Mail adding links to email - even if I remove them

Many systems will automatically identify URL's and "linkify" them.

You would have to look at the raw source of your sent emails to determine what was actually sent. Look in both the sent folder and the received emails.

Does the raw source only contain the text example.com or does it contain

<a href="http://example.com">example.com</a>

winegums2 wrote:

Yes, we considered that, but we need to include other links in the email. Exposing my ignorance, but assume you can’t include links in a plain text email?

Correct. Plain text is plain text. Links need html. You can have either html or plain text email formatting. If you choose html you'll have active links. If you choose plain text the links will not be active and will only show as plain text.

(plain text link) apple.com

(html link) apple.com

Also be aware that many email recipients do not use html when reading email. So even if you send an html link it will only show up to the recipient as plain text rather than as an active link.

FWIW, I just tested Gmail webmail and it does the same. Converting "example.com" to a hyperlink.

It doesn't appear to be exclusive to Mail.

From where did you view the received email? In Mail or some other client (non-Mac)?

Mail and the entire OS will search for text and convert it upon viewing. It's called "data detectors."

Use plain text instead of html format for your email.