In the current Mail for Mac, some URLs I enter when composing a message convert into a thumbnail view of the destination web site.
What determines when this will happen and how can I switch it off or cancel it in a particular case, or globally?
MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 2023)
No, and not when I do select link text and do command-K (Mac) or if I type the URL manually.
It does happen when I copy a URL from somewhere else - typically the address bar of Safari- and then paste into the email.
In this screenshot the justspace link is typed by hand
The google one is copy-paste
When you get that link preview as you have shown, when you pass your mouse over it, there will be a down-arrow appear to the upper-right of it. Click that and choose Convert to Plain Link.
Initially, I though this was due to Substitutions > {Smart Copy/Paste, Smart Links} being selected, but disabling either or both does not change the behavior of having the link converted to the Link Preview when pasted into the compose windows. This must be a new feature of Mail in Ventura 13.3.1 as I see no Mail settings to disable this behavior.
I saw no obvious resources in the Mail defaults dump that could control this link preview badge appearance.
The Link Preview badge survives a trip through gmail and back to Apple Mail.
I think it is a feature that Apple is developing to create a streamlined link system. This is currently determined by if you copy/paste it or type it manually, and I also believe that it is for commonly used website (I don't know!), but if you want to switch it off or globally cancel it, you may want to look further into that. I honestly don't know. :\
Thanks. But when I pass my mouse over the Link Preview image there is NO ARROW showing up. I tried with modifier keys but none of them seem to bring up that arrow. (I'm on a MacBookPro using OS ventura 13.3)
(I'm talking about composing an email, not about receiving one from someone else.)
Mail compose on macOS Ventura 13.3.1:
Does this happen when you select the target text for the URL and then right-click on that and choose Link > Add Link, and paste the URL in that dialog box to assign the URL to the selected text?
Thanks. I agree it seems to depend on whether you type the URL (no preview) or paste it (preview). But I can't find a way to switch a preview back to a URL.
URL converted to thumbnail
