Composing an html message

I wasn't able to find the answer for this question in the archives - there seemed to be a link which was no longer accessible.
I'm trying to compose an email to send out to my clients; I wanted to use html to make it pretty, add links, photos, etc. I composed it using BBEdit, opened it in IE and everything looks great. However, if I copy and paste the html into mail and send it along to myself as a test, it just comes through as code, not images and rich text (and yes, I have that selected).
The one relevant topic I found made it sound like Mail users can't compose html emails? But this seems really wack to me, especially as all html messages I receive in Mail come through in lovely color.
Any ideas?

hi, Allan, thanks for your help.
I see what you and Apple are saying about html and its accessibility problems (as well as people not wanting to receive advertisements in their email), BUT I myself subscribe to many newsletters, etc. via my email account (downloaded to Mail), and enjoy getting graphics, formatting, colors, links etc. in html format. Much more interesting and energetic than standard text.
And I find it hard to believe that it's impossible for me to do something similar, on a very small, personal basis, to give my small business some flair, using Mail.
It has been recommended that I open a gmail account and use their capabilities to send html compositions to my clients. Which I am not thrilled about. I know everyone receives html messages differently, and some end users will end up with just code (similar to what I see when I check my POP email account via their webmail and not Mail), but obviously many companies are using html composition in some capacity without major problems. It seems strange that Apple would tell its customers they can't do that - sending them to Gmail or a Microsoft program for it?
Oh, and I usually do use Safari - IE is the default set for the "view in browser" action in my BBEdit (which, you're right, would be a good idea to update).
I don't have Tiger yet so I'm not totally clear on your recommendation - are you saying that once I get Tiger Mail, I will be able to copy and paste from BBEdit to a Mail message and send it, resulting in prettily formatted html messages sent? (regardless of how the end user views them) Or is it just through Safari (which would also work fine).
And there's no way people want to receive newsletters and updates in a PDF file form, I can tell you that right now. Attachments make people (especially PC users!) nervous.
I suppose I can try using a friend's Tiger Mail program to send email in the way I am trying to (through Safari). Seems like a lot of hassle, but that's progress for you.
emac Mac OS X (10.3.9)
emac Mac OS X (10.2.x)
emac Mac OS X (10.2.x)

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Can receive but cannot compose or forward HTML messages

Been using TB for years but recently cannot forward or compose HTML messages. I have tweaked every HTML option in preferences and have downloaded and reinstalled. Still does not work. The compose message window does not show the format menu bar any longer. When I try to forward a known HTML message, the forward window shows plain text only [the HTML code is shown].
I really need to be able to send HTML messages and I am at my wits end.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Start to write an email. Then select View -> Toolbars -> Formatting Bar. That will get your format bar back.
In your Address Book, if the contact has 'Prefers to receive messages formatted as Plain Text', then the recipient will get plain text even though the original was HTML.

Not found in Contacts - erorr message when composing SMS text message after Software Update 1.07 Sprint Centro

Hardware: Palm Centro
Wireless: Sprint
PC OS: Windows XP Pro
After installing the "Software Update 1.07 (Windows installer) for Centro for Sprint" (Article ID: 6012 - http://kb.palm.com/wps/portal/kb/common/article/6012_en.html) starting from http://sprint.com/downloads, I noticed the stock Palm Messaging application that comes with the device did not work as it did prior to the update.
I was able to fix it. Here's what the problem was and what I did to correct it.
"Not found in Contacts" message appeared when composing and addressing a new SMS text message.
In the Contacts app, Options>Preferences, I simply reordered the contacts from "Last Name, First Name" to "Company, Last Name", and saved the change.
I then immediately went back into the same preference, and changed the setting back from "Company, Last Name" to "Last Name, First Name", and saved that change.
Going back to the Messaging application, when composing a new message, now the Contacts database is linked again. Whew!
Post relates to: Centro (Sprint)

Thank you for this information. This should help others out.

No font options in the toolbar when composing a new message? Why not?

Don't get me wrong my fellow Mac-brothers - I love the Mail.app especially in Leopard. But I'm curious about something and I'm tired of scratching my head because I have no hair left and my head is starting to hurt, hehe.
When composing a new email, everything that is common and practical is displayed (or can be displayed) on the customizable toolbar but to me it seems counterintuitive to exclude the a font options button. I also think it's weird to not have a simple line for font options (ie. typeface menu, font size menu, color, bold/italic/underline, justification, etc.) below the subject line and/or account and signature line as opposed to (or in addition to) the current, detatched-window method which I find odd.
I'm honestly very surprised the Mail.app is not designed that way. Outlook for Windows has a font option line when composing a new message and I guess it would just seem logical for Apple to maybe implement something similar. I think a dedicated line in the message window would be a more simplistic solution.
What is your take on this idea? =)
Either way, Mac's rule.
Message was edited by: JWGFX

I'm honestly very surprised the Mail.app is not designed that way. Outlook for Windows has a font option line when composing a new message and I guess it would just seem logical for Apple to maybe implement something similar. I think a dedicated line in the message window would be a more simplistic solution.
You can tell Apple how you want Mail changed, just go here:
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
If you want a mail program designed for people who like Outlook, you can get MS Entourage.

