1st time post! mail html problems

[doodles]

hey guys - 1st time, be gentle🙂

I'm trying to send out an email using mail to some people on my email list to sell an item with paypal. paypal supplied me with a link (which works fine if i just copy it into safari and press return.)

In mail i go "click here" > file > create hyperlink and paste in the url. all looks fine. then when i actually click on the link, it takes me to a link which is non-existent. After much checking, i've realized then on pressing ok on "create hyperlink" it adds "25" after every % sign.

e.g. instead of reading %2eco%2euk
it reads %252eco%252euk

it does this after every percentage sign. i'm losing my mind. why???!!

Oh, and it doesn't actually add these 25's until you click on the link.

 

[TumbleDryer]

Not sure if this will help but...

1)

Click on the link from PayPal. So it opens in Safari. Then Press Command + i. It will auto create an email with the link already pasted in. Hopefully it will get around the problem for you?

or

2) Click on the link from PayPal so it opens in Safari again. This time Press Command + shift + i. This will create a HTML email with the PayPal site actually in the email. Give it a try!

Hope this helps.

 

[mad jew]

I can't replicate your problem, but maybe try fiddling with the text encoding in the Message menu.

 

[TomAllen]

The Mail Add Hyperlink function converts certain characters to an escaped sequence. For example a # character is converted to %23 and then does not work (at least in Safari) when clicked.

Actually you can see the problem as soon as you make the link if you hover over the new link. You'll see the substitution. I don't know whether the problem is with Mail making the conversion or whether the browser is supposed to understand what's going on and make the reverse conversion.

The way around it is to paste the link in as text. Include the http:// prefix and the recipient's mail program will follow the link as it is shown.

If anyone knows how to modify Mail's behavior in this regard, I'd be grateful to know it. (Doesn't seem to be affected by Text Encoding selection.)

 

[doodles]

thanks for the replies guys.

i tried your work around, macboobs, and it worked fine, by command i from safari. this is what i did in the end, but it's not exactly elegant, with everyone able to see a 4-line block of code.

tom, this is exactly my problem - just wanting to create a hyperlink, saying "click here", but the darn link just changes when you paste it in as text.

i just can't work it out at all.

anyway, thanks for all your help. let me know if anyone else figures it out 🙂