iOS Notes app sponteneously turning non-hyperlink text into hyperlink text
More accurately, the Notes app (on iOS) is spontaneously turning non-URL, non-hyperlinked text into hyperlink text. And the URLs of the spontaneously created hyperlinks are from links that appear many lines above or below new hyperlink — so the spontaneous hyperlinks bears no relation to their actual text. Take a look at the screenshot below to see what I mean.
I. More descriptions of the issue:
I'm using the latest software on the latest devices (iPhone 7 Plus, 10.3.3; MacBook Air 10.12.6).
How I experience the problem: 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 URLs turn into hyperlinks. But sometimes non-URL text is automatically turned into a hyperlink long after I paste it into the Note — and the link is usually a link to a URL that appears 10-30 lines above or below the non-URL text. 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). It's as though pasting text in the middle of a document moves the subsequent text down, but doesn't move any links on that text that gets moved. The links stay where they were even though there is new, unrelated text there.
Another experience 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:
People have tried getting help with this to no avail — e.g., in MacOS communities (here and here) to no avail. One of those was attempts to get help was erroneously marked as solved (which is apparently irreversible). Ergo, this post in an iOS community.
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 install of the operating system. See here.
The problem can arise without pasting text (e.g., merely typing text). See here.
The most recent reproduction of the problem seems to be today: Sept 6 2017.
Multiple iPhone users report having this problem for years (here).
III. Hypotheses and important variables:
The problem is an iOS issue: This test shows why: "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).
The problem is an iCloud syncing issue. As I say earlier, the weird links happen after pasting text (rather than right away), indicating that problem is caused by something that happens after the typing/pasting occurs — e.g, iCloud syncing. I wonder if it has to do with the order in which information is uploaded to iCloud. E.g., perhaps text data and hyperlink data are uploaded separately such that the locations of hyperlinks and the locations of their corresponding text can end up dissociated (especially if a user is typing/pasting faster than iCloud is syncing). To test this, one would need to turn off iCloud for Notes and try (for a few days, at least) to reproduce the issue. If the issue does not manifest after sustained, serious attempts, then the issue is probably related to iCloud syncing. If not, then the issue is related to some other, post-typing/-pasting process (e.g., opening and closing the app?).
The problem is an app opening-closing issue. There is no way for end users to test this hypothesis since we cannot test it without opening and closing the app. Perhaps the iWork team can also look into this by analyzing the back-end code (especially code related to populating/pasting/saving both text and its corresponding hyperlinks).
The problem is a length/complexity-of-note issue: Some evidence for this: "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)
The problem is an unintended consequence of fixing a prior hyperlink issue in the Notes app. See here.
The problem is about hardware, not software — e.g., the iPhones themselves. This improbable, but it hasn't been falsified so I'm putting it out there.
IV. What you can do to help:
If you find something new, share it here (so that we can catalogue the new information accordingly).
If the iWork or iCloud team reach out to you, please cooperate.
If you find a solution that works (long term, not just momentarily), then please share it. 🙂
Happy troubleshooting! Looking forward to solving this with you all!
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iOS Notes app sponteneously turning non-hyperlink text into hyperlink text
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