Comma Before Email Address in Mail's TO Field

[webdan76]

Hello,

When I copy an email address from a plain text file (i.e. [email protected]) and then paste it to the Mail app To text field, the application automatically adds a comma before the email address.

The result looks like the below:
, [email protected]

Could you please let me know why this is happening (it was not like this before)

Useful information
Mail version 6.6
OSX 10.8.5

Many thanks and kind regards,
Dan

 

[Rod]

Hi webdan, welcome to Mac Forums, can I ask, "(it was not like this before)" before what? Have you changed something or updated something? Are you sure you are not copying the comma from the plain text source?
I have tried this myself and it does not happen to me but your version is so old I cannot really duplicate your situation.
What Mac (Model and Year) are you using?
Have you tried Running Disk Utility to Repair Permissions and or Check Hard Drive. I know it sounds unrelated but sometimes native app problems are caused by incorrect or altered permissions.

 

[pm-r]

Having a comma added when adding multiple addresses used to be pretty standard with most email cline apps I've used in the past. I believe it was used and maybe needed to keep the addresses separated.

Try pasting the same copied address into a text document and see if any comma is present.

And, is there any problem with the comma being added in the email address …????

 

[Rod]

As far as I can tell the comma does no harm and it's easy to edit out I think it's just that it didn't happen before so it's a change in behavior which is why I asked "before what?" Obviously something changed.

 

[ferrarr]

When you are copying the email address, are you copying the space in front of it also? How are you selecting what you are copying?

 

[pm-r]

Just doing a quick google search, it seems that a comma or possibly a semi-colon is required to separate multiple addresses and is a standard. No doubt that Apple just might do it differently and not always show it.
https://www.google.com/search?clien...dress+in+Mail's+TO+Field+when+pasted&start=10

Specifically for other details:
http://www.rrudder.com/safe/bcc.html

Or,
Separate Multiple Email Recipients Correctly

The correct way to separate email addresses in header fields is
by comma, … …
http://email.about.com/od/netiquettetips/qt/et_separate_add.htm

And more:
https://www.google.com/search?clien...ultiple+address+in+to+field&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[webdan76]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies.

@Rod Sprague
1) When I say "before" I mean "previously" (I just noticed this a couple of months ago, but I am not aware of the exact day). I have not applied any changes, however it seems that something has changed.
2) I have a MacBook Pro 2012, OSX 10.8.5, and Mail version 6.6
3) I have run Disk Utility to Repair Permissions, and a series of them have been repaired but mostly for iTunes

@pm-r
1) Yes, the comma in Mail is used to separate multiple email addresses
2) If I paste the copied address to a .txt document, the comma that I get in the "To" text field in Mail is NOT present in the .txt file once I paste the same email address. For the sake of clarity, this means that if I copy this email address [email protected] from a .txt file, when I paste it I get 2 different outcomes:
- On the "To" text field of the Mail app >> , [email protected]
- On a new .txt document (or any other format) >> [email protected] (like it should be)
3) No, there are no problems. Emails are sent anyway. This does not mean that I do not want to know why this is happening Moreover I have also inspected the Message "All Headers" and "Raw Source" and everything seems to be OK. But as I said, this was not happening a few months ago on this Mac, nor this happens on other MacBooks that I have at home (as one would espect)

@ferrar
1) To test the issue I open a new text document, then I type just one of my email addresses (so no blank spaces nor extra characters), then I select the text, the cmd+c, then cmd+v to paste the copied email address to the "To" text field, but the outcome is , [email protected]

Many thanks again for your feedbacks and your time!

 

[Ember1205]

Yes, a comma or semicolon is required to separate addresses as those are characters that the underlying sendmail program uses to identify "break points" between addresses when actually attempting to deliver a message. As far as what's IN the message, the programs couldn't care less.

Rod is on the right track here. "Before what" is important as something apparently worked one way, something got changed, and now it works differently. So, what changed, when, and how was it changed? Possibly more interesting is whether it can be changed back and does the behavior change back?

 

[webdan76]

Moderated post awaiting approval

Hi guys,

Yesterday I wanted to post a reply to some users that are helping me with this post that I started:

http://www.mac-forums.com/os-x-operating-system/334408-comma-email-address-mails-field.html

Unfortunately as I was very tired I clicked on "Reply to this Thread" instead of "Quick reply"...

As my text was quite long and descriptive, and I cannot retrieve it, could you please help me with that.

It should be currently in pending status for a review.

Many thanks!

Dan

 

[webdan76]

Hi All,

Thanks for your feedbacks!

I agree with those of you who are focusing with the "time" matter. When I say "before" I mean "previously", which means that I haven't applied any changes (software installation/removal or whatever) and that is someting that I just noticed a couple of months ago. I don't have therefore a specifi date or event to which I can identify as the cause of this behaviour now.

I can also exclude any possible reason due to the copy and paste process, as I have run a test doing as it follows:
1) opened a .txt document
2) typed [email protected] (which is the only thing I typed and just a placeholder in this case)
3) copied the email address
4) pasted it to the "To" text field of the mail app, but then I get the outcome ", [email protected]" (with no quotes of course, but preceeded by a comma as if there is an extra invisible address in front of the one I pasted)

I have also inspected the Message "All Headers" and "Raw Source" in the View menu, and everything seems to be ok. The sender and receiver addresses are there, listed correctly.

The email sent to copied-and-pasted pasted address with the comma in front of them (, [email protected]) are sent and received with no problems, but this does not mean that I would not like to find out why this is happening now

My Mac is a MacBook Pro 2012, OSX 10.8.5, Mail version 6.6 (if this can help)

Many thanks again for your time!