How do i disable "smart" links -- those context-aware links auto-created?

Question

Level 1

4 points

How do i disable "smart" links -- those context-aware links auto-created?

I find this iOS feature really annoying, but there doesn't appear to be a toggle switch in Mail Settings. Am I missing something?

I don't want Mail reading my email and making fake links that it thinks I would want.

"Tuesday lunch" is not an event, and i don't need Maps to know where "Austin, Texas" is.

It's just irritating and intrusive.

Ipad, iOS 4

Posted on Feb 13, 2011 7:01 AM

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Answer 1

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,737 points

Feb 13, 2011 7:04 AM in response to Artaraxl

For what it's worth, it's not an IOS characteristic. It's an Apple characteristic. Mail on my Mac does the same thing and I absolutely hate it. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to get rid of it on either my Mac or my iPad.

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Answer 2

ivan54

Level 4

2,894 points

Feb 16, 2011 11:36 AM in response to Philly_Phan

Sorry Artaraxl,

I couldn't find a way to turn this off on the iPad.

For Philly_Phan, it looks like it's application specific on the Mac.
TextEdit, Preferences > New Document > [ √ ] Data detectors
Pages, Preferences > Auto-Correction > [ √ ] Automatically detect email and web addresses
iChat, Edit (menu) > Substitutions > Data Detectors

I couldn't find a global System Preference setting or one for Mail.

Some web sites say you can disable Data Detectors in Mac OS X Mail in Terminal with
defaults write com.apple.mail DisableDataDetectors YES
but that seems to be for Mac OS X 10.5, it didn't seem to work for me with Mac OS X 10.6.

Maybe someone else has other ideas?

ivan

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Answer 3

Mar 1, 2011 8:20 AM in response to Artaraxl

For what it's worth, Apple's data detectors won't randomly highlight things it thinks you want links to - it only highlights information that you could create new contacts or calendar appointments from.

For example: when someone emails you and within the body of the message they've included their contact info. Hovering over the information will reveal a highlight surrounding the info and a drop down with the option to add it to your address book - no typing!

It's particularly cool when someone in the body of an email message mentions something like "Thursday" - data detectors intelligently understands that it means this week and will assist you in creating an iCal entry. http://macbiblioblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/apple-data-detectors-are-so-useful.htm l

It can conflict at times with your attempts to copy or highlight text, but I guess I've just gotten used to moving my insertion ibar a little further away.

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Answer 4

Artaraxl Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 1, 2011 8:40 AM in response to Marc LaFoy

FYI...We're talking about the iOS, not the desktop Mail.

It's particularly cool when someone in the body of an email message mentions something like >"Thursday" - data detectors intelligently understands that it means this week and will assist you in >creating an iCal entry.

I appreciate your opinion, but I just don't find that cool at all. On the contrary, it's annoying! E.g.:

I'm terribly ill, and on Thursday will stay home from work.

This prompts an iCal entry for Thursday? Come on! It either has to be much smarter, or it's just a nuisance.

The main issue is it should obviously be a user preference. Most features like that are optional, not required. Can you think of any reason not to have Mail Preference "Use smart links: Yes/No"? I can't.

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Answer 5

Feb 13, 2012 2:33 AM in response to Artaraxl

Many months have passed since this thread was live. The auto detect / create link in the iPad is still baking my noodle. A google search from the iPad about this issue seems almost to be censored in that there is a shortage of advice on how to switch this facility off. With the explosion in iPad sales I am wondering if any of you have yet found a solution to this? What is very irksome is that when you open notes in Evernote, on the iPad, it turns all these suggestive phrases to links. This then gets saved in Evernote. When you go back to your laptop and open the same note in Evernote using the laptop app, lo and behold, your text is lit up like a Christmas tree. Any advice welcomed.

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Answer 6

Feb 13, 2012 4:44 AM in response to fritter6412

fritter6412 wrote:

Many months have passed since this thread was live. The auto detect / create link in the iPad is still baking my noodle. A google search from the iPad about this issue seems almost to be censored in that there is a shortage of advice on how to switch this facility off.

Nothing's being censored. There's no advice on how to turn it off because you can't turn it off.

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Answer 7

Feb 13, 2012 4:55 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Nicely put! Thanks for the confirmation.

[I just get different search results when I am searching for a solution to this problem using google on the iPad to when I search using google from the laptop - I'll ask google about it then rather than apple]

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Answer 8

Feb 25, 2011 11:08 AM in response to ivan54

Don't know what Smart Links actually does but it can be disabled in the Mail application by going to the Edit menu, Substitutions, and then uncheck Smart Links. Hope this helps.

~Steven

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