Can I Send HTML Messages in Mail?

I am trying to send html messages in Mail, and also to add a small html code to my signature. Is this possible? If so, how? When I put in straight code, it just remains text. I know I receive html mail, so....?

RTf with Tiger Mail is HTML but the Mail.app does not include an HTML composer/editor.
In order to send basic text as HTML instead of Plain Text when using RTF for message composition requires changing the font or color of existing text in a new message and/or when selecting bold, underline or italic for a word or a portion of existing text. This part I don't understand since selecting RTF for message composition should send the font and font size selected under Fonts & Colors for the Mail.app preferences as HTML by itself.
You can use an HTML editor/composer of choice (Apple's Text Edit application can be used for this) and save the completed HTML document. Open the saved HTML document with Safari and after confirming the layout, etc. with Safari, at the menu bar go to File and select Mail Contents of This Page and the rendered page with Safari will be copied to a new Mail.app message which will be sent in its entirety.
You can set up a "template" this way by saving the HTML message as a Draft. Utilize a user created "On My Mac" location mailbox named Templates and transfer this message from the account's Drafts mailbox to the Templates mailbox. Select this templates message and at the menu bar, go to Message and select Send Again entering all recipients and making any changes, etc. The original template message will not be altered.
Regarding creating a Mail.app signature with HTML code, check this link.
http://allforces.com/2006/04/14/css-signatures/
Don't know for sure at this point but it appears this may become easier with the Mail.app under Leopard.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/mail.html

HTML messages in mail.app ???

Ok this may be a really obvious and idiotic question but.... I'm thinking of starting to use "mail.ap" instead or Entourage and I simply can't find something. I want to always use HTML messages and yet the only options I "appear" to have is under Preferences->Compose and I can only select "plain text" or "Rich text" as my message format. Does this mean I can't send HTML mesages? Is that really the case?
If I can send HTML messages could someone please tell me how?
TIA,
Peter

You can't compose html messages with Mail but it will view received html emails.

Creating OS X Mail HTML Messages

Hi all,
I have a mailing script which I use to send a message to a defined mailing list using AppleScript, AppleWorks and OS X Mail.
At the moment the outgoing message is created by the script as plain text, but what I'd like it to be is HTML. Any idea how I can set the mail message body to send HTML within the script?
Help appreciated.
Ross

This is to replace the previous post:
I have been searching for how to create custom HTML emails in Mail, in a way that would work with OS 10.3 and 10.4, so as not to rely on the user having Tiger. After reading through many posts, I came up with a script that creates a new HTML message that you can still edit in Mail itself before sending, and you don't need Safari 2. I'm new to scripting so please let me know if this is useful.
Jodain
Part I: defines the HTML code; you can make something in the script itself as long as the string this_html ends up in proper formatting. I actually came up with this primarily for pasting most the html code in the script itself, with a few changing variables. If you do paste or type html code in the script, make sure you use \\ for every \, and \" for every ". If you're using TextEdit to alter the html, use find and replace in that order (\:\\ then ":\").
Part II: builds a message in Mail with the html content... an undocumented property of a Mail message. However, it only works when visibility is false, so unless you send it right away, the user is not able to still type the recipients and edit the body in Mail as he/she might be used to. Which brings me to...
Part III: takes the saved draft and opens it up for editing. The open command only lets you view the message, even if it is outgoing, so I had to come up with a work-around so you can still edit as if you're composing it for the first time.
--Part I
tell application "Safari" to set this_html to source of document 1
tell application "Safari" to set this_page to name of document 1
--Part II
tell application "Mail"
activate
set theMsg to make new outgoing message with properties ¬
{subject:this_page, html content:this_html & ¬
return & return, content:""}
tell theMsg to make new to recipient
save theMsg
--Part III
if not (exists the front message viewer) then make new ¬
message viewer
tell front message viewer
set selected mailboxes to {the drafts mailbox}
set sort column to date received column
set sorted ascending to false
delay 3
set selected messages to {first message}
tell application "System Events" to tell process ¬
"Mail" to keystroke return
end tell
end tell

