Bug in editing email addresses - Mailto: link doesn't update

Question

Numbers has a bug in the way email addresses work when they are edited. When entering an email address, it automatically is recognized as an email address and is made blue with a mailto: link when you hover over it. But when you edit the address, the text is changed but the _old link_ stays.
Try this:
1) Enter [email protected] in a cell and hit enter. The address shows up blue and hovering shows the mailto:[email protected].
2) Triple click to the right of the text (so you don't activate the link). This selects the whole text. Type a new address [email protected] and hit enter. The new text shows up blue.
3) Hover over the cell to see a surprise. It's the old link!
You can also do it like this:
1) same as 1) above.
2) double click on the cell to make the cursor appear in the cell. Using the arrow keys, edit the email to [email protected] and hit enter.
3) Hover. The link is not updated!
Or like this:
1) same
2) using the arrow keys, come to the cell. Click once to make the cursor appear. Edit. Hit enter.
3) same problem!
Here's the only way that seems to work:
2) using arrow keys, come to the cell, do NOT CLICK. Start typing - this will replace the entire contents of the cell.
3) hover now shows the correct link.
So editing an email address in Numbers does not update the link. You have to completely replace the email address.
I discovered this while trying to figure out why people whose addresses had been updated were not receiving email, and happened to hover, and saw the old address in the mailto: link.
I am now going through all my email lists, hovering to see if the link is what it's supposed to be, and correcting the ones that are wrong. If you have updated email addresses in Numbers, you will no doubt need to do this as well.
I sent Apple feedback, and also called them. They are able to reproduce the bug and escalated it. Does anyone else have this issue with email addresses in Numbers?
If so, please send feedback to Apple at
http://www.apple.com/feedback/numbers.html
and let them know.

Answer 1

Terrell,
I understand your feelings. Until we're familiar with a process, and especially if the process isn't well enough documented, it may seem to be poorly thought out (designed) or even improperly executed. It's been my experience through about four and a half years of Applecare support that after you've been watching this forum for six months or so you know more about iWork than 90% of the first responders at Apple Support. The bottom line is that if you're passionate in making your case about something that you are having trouble with, it's pretty easy to convince them that something is broken when it may be just fine. The worst several months of my computer life experience came after that support crew led me through an ill-advised and improperly executed OS reinstall, for no good reason. But I digress.
So how do you want the Hyperlink insertion/editing process to work? The current process is as follows:
To insert a Hyperlink, you type in a URL or email address and Numbers makes a guess as to what type of link it is. That couldn't be much easier. You can override the link-type designation in the Inspector.
Then you decide to give the link an alias. You open the Hyperlink Inspector and deactivate the links using the "Make all links inactive" checkbox so that when you click on the link text in the cell it won't go into operation. You enter the new name for the link in the table cell, reactivate the link by un-checking the "Make links inactive" box, and you're done. At this point the link address is displayed and efficiently editable in the Inspector text box and the alias is displayed in the table cell. Pretty unambiguous and convenient. There may be other ways to get to this result, as often is the case.
But you say: "I don't care about making an alias, I just want to edit the actual address." Well, you have to use the Inspector, or you have to start over. That's the price for having the option to add an alias. It's a design decision, and a feature, but not a bug. Could it be enhanced for convenience? Of course it could. Perhaps an "Edit Link" option on the contextual menu that would take you directly to the Inspector would be nice. But let's not make this program any larger and complex than it has to be. And, let's be sure that the things we escalate to the design team are really the things we want them to be spending their limited time on.
Regards,
Jerry
Message was edited by: Jerrold Green1