generated.

[/quote]

I am pasting the url in the hyperlink window - there is nowhere else to paste it.

I echo the reply by arnaudherve

[quote user="Greenman"]I am pasting the url in the hyperlink window - there is nowhere else to paste it.[/quote]

Do you see something different? The hyperlink window that I see has two entry boxes, one for the text you want to see, and one for the url.  Of course you can put the same text in both, but unless both are filled in you won't generate an HTML link.  (In that window Pegasus Mail also allows you to specify an image as the clickable link.)

[quote]I echo the reply by arnaudherve[/quote]

Regarding that, I have never made any comment on the wish you originally expressed.  All I am doing, in this thread and the other one where you raised this, is to explain how the program works today.  You started by saying you were having trouble generating links which don't break and other people don't experience the same problem.

Thanks, PaulW. You have the patience of a saint.

Aha - I see. So Pegasus Mail does not follow the same convention that other mailers do - select text, start a command and the command acts on the text selected. My mistake then. I assumed that by selecting the word 'link' and then clicking the hyperlink icon, and pasting the url in the bottom part of the command, Pegasus would convert the word 'link' to a hyperlink. I really did not think that it would be necessary to type the word 'link' in the upper box.

Seriously, I reiterate my original request.

As I said before, don't misunderstand me - I feel this is something so basic that its lack detracts from the useability of Pegaus Mail.

Well I don't write many HTML messages, but I can understand that some users may want PM to operate differently - like TB which picks up every url and immediately generates a href link. But I appreciate the extra controls for image links, tables and so on which other mailers don't provide and I've never found it an issue.

Yes. If I had realised that you needed to type the text comprising the visual link in the top field, it would not have been such a trial. But, that's the problem. Once you understand any program, it is easy to use. Windows provides a 'template' for program behaviour and because Pegasus Mail did not do what other programs do - act upon the present focus/selection, I assumed it was not working as it should.

The granular control available to Pegasus Mail users is amazing, but the program would be even better if things like this were accomplished automatically. When you send/reeive a URL, you expect it to be clickable. We should not have to jump through hoops.

Thanks again for your perseverance.