Apple Mail Cut & Paste Problem...

The text gets pasted into the line above where the cursor is indicating it should be pasted!

I guess this doesn't happen for you?

No, for me when I drag/drop a block of text it lands exactly where the insertion line is blinking, which while dragging follows the tip of the arrow cursor when possible. At either extreme of the pane the insertion line can't stay under the tip of the cursor when the cursor leaves the insertable field, or when the line is blank other than for a return (e.g., the gap between double-spaced paragraphs).

Don't know what might cause it to mis-land in your case. Maybe try using a different font or font size, see if that makes a difference? Maybe a restart?

I drag/dropped your signature (the styled version) into a new message in Mail, and moving blocks of text behaved properly in the body of the mail message.

However, placing the insertion point in your signature block did not behave - the blinking marker was at least one line off. Apparently Mail is choking on something in the styling.

A possible solution - after you open a new message window, set the Signature pulldown to "none". The signature block will disappear. Prepare your message - there should then be no interference. Once done, select the appropriate signature from the Signature pulldown - it should be added to the end of the message without issue.

David -

I have also been experiencing this oddball aim issue when attempting to insert clipboard contents into a specific point in Mail. I am writing to lend credence to the contention that this is an Apple Mail issue that really should be fixed. Apple started the cut & paste revolution and the fact that one of their key software packages cannot paste properly strikes me as a bit ludicrous.

This started happening on both my iMac and MacBook Pro a few months ago. It could be that it correlates with my use of three different styled signature files for three different e-mail accounts (I hadn't thought of the connection, so thank you, I had been wondering if they had altered something in one of their many security updates).

I desired that the body text of my e-mail default to something different from the style of my signature files. Mail is fairly limited in this area, so I include a top line my signature file that has the right style for my body text. Now I start all messages by overwriting that styled text, so my message font is as I want it. Is this the source of the problem?

The inability to place text correctly isn't restricted to pasting something in via clicking on a particular spot in the e-mail. Odd things also happen if you use the directional arrow keys to move the cursor around with the keyboard and then command-V, or if you drag text to a certain spot, and when you release, it refuses to go there.

There's some logic to the mistakes. The text is almost always placed a couple of lines above where the insertion point is blinking, and you can fool Mail sometimes by placing text in the middle of a bunch of new returns and then deleting the surrounding lines, but this is cumbersome and annoying.

I hope Apple reads this, because it got so annoying that I switched to Outlook (Office 11) and it's terrific in some of the areas where Mail falters (work e-mail is Exchange). About the only thing that Mail does better is access my MobileMe folders much more quickly.

Come on, Apple!

Well I get exactly these same problems as you all do too so yes let's hope someone at Apple reads this and takes action (and no I reallly really do not want to go back to Outlook).

In my scenario I use the Mail signatures (with differents fonts & colours) as basic email templates (helps not having to type the same thing over and over again to customers) and the effects really do appear random. If I decide to add some text to a paragraph and then bold a word or phrase, the entire paragraph will sometimes lose all its formatting or at times all of it will become bold. And yes, copying & pasting is a bit like using a gun at a summer fun-fair booth.

I'll add my experience to the growing list of people experiencing this problem. I believe I experienced it a few times under Snow Leopard but now it is a recurring experience with Mail in Lion. Odd items - I can paste text only at the beginning of a paragraph but not the end (otherwise it hops to the top of a set of lines). On occasion if I indent a paragraph it disappears altogether. The only savior is the Un-Do command.

I also have a template I have used since 10.5 that is now giving me the same cut and paste/drag and drop problems but hadn't in the past.

This may well be related to the way mail.app determines the signature area, but I have no way to determine where or how the app decides where the signature area might be. It would be better if the mail.app would shade the signature area so I could determine the problem, or if it could show the raw text as one can do with received mail.

All in all, a needless source of frustration that should be fixed by Apple instead of each user having to figure out the problem and make their own work-around.

I will add my voice to this discussion. My experience with Mail 3.6 (936) in Leopard is the same frustrating one as eveyone is describing. In my case I use many Textexpander snippets. When I use one when editing a message the expanded text is inserted in an unpredictable place - above the paragraph I am working on or on the line below, or even, if I am lucky, on the same line.

