How to stop Apple Mail defaulting to "image link" instead of plain links?

Software
1

Hello. I would love to adjust mail settings so when plain links get added they remain plain links instead of instantly changing to what I am calling “image links”. I’ve not found how to do so. How can that change be implemented?

I am adding a couple of screenshots from inside the body of an email of the behavior I am referring to.

Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 6.38.10 AM
Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 6.38.10 AM902×770 64.7 KB

Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 6.38.22 AM
Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 6.38.22 AM542×732 58.3 KB

Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 6.38.37 AM
Screenshot 2023-03-26 at 6.38.37 AM722×192 12.5 KB

2

Apple calls these “rich previews”, and this was added to Mail in Ventura.

I didn’t know that because I don’t see it — and I suspect it’s because my default is to send plaintext email. I haven’t confirmed this.

I did see one work-around posted on the Apple forums:

“pressing ⌘K, pasting the URL into the the text field and clicking OK will insert the URL as a link without converting it into a ‘preview’. Without leaving the keyboard it’s ⌘K, ⌘V, return – faster than clicking the arrow and converting it back that way.”

From:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254346245

1 Like
3

You could also try this command in the Mac terminal app. I think this has been mentioned in the MPU forum, but I don’t recall where.

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -boolean yes
3 Likes
4

Hi Karl,

I took your advice on this, and inserted your suggested command into Terminal.

The command works, but the result is not to my taste.

I would be very grateful if you would please be kind enough to explain how I undo your command, and get back to where I was.

I would appreciate your swift response.

Thanks.

Best,

Michael

5

I would imagine it’s simply changing the Boolean at the end of the command from yes to no. Then run the command in terminal again.

4 Likes
6

Thank you for your swift response Jens.

That’s what I thought, but I almost never open Terminal, so I wanted to check.

I’ll be brave and try it.

Thanks again.

Best,

Michael

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7

I suspect that @JensV has the right of it: Your command changed an internal value to Yes. To undo it, use the same command, but set the value to No.

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8

Another workaround is to type a space before pasting the link.

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9

Hi Jens,

Your suggestion put Mail back to where it was.

Thanks for your help.

Best,

Michael

1 Like
10

Thanks Karl.

Jens’ suggestion did put Mail back to where it had originally been.

Mail keeps being the poor orphan which Apple ignores.

If Apple doesn’t come up with a solution, I’ll move over to Microsoft Outlook, or one of the other email apps.

Best,

Michael