How can I stop iOS from opening a recently received message when I click on the messages app to compose an unrelated message to a different contact? I want to read it later, when I have time to reply, and I don't want to forget to go back to it.

iPhone messages automatically open when I don't want them to
One of my first ever flip phones had a wonderful function where you could choose a checkbox next to received messages to make them appear read or unread. This was very convenient for messages which you read, but don't have time to reply to immediately, and want to remember to come back to later.
In contrast, the latest, greatest iPhone not only does not have this rudimentary message management function, but it goes one step further in the wrong direction. If there is just one received, unread message, and you click on the messages icon, the new message will automatically be opened. It is opened irrespective of whether you have time to read it right away, irrespective of if you simply wanted to compose a new message or go back to another already read message. It just opens the new one, and then you are in a position where you have to read it and respond to it right there, or risk forgetting about it and failing to reply to it altogether. I sometimes receive a lot of messages over a period of a few hours, so it is very easy to lose track of these half-read messages in the mayhem. I have missed countless messages because of this problem. Incidentally, if there is more than one received message, then the application doesn't automatically open any of them, which is much better, because you can at least choose when you want to open one of the unread messages. But ideally, you should be able to go through your list of received messages and check or uncheck them as read or unread at any time, so that you can easily find messages that still need to be replied to, or reconsidered.
Does anybody have a solution to this problem? It strikes me as a simple data management solution that should be, but is not an option in the basic functionality of the app. Frustrating!

Is this an IMAP account?
If so, delete the messages in Mail from all folders and quit Mail.
Go the the website and clear the messages from all folders there.
Reopen Mail and verify the messages have been deleted for all folders.

In Mail 3.6 remote images in HTML messages display as blue squares with ? even though checked in viewing references.

In Mail 3.6 remote images in HTML messages display as blue squares with ? even though checked in viewing references.

Nurit,
The point is that that button should not be there, if the preference setting is as you say. This indicates the preference setting is stuck, and that is what I was trying to help you resolve.
The full purge is done as follows:
Quit Mail, and in the Finder open Home/Library and locate the Mail folder. Control-click over the Mail folder, and choose Duplicate -- then drag the resulting copy to the Desktop for temporary backup. Next, open Home/Library/Preferences and find the com.apple.mail.plist file and drag it to the desktop.
Relaunch Mail, which will open as though new, and when prompted to import anything DECLINE. Instead, re-enter your account info, and Mail will re-discover the account folders for your accounts, and all should be well, after setting preferences as you desire.
Ask any needed questions, and keep us posted.
Ernie

HTML messages crash Mail

Since this morning, every time I try to open an HTML message in Mail, it crashes. I don't have a problem with regular text e-mails, just HTML. I've repaired permissions, run Disk Utility and Disk Warrior, and I don't know how to proceed.
Can anyone help, please?

Hi lsgmilano, and a warm welcome to the forums if you han't been already!
First I'd backup your whole Mail folder, by right clicking on it in the Finder, then choose Archive/Compress.
Right click on that Mail folder, choose archive, you'll get everything in the folder, and the folder itself in a file called Mail.zip..
Quit Mail, then In your home folder, try moving this +folder & file+ to the Desktop then reboot...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/Mail
Move to the Desktop...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail/Envelope Index

HT5361 Why is that when I am composing a new message do I end up with multiple versions of my message I am composing up in my Google Trash mailbox? How can I stop this from happening?

Why is that when I am composing a new message do I end up with multiple versions of my message I am composing up in my Google Trash mailbox? How can I stop this from happening?

It was very hard to see what the box says because the message displays for less than one second. However, I was able to record it with my iphone and pause it until I got a shot of the message. The box says the following:
"Do you want the application “java” to accept incoming network connections?
Clicking deny may limit the application’s behavior. This setting can be changed in the Firewall pane of Security preferences."
I did make some changes. I will see if it works.
Thank you!!!

When composing a new message in mail on OS X 10.9.2, is there a way to change the "sending" account on a per-message basis?

I just got a new MacBook Pro and when composing a new message, I can no longer choose which e-mail account I want to use for the new message. It also does not show which account I'm using in the e-mail composition panel. Is there a way to fix this?

Click on the pull down window next to From: and you should be able to select the individual account you want to send from. The account that you want to send from must be an Enabled account in the Account Preferences of Mail.

When viewed on QHD display, HTML messages are very narrow and zooming doesn't change width.

