Clicking on links in mail

lsc · 24 Jan 2015, 02:22 AM

There are some links I can not click on in email in my fastmail inbox. I am in a trial period and currently forwarding email from gmail to the fastmail account. I assume fastmail normally allows this. Have I missed a setting and any suggestions?

Thanks.

PS. These links do work in the copy retained in gmail.

janusz · 24 Jan 2015, 02:49 AM

Do you mean those links which FM suspects may be fishing attempts and therefore disables them?

chuckster · 24 Jan 2015, 04:25 AM

if they are phishing attempt it will be picked up by gmail automatically with a red notification.

janusz · 24 Jan 2015, 04:30 AM

But Gmail only signals potentially dangerous links, whereas FM disables them,

chuckster · 24 Jan 2015, 04:40 AM

ok, so if the fm user has no clue it's disabled for that reason he shouldn't have to ask the forum for help.

lsc · 24 Jan 2015, 04:40 AM

No. The last one was a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal that a friend had sent me, and did not have any issues that I could see. When I clicked on the copy of the email still in gmail it opened up the article in the WSJ which was a legit WSJ article. I guessed there was something in the link formatting that threw fastmail off and/or maybe I needed to change a setting in FM, but did not see one that would apply. I asked him to resend the article today to see if this would happen again and it worked the second time. Have only had the trial for a few days, but occasional inability to follow legit links would be a concern. You can always cut and paste, but extra trouble and would worry if some legit email was not legit.

Maybe fastmail just had a bad day yesterday, but again the link in that email worked in gmail and still does not work in fastmail. I was wanting to get rid of gmail, but....

lsc · 24 Jan 2015, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janusz

But Gmail only signals potentially dangerous links, whereas FM disables them,

Gmail did not flag it. I have seen that in the past there on some emails.

n5bb · 24 Jan 2015, 11:16 AM

What exactly happens when you click on the link? Or is there no link to click? It's very strange when you say that the first attempt failed but the second worked.

Do you still have both messages (perhaps in your Trash folder)? If so, I would suggest that you create a new folder titled "For webmaster" or some other unique name, move both messages to that folder, then file a support request. I'm not sure if you can get direct support for a trial account, so if that fails let us know and we can come up with another way to assist you here. Since the message might have been in either plaintext or HTML format and the URL might have wrapped on a line boundary, there are various things which could have gone wrong. It could even be related to how the message was forwarded by Gmail.

Bill

lsc · 25 Jan 2015, 01:20 AM

In the first email, fastmail does not recognize that the link is a link although, again, gmail does. FM does recognize the same link in the second email. I earlier sent a note to TS, but have not yet heard back. I copied the cite from the first email into a new email that I then sent myself to my gmail account being forwarded, and that worked fine in FM this time. May well have just been a glitch with FM. Will just wait now and see if it happens again with a new email. Thanks for the suggestions.

n5bb · 25 Jan 2015, 12:33 PM

There are two ways for you to get a clickable link in an email:

If the message was sent as plain text, there are no embedded links - just text. The receiving email webmail system (or email client) may decide to display certain strings of characters as a clickable URL. This behavior is different for various webmail systems and email clients, and in some cases can be broken if the URL wraps between lines or there are certain characters in the URL.
If the message was sent in HTML (or rich text) format, links can be embedded in the message. This means that the link can be to a URL which is different from the characters that you see. These links can't be easily broken by the receiving email system unless the message is badly mangled during transmission.

If you send a plain text message body to Fastmail, these forms of URL are displayed as shown:

http://fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
http://www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
fastmail.com - displayed as plain text (not a link)

If you send a plain text message to Outlook.com/hotmail.com/live.com (Microsoft webmail), you will see the four cases above shown exactly the same as Fastmail. This is also how this forum (emaildiscussions.com) displays (or does not display) links automatically.

If you send a plain text message to Yahoo.com, you will see the following:

http://fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
http://www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
www.fastmail.com - displayed as plain text (not a link)
fastmail.com - displayed as plain text (not a link)

If you send a plain text message to Gmail.com, you will see the following:

http://fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
http://www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL
fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL

So what you are seeing may be links which were sent in plain text messages without starting with either http:// or www -- in other words, something like "fastmail.com". These will be shown as plain text (not links) in Fastmail, Outlook.com/live.com/hotmail.com, or Yahoo.com. But they will be shown as clickable links in Gmail.

It's debatable how these partial URL's should be displayed. A properly formed complete URL includes the http:// part. In some cases, displaying any text which contains an embedded period as a URL is annoying. Remember that all domains don't end in .com, so do you want anything.anything shown as a link?

You can examine the raw message contents to see if this is the cause of your complaint. I have modified the default automatic links in EMD Forums to show the links above as they will be seen in the indicated webmail systems.

Bill

KevinS · 25 Jan 2015, 02:40 PM

An example of URLs, such as https://website.com that are not click-able:

I often get messages sent from yahoo groups that are in html format. The messages may have URLs in the message text and it will not be click-able because it is body text (from someone's message) enclosed in the html. I believe Fastmail's interface (classic or regular) does not pickup on these URLs.

