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Notes app sponteneously turning non-hyperlink text into hyperlink text

The Notes app is spontaneously turning non-URL, non-hyperlinked text into hyperlink text. Screenshot:

User uploaded file


Many people have had the same problem here. (Although that thread was erroneously marked as solved. Ergo, this post).

I. More descriptions of the issue

  1. I'm using the latest software on the latest devices.
  2. I create long annotated bibliographies in Notes (e.g., 16,000+ words). Sometimes I paste text into these notes. And sometimes those notes contain URLs. Sometimes those URLs turn into hyperlinks. But sometimes non-URL text is turned into a hyperlink — usually a link to a URL that appears 10-30 lines above or below it. E.g., the circled text from the screenshot ("ective and Impulsive Determinants of Human B") links to the URL for "Analytic cognitive style..." (which appears 27 lines below that link).
  3. Even more description from davidfromholladay: "I have a weekly meeting I prepare an outline for. I create it in the Notes App on my iPhone 6 Plus running the latest iOS. All my outlines include numerous hyperlinks which, when using my outline in the meeting to make my presentation, I jump to. As I create my outline and it becomes larger (more complex?), I suddenly discover this random hyperlink behavior; some text in the body of the outline has become a hyperlink. It is always a copy of a nearby, valid link. I've found that if I then go to my iMac and open the outline in the macOS Notes app, the same random text is highlighted as a hyperlink. I select all of the text in the entire note and remove all links using Command-K > Remove Link. All the hyperlinks go away. The note then syncs to my iOS app on my iPhone and I look at it there. All the hyperlinks are gone until I edit something, at which point the valid hyperlinks are restored. At this point the behavior becomes inconsistent for me. There are times when the random text hyperlinks appear again, and times when they do not. I do not know what the trigger is for that. Sometimes I have to go back to the outline in my macOS Notes app and highlight the offending text and, using Command-K again, create the text into a different link, then remove it again with Command-K. This sometimes corrects the problem in the iOS Notes app, and sometimes it doesn't. [Further], When the iOS Notes app automatically recognizes something as a hyperlink, it changes the text into gold color. That is normal and good behavior. Whenever entering edit mode in the note (by tapping anywhere in the note), the gold colored text disappears and the hyperlink can then be edited until you leave edit mode (by clicking on "Done" in the upper right hand corner of the screen). The hyperlink's text is then colored gold again because the Notes app has recognized it as a hyperlink. The odd behavior, however, and which seems to be associated with the random text hyperlinking issue, is that as I continue to create my outline, I notice that when I enter edit mode the gold colored text of hyperlinks does not go away. Even in edit mode, the text remains gold colored. The link can be edited in edit mode but not properly. When I try to edit it, my edits are not gold colored but are in black. When I then leave edit mode, part of the link is gold colored and part is black. When I tap on the hyperlink, it does not jump to the correct, edited location because the link is somehow broken at that point." (source 1, source 2)

II. What we know so far:

  • iWork contacted me to ask for more info on July 19, 2016. They asked, "Does the linked text occur with all text that is pasted? Or only with text from a specific source? Could you send us an example source document that creates linked text in Notes? If the text comes from a website, the URL to the site would be sufficient." I sent them that information. I have not heard back since.
  • It's not a bug that can be fixed with a fresh OS. See here.
  • The problem can arise without pasting text. See here.
  • The most recent reproduction of the problem seems to today, May 10th, 2017.


III. There are three proposed hypotheses/factors:

  1. The problem is an iOS issue: "The problem seems to be isolated to the iOS app. I just performed a test by creating a new note in the iOS app on my iPhone and added a bunch of links. There appeared a section of that note that became a link (the letters are colored gold like the other links). It has the same target as another link in the same note. If I try to delete the letters that are now highlighted gold, they go away until I type something in their place which also becomes a link. I went to the Notes app on my iMac and the new note had synced. All the standard links appeared but the link that is the text in the IOS app is not a link in the Mac Notes app." (see here).
  2. The problem is a length/complexity-of-note issue: "By the way, I use the Notes app all the time as outlines for presentations I give. I add many links. The problem with random note text become a link seems to not show up until I have quite a bit of text in the note. It happens as I continue adding to my note. I think it's possible that the problem is an issue of note size or complexity." (here)
  3. The problem is an unintended consequence of fixing a prior hyperlink issue in the Notes app. See here.

Posted on May 10, 2017 7:22 AM

Reply
5 replies

Aug 5, 2017 7:00 AM in response to tangel1227

I am having the same problem and have been having it for a while. It must be a preset function in the system that looks to recognize anything it thinks may be a hyperlink but it is inevitably a malfunction and I wonder what can really be done about it. it's pointless trying to fix it manually and i keep just retyping the information. The hyperlink is not searchable so you end up with a note that you can't query. Kind of defeats the point of being able to use notes. Because of this ongoing problem I am looking to use another type of note app.

Any suggestions on an alternative note app?

Aug 19, 2017 7:30 AM in response to xser

This *just* began happening to me in the last month. I have modules that I have to format into Word documents, and the last one was about 15 pages long. I have to reference my answers, and the page numbers become links, which I'm okay with, and I also paste website addresses, too, but the random text becoming links is very annoying. I thought it was a length issue, also, because these were the longest notes I've made since I've gotten my iPad.


I'd love a fix!

Sep 6, 2017 2:37 AM in response to xser

I 32nd that motion. This may have been going on quietly for a while, I don't know. But it went bonkers in just the past couple of days. Hyperlinks assigned to random text throughout my Notes. Same symptoms as others have already explained. Even multiple lines (with carriage returns) have been turned into a single hyperlink. No recent updates or downloads. iPhone 5S iOS 10.2

Notes app sponteneously turning non-hyperlink text into hyperlink text

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