I am migrating to a Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 with 3200x1600 13.3" display. I am using ESR17 due to plug-in compatability issues with newer versions (primarily the Funambol plugin for Calendar sync.) I have had to increase the font size to 24 to be able to see the folders and message subjects. I increased the font inside normal text messages using <ctrl><+> but when I view HTML messages, the formatted message body only fills 1/3 of the message pane and using <ctrl><+> only increases the size of the font inside this width resulting in more and more wrapping until single words have to be wrapped.o
Is this issue fixed in a newer version of Thunderbird? Is there a Calendar sync client for Funambol (OneMediaHub) or Google Calendar that works with the newer version? (I have used Funambol to sync my Calendar with my phone (was BB, now Android) for many years.
Thanks
Gerard

I have DPI set to 200. Most of Thunderbird 17 respects this but HTML messages do not. The scroll bar for message body is also verrry narrow. And the icons on the menu bar (e.g. Switch to Calendar Tab) are mircoscopic.
You didn't say which version of Thunderbird addresses these QHD display issues.
I have tried Google Calendar sync but I have had trouble with offline use. Last time I tried it Google's address book seems to be missing fields supported by Thunderbird's address book.

When I compose a new message to someone else (who has an iPhone) it always sends the first message as a text instead of an iMessage. HELP!

When I go to compose a new iMessage to someone, it always shows up green and sends as a text message. Once they respond with an iMessage then my phone realizes to send iMessages instead of texts. Only does it when composing a new message. HELP!

Erase any conversation you have with this person in your Messages, then start a new one and see if it does same thing. If it still doesn't go through right away, it's a problem with your friend's iMessage setup, not yours.

Using images in an HTML message

Dear All,
I want to embed 2 .gif files as part of the HTML message which is being sent from one client to another..My clients want me to give them the same effect as Outlook express utility: New Using->Select Stationery->Filename...so that the text can be typed on the image & then sent...i have hardcoded the structure of the message but the problem is that i am only able to send this message & view it only on my m/c & my e-mail id....if i send it to some other id the picture is not displayed how do i handle this
Thank You
Chaitra