Kevin

BritTim · 25 Jan 2015, 03:36 PM

I can still well remember when it was considered normal that plain text URLs were not automatically converted into links. At one time, one of my Firefox extensions was Smart Link which added that capability. Perhaps it is because of this history that I am not in the slightest upset when the occasional URL slips through the automatic conversion net today.

24 Jan 2015, 02:22 AM	#1
lsc Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 15	Clicking on links in mail There are some links I can not click on in email in my fastmail inbox. I am in a trial period and currently forwarding email from gmail to the fastmail account. I assume fastmail normally allows this. Have I missed a setting and any suggestions? Thanks. PS. These links do work in the copy retained in gmail.

25 Jan 2015, 12:33 PM	#10
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 8,927	Plain text automatic clickable link behavior in various email systems There are two ways for you to get a clickable link in an email: If the message was sent as plain text, there are no embedded links - just text. The receiving email webmail system (or email client) may decide to display certain strings of characters as a clickable URL. This behavior is different for various webmail systems and email clients, and in some cases can be broken if the URL wraps between lines or there are certain characters in the URL. If the message was sent in HTML (or rich text) format, links can be embedded in the message. This means that the link can be to a URL which is different from the characters that you see. These links can't be easily broken by the receiving email system unless the message is badly mangled during transmission. If you send a plain text message body to Fastmail, these forms of URL are displayed as shown: http://fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL http://www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL fastmail.com - displayed as plain text (not a link) If you send a plain text message to Outlook.com/hotmail.com/live.com (Microsoft webmail), you will see the four cases above shown exactly the same as Fastmail. This is also how this forum (emaildiscussions.com) displays (or does not display) links automatically. If you send a plain text message to Yahoo.com, you will see the following: http://fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL http://www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL www.fastmail.com - displayed as plain text (not a link) fastmail.com - displayed as plain text (not a link) If you send a plain text message to Gmail.com, you will see the following: http://fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL http://www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL www.fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL fastmail.com - displayed as clickable URL So what you are seeing may be links which were sent in plain text messages without starting with either http:// or www -- in other words, something like "fastmail.com". These will be shown as plain text (not links) in Fastmail, Outlook.com/live.com/hotmail.com, or Yahoo.com. But they will be shown as clickable links in Gmail. It's debatable how these partial URL's should be displayed. A properly formed complete URL includes the http:// part. In some cases, displaying any text which contains an embedded period as a URL is annoying. Remember that all domains don't end in .com, so do you want anything.anything shown as a link? You can examine the raw message contents to see if this is the cause of your complaint. I have modified the default automatic links in EMD Forums to show the links above as they will be seen in the indicated webmail systems. Bill

25 Jan 2015, 02:40 PM	#11
KevinS Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Bellingham, WA, US Posts: 129	plain text in html An example of URLs, such as https://website.com that are not click-able: I often get messages sent from yahoo groups that are in html format. The messages may have URLs in the message text and it will not be click-able because it is body text (from someone's message) enclosed in the html. I believe Fastmail's interface (classic or regular) does not pickup on these URLs. Kevin

24 Jan 2015, 02:49 AM	#2
janusz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: EU Posts: 4,944	Do you mean those links which FM suspects may be fishing attempts and therefore disables them?

24 Jan 2015, 04:25 AM	#3
chuckster Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 67	if they are phishing attempt it will be picked up by gmail automatically with a red notification.

24 Jan 2015, 04:30 AM	#4
janusz The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: EU Posts: 4,944	But Gmail only signals potentially dangerous links, whereas FM disables them,

24 Jan 2015, 04:40 AM	#5
chuckster Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 67	ok, so if the fm user has no clue it's disabled for that reason he shouldn't have to ask the forum for help.

24 Jan 2015, 11:16 AM	#8
n5bb Intergalactic Postmaster Join Date: May 2004 Location: Irving, Texas Posts: 8,927	What exactly happens when you click on the link? Or is there no link to click? It's very strange when you say that the first attempt failed but the second worked. Do you still have both messages (perhaps in your Trash folder)? If so, I would suggest that you create a new folder titled "For webmaster" or some other unique name, move both messages to that folder, then file a support request. I'm not sure if you can get direct support for a trial account, so if that fails let us know and we can come up with another way to assist you here. Since the message might have been in either plaintext or HTML format and the URL might have wrapped on a line boundary, there are various things which could have gone wrong. It could even be related to how the message was forwarded by Gmail. Bill

25 Jan 2015, 01:20 AM	#9
lsc Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 15	In the first email, fastmail does not recognize that the link is a link although, again, gmail does. FM does recognize the same link in the second email. I earlier sent a note to TS, but have not yet heard back. I copied the cite from the first email into a new email that I then sent myself to my gmail account being forwarded, and that worked fine in FM this time. May well have just been a glitch with FM. Will just wait now and see if it happens again with a new email. Thanks for the suggestions.

25 Jan 2015, 03:36 PM	#12
BritTim The "e" in e-mail Join Date: May 2003 Location: mostly in Thailand Posts: 3,091	I can still well remember when it was considered normal that plain text URLs were not automatically converted into links. At one time, one of my Firefox extensions was Smart Link which added that capability. Perhaps it is because of this history that I am not in the slightest upset when the occasional URL slips through the automatic conversion net today.