Apple Mail Cut & Paste Problem...

Gareth,

Yes, I remember your hopeful posting!

Just was surprised there has been nothing on this thread for so long.

Let's see, you contacted in March, so that's more than 3 months ago.

I suspect this is very very low on apple's list as they are more in tune with ipad, iphones, and such.

Also, from the posts it sounds like this problem is perhaps mostly related to some 3rd party application that apple uses to integrate (ha!) with mail and allow the signature's html formatting, etc.

Basically, I'm going to be a prophet and predict that this never gets resolved!

Okay, I know, I'm being a pessimist!

I even sent a fairly detailed email about this to macworld - via several different avenues on their website ..... never heard anything whatsoever from them.

Guess everyone is more interested in the latest gadget versus whether their "innards" work correctly!

Where's Steve Jobs when you need him!

I too feel the insanity and disappointment because of the font and text placement issues with Mail. I use the Mail app and my MacBook Pro for business, and the email thing has embarrassed me on multiple occasions. I peruse all the various Apple or Apple-related forum sites, monitoring what others have done to search for a solution (I've been doing it now every 3 months for the past 2 years since I converted to Apple from Windows).

I've tried third-party font apps, and I even tinker with Mail directly as much as it allows. Nothing works well. I end up changing the fonts manually for my signature and content so the sender sees what I intend, but it's still much too manual. And I invariably forget to do it or make a mistake since I fire off so many emails throughout the day.

I'm left with poor presentation because of a poorly designed Apple product. Mail reflects little of Apple's image as a company obsessed with elegance and simplicity. Sloppy (i.e., sloppy coding, sloppy design, sloppy execution, sloppy presentation, etc.) is the only word that comes to mind.

I've also contacted Apple support. I invariably have to educate the person at the other end. And I ultimately do accomplish this education, but I get nothing in return other than lost time.

I only write this to you all to show my empathy...

Dittos to TotoroO!

I guess I'll stick up for Apple a bit though, at least from what I've learned on this forum and that is that this is a problem created from the HTML "coder"? that Apple uses from a third party program. I think it is internet based, which may mean that every time we send a "glorified" signature email it has to go look for this program to compile it correctly (and isn't). ........ I'm not sure and may be way off.

Can anyone confirm this.

I too have applecare, but from the responses I've heard from on here, am discouraged at wasting my time. It does indeed seem that apple "genius's" are more intent on working on iPad's, iPhones, and such.

Seems like if one of their engineers just took and hour to look at this they could figure out what the problem is!

Heck, I'd probably pay the $100-$200 for that hour if they could fix this STUPID UNNECESSARY problem!!!!!

Wendyjo17,

Did you find out anything from applecare?

Yours was the first time I heard this was happening on a different program!

That would seem to point definitely to an outside program that apple is using to do these "signatures".

Don

I read about this external process on a thread once too. Third-party or otherwise, it still goes back to Apple's apathy. But yeah! I would happily chip in some cash given all the time I've wasted. There's that funding site that's popular now, Kickstarter.com. Apple should post a "Make Mail Good" project there and we will fund it!!! 😝

I did attempt moving to another app, leaving Mail at one time. But this made my setup with my other Apple apps painful. Everything just feels so fragile with my email, calendars and contacts, and now I'm quite gun shy when it comes to spending any more time on this. Good luck out there.

unfortunately, i was told that it would be considered an outlook issue..

i tried to point them to this thread, but i have never been able to get one of their reps to go to the forums for anything..

so honestly, i gave up trying .

the problem still exists, but my standard phone support has expired and I'm not convinced the $400 to extend it is worth it when i seem to get more support here.

i'm game for getting back in the fight via email though..

if someone could point me to a free screen recorder for mac .. (like camstudio for pc) i will post it somewhere for reference..

thanks

wendy

This is discouraging to say the least.

I'm wondering what apple would do if we all put togeher something like a youtube video or something that might get some attention?

Any ideas?

Wondering if MacWorld is interested in talking about this?

Just some "desperate" thoughts!

Just to reiterate (and bubble back to the top), pasting text using Cmd-Opt-Shift-v (instead of the customary Cmd-v) bypasses this paste bug in most cases.

One caveat; pasted text will be converted to the font and size of the message body text. This is likely the behavior that most people are wanting - text will paste at the cursor and not a line or two above.

Hope this helps.

I have sent this thread to Adam Engst, originator and publisher of TidBITS, <http://tidbits.com/>, to see if he thinks there's a story to be had in the lack of interest, apparently, by Apple in maintaining proper functioning in one of its flagship and most used software packages.

sorry for the delayed follow up ..

my Outlook just updated yesterday and I am unable to recreate the issue at this time.

I had previously removed HTML formatted signatures from automatically appearing in new emails and just had been adding them after I was done composing my message.. (pita)

even as of a couple days ago, if i added the signature to the mail before i was done and needed to paste something, it was pasting it a line above the text block i was in.

however, today,

i just added a new HTML formatted signature, typed out a message .. copied something from a website and it pasted properly.

I even closed outlook and opened it again .. and it is clearly working properly now.

I know I wasn't imagining things... and unfortunately I don't have an explanation other than the possibility that MS update fixed it.

I assure you I will post a video if the oddety returns.

Best wishes to all for a speedy resolution.

wendyjo

This is in response to datadevlr, not Wendys post:

Especially with Outlook being terminated in windows 8 for many users of certain platforms. See:

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11606376/1/windows-8-redmond-we-have-a-problem.ht ml

Apple could use this as an opportunity to enhance and improve Mail, Address Book, and iCal and win over some of those users still hanging on to Windows platform just because of Outlook, and not just ignore it like its an also-ran.

I've been chasing this with Apple for some time now. (I have AppleCare and filed a trouble ticket in Jan.)

I spoke to a senior technical advisor this evening.

He says that Apple engineering has lots of reports of this problem, and that they are working on a software update (no info as to when it will be available). He is seeking further info from Apple engineering, and hopes to have some further news for me early next week.

I will post updates to the forum.

(In Feb, I wrote to MacWorld about this problem, with no response.)

Hi all,

if that is a comfort to you all, even here in Bulgaria (quite a distance from Cupertino) the issue gives us a hard time.

I have as you all did spend numerous hours in searching for a fix of the font issue and copy/paste issue in Mac Mail.

Best,

Deian

<Email Edited by Host>

I heard back from TidBITS publisher, Adam Engst, and also the person there, Joe Kissell, who would investigate and write up the story, if interested. They sympathized and commiserated, and even offered a few suggestions, but are not going to be publicizing the problem via TidBITS. They focused on the fact that this a bug, not the irony of Apple bringing cut & paste to the masses, and then many other insanely great items, only to not be able to produce an email program that uses it reliably.

Neither of them are fans of signature files, because even if it looks great for you, depending on the recipient's e-mail, it could look totally different to them - and you don't have any control over that. This has been the case for years, and was/is a widespread problem with e-mail overall.

It is also true, however, that 90% of the white-collar working population not only uses signature files, but may be required to use them. And since all programs give you the impression that they are customizable, then it's a totally reasonable expectation that those functions should work flawlessly.

This is not the 1990s anymore. Software and hardware has come a long way. We should not be apologizing for using signatures, and Apple should at least provide tools that function as well as other programs, if not better.

Sorry....my disappointment is showing.