This is a silly waste of time for a program that has been working well for several years. I have to edit my emails in Text Edit and then paste them in their entirety into Mail. Bleh!

Does anyone know the Dr. Seuss story "Horton hears a Who"? - Horton is an elephant who hears a tiny cry for help from a place he is about to tread on. The little "whos" are saved by Horton because he bothered to listen to their tiny voices.

I hope we have the same fate with Apple that our little voices are heard by the largest tech company in the world.

All the best

Graham

I'm having the exact same problem as David, except it's when I'm using Apple Mail Notes, not in regular email. I don't use signatures in Notes at all. I've been trying to identify the pattern to the cut and random paste, but haven't had much success. It's so annoying and taking so much time away from thought process when writing. I usually used ordered numbered lists in Notes and if I want to change around #3 and #5 I can't simply cut and paste. I have to re-type the whole thing. If I discover a pattern I will report back. C'mon Apple!

Okay, so reporting back. I went into Mail Preferences and deleted all my Signature. Voilà! No cut and paste problem. I'd rather cut and paste the signatures from an email I keep in Drafts then have the constant cut and paste problem when trying to type. Oddly, I never had the cut and paste problem when drafting email, only when working in the yellow Notes.

Thanks for this helpful report. Yes, after reading this thread I started to notice that on the mail addresses where I do not have any signatures - or at least nothing fancy like with my main business account - there is no problem pasting etc. On my main account I have a signature that starts "Dear" then has two or three "returns" and gives my name etc. I compose my email in the middle of this signature and that it where I get the problems.

Not using signatures may well work. But I have also found that, when I get into trouble in one paragraph trying to insert some text, if I go back and replace the "returns" above the paragraph with "ctrl-returns" then I don't have the same problem with text pasting itself in odd places. I think I will try to edit my signatures using "ctrl-returns" and see if that works.

Otherwise I will follow your advice and paste in my signatures from somewhere else - Textexpander is easiest.

Thanks wholeshebang for coming back with a report. I will try to be as public-spirited myself. We'll see...

But why do we have to go through this workaround now - on a mature piece of software? "Products that work"!

Turns out it wasn't quite so easy. It was working fine for any new Notes I created, but I still have the same problem when opening and editing old notes that existed when I was using signatures.

So now I'm trying this and it seems to be working (cross fingers):

I have to go to the old Note, select all, copy. Then I change the top line of the old Note, just adding a number 2 (since all Notes use the top line as a 'Subject' header). Then I go into TextEdit (using plain text to remove any kind of formatting) and paste the copied note. Then still in TextEdit select all and copy the unformatted text, go back into Notes. New note. Paste.

It retains the old title since I didn't change the top line. Then I delete the old Note, now called 'Top Line 2'. And the new Note doesn’t seem to have cut and paste issues. I guess I will have to do this for all the Notes created while I had Mail Signatures. A clunky workaround that will hopefully ease itself as I go back in to edit each note.

I will monitor and get back if I notice any patterns.

I've experienced the same problem as David which is most frustrating. It suddenly appeared in about July 2011, probably came with some Apple Mail update. I've asked several Mac friends and they do not know the answer either.

Like David I have many preset signatures which I just edit to tailor to individual reply. This has worked well for many years until suddenly in July 2011 all these quirks started happening, ie text not being placed where cursor is placed, etc, completely out of control and most frustrating.

I have this problem on both my mac computers (probably since the same software update) and I'm pulling my hair out as it wastes so much of my time.

I feel very demoralised that this problem is stil not fixed and does not seem to be fixed with Lion either.

The pre-designed signatures has been a very useful tool for so many years I cannot see why it could not be fixed so that we can continue to use it. All workarounds with other applications are time consuming too and surely only an interim solution.

Apple please fix this ASAP for all Apple operating systems!

Thank you

Actually what I've been hoping for since 2009 is that Apple who are so good at design and presentation can arrange a formating choice for emails being sent - for example I w'd like to choose dark blue as a font for all my emails (and replies) to go with my the company colours in line with website etc.

At the moment I can choose the font colours for previous emails coming back with email replies. Similarly it w'd be a fab feature if I c'd coose the above mentioned font for my email replies to go with my company design - rather than the bog standard black.

Surely Apple that w'd be cool if emails from your Apple Mail look well designed.