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.text.*;
import javax.mail.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.activation.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import javax.mail.internet.*;
public class MailServlet
extends HttpServlet
protected void printForm(String form,
HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws IOException
PrintWriter writer = response.getWriter();
form = MessageFormat.format(form,
new Object[] { request.getServletPath() });
writer.print(form);
writer.flush();
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws IOException
printForm(request.getParameter("SendMailForm"),request,response);
protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws IOException
try
if(request.getContentType().
startsWith("multipart/form-data"))
doUpload(request,response);
else
response.sendError(
HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);
catch(Exception e)
PrintWriter writer = response.getWriter();
writer.println("<HR><B>Oops!</B><PRE>");
e.printStackTrace(writer);
writer.println("</PRE>");
writer.flush();
protected void doSendMessage(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response,
Dictionary fields)
throws IOException, MessagingException
String host = "10.10.40.6";
Properties props = System.getProperties();
props.put("mail.smtp.host", host);
Session session =
Session.getInstance(props, null);
Message msg =
new MimeMessage(
session); /*.getDefaultInstance(
System.getProperties(),null));*/
msg.setFrom(
new InternetAddress(
(String)fields.get("from")));
InternetAddress[] tos =
InternetAddress.parse((String)fields.get("to"));
msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.TO,tos);
if(fields.get("cc") != null)
InternetAddress[] ccs =
InternetAddress.parse((String)fields.get("cc"));
msg.setRecipients(Message.RecipientType.CC,ccs);
msg.setSubject((String)fields.get("subject"));
msg.setSentDate(new Date());
String msgText ="<HTML><HEAD><TITLE id=ridTitle>Eximbirthday</TITLE>";
     msgText+="<META http-equiv=Content-Type content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\"><BASE ";
     msgText+="href=d:/Tomcat/webapps/Project/>";
     msgText+="<META content=\"MSHTML 6.00.2600.0\" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>";
     msgText+="<BODY id=ridBody bgColor=#e7e4d9 leftMargin=0 topMargin=0 marginheight=0";
     msgText+="marginwidth=0>";
     msgText+="<CENTER></CENTER>";
     msgText+="<P></P>";
     msgText+="<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=\"100%\" border=0>";
     msgText+="<TBODY>";
     msgText+="<TR>";
     msgText+="<TD vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2><IMG height=69 src=\"cid:hbday.gif\"";
     msgText+="width=366 border=0></TD></TR>";
     msgText+="<TR>";
     msgText+="<TD vAlign=top align=left width=\"65%\" height=2>";
     msgText+="<br><br><FONT color=#0000ff size=5>";
     msgText+=(String)fields.get("body");
     msgText+="</font></TD>";
     msgText+="<TD vAlign=bottom align=right height=2><IMG height=394 src=\"cid:flowers.gif\"";
     msgText+="width=296 border=0></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>";
     msgText+="<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>";
     if(null == fields.get("attachment"))
// msg.setText((String)fields.get("body"));
          msg.setContent(msgText,"text/html");
else
BodyPart body = new MimeBodyPart(),
attachment =(BodyPart)fields.get("attachment");
//body.setText((String)fields.get("body"));
          // body.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline; filename=flowers.gif");
          body.setContent(msgText, "text/html");
MimeMultipart multipart = new MimeMultipart("related");
multipart.addBodyPart(body);
multipart.addBodyPart(attachment);
          body=new MimeBodyPart();
          DataSource fds = new FileDataSource("D:/Tomcat/webapps/Project/hbday.gif");
          body.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(fds));
body.setHeader("Content-ID","hbday.gif");
     // Add part to multi-part
     multipart.addBodyPart(body);
          // Create 2nd part for the image
     body = new MimeBodyPart();
          // Fetch the image and associate to part
          DataSource fds2 = new FileDataSource("D:/Tomcat/webapps/Project/flowers.gif");
          body.setDataHandler(new DataHandler(fds2));
          body.setHeader("Content-ID","flowers.gif");
          // Add part to multi-part
          multipart.addBodyPart(body);
msg.setContent(multipart);
Transport.send(msg);
response.sendRedirect(response.encodeRedirectURL("/Project/OkForm.jsp"));
public void doUpload(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws IOException, MessagingException
String boundary =
request.getHeader("Content-Type");
int pos = boundary.indexOf('=');
boundary = boundary.substring(pos + 1);
boundary = "--" + boundary;
ServletInputStream in =
request.getInputStream();
byte[] bytes = new byte[512];
int state = 0;
ByteArrayOutputStream buffer =
new ByteArrayOutputStream();
String name = null,
value = null,
filename = null,
contentType = null;
Dictionary fields = new Hashtable();
int i = in.readLine(bytes,0,512);
while(-1 != i)
String st = new String(bytes,0,i);
if(st.startsWith(boundary))
state = 0;
if(null != name)
if(value != null)
fields.put(name,
value.substring(0,
// -2 to remove CR/LF
value.length() - 2));
else if(buffer.size() > 2)
InternetHeaders headers =
new InternetHeaders();
MimeBodyPart bodyPart =
new MimeBodyPart();
DataSource ds =
new ByteArrayDataSource(
buffer.toByteArray(),
contentType,filename);
bodyPart.setDataHandler(
new DataHandler(ds));
bodyPart.setDisposition(
"attachment; filename=\"" +
filename + "\"");
bodyPart.setFileName(filename);
fields.put(name,bodyPart);
name = null;
value = null;
filename = null;
contentType = null;
buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
else if(st.startsWith(
"Content-Disposition: form-data") &&
state == 0)
StringTokenizer tokenizer =
new StringTokenizer(st,";=\"");
while(tokenizer.hasMoreTokens())
String token = tokenizer.nextToken();
if(token.startsWith(" name"))
name = tokenizer.nextToken();
state = 2;
else if(token.startsWith(" filename"))
filename = tokenizer.nextToken();
StringTokenizer ftokenizer =
new StringTokenizer(filename,"\\/:");
filename = ftokenizer.nextToken();
while(ftokenizer.hasMoreTokens())
filename = ftokenizer.nextToken();
state = 1;
break;
else if(st.startsWith("Content-Type") &&
state == 1)
pos = st.indexOf(":");
// + 2 to remove the space
// - 2 to remove CR/LF
contentType =
st.substring(pos + 2,st.length() - 2);
else if(st.equals("\r\n") && state == 1)
state = 3;
else if(st.equals("\r\n") && state == 2)
state = 4;
else if(state == 4)
value = value == null ? st : value + st;
else if(state == 3)
buffer.write(bytes,0,i);
i = in.readLine(bytes,0,512);
doSendMessage(request,response,fields);
class ByteArrayDataSource
implements DataSource
byte[] bytes;
String contentType,
name;
ByteArrayDataSource(byte[] bytes,
String contentType,
String name)
this.bytes = bytes;
if(contentType == null)
this.contentType = "application/octet-stream";
else
this.contentType = contentType;
this.name = name;
public String getContentType()
return contentType;
public InputStream getInputStream()
// remove the final CR/LF
return new ByteArrayInputStream(
bytes,0,bytes.length - 2);
public String getName()
return name;
public OutputStream getOutputStream()
throws IOException
throw new FileNotFoundException();
This is the latest version ....which again doesnt work!!!!!
Thanx..
Chaitra

Composing an html message

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