Outlook 2007 Quirk: Say No to Double Left Click Appending that Trailing Space
May 14th, 2007 by Ernesto Gluecksmann
You found an interesting Web 2.0 looking website that promises you hours amusing entertainment but before you can go any further, you have to sign up for an account. You know the routine, and by now you have it down to mere clicks of your tab key thanks to AutoComplete that practically fills these suckers out for you. You click submit and just when you expect the doors to open, you get the following message…
You verification code has been sent to your email address. Please check your email and copy the verification number exactly a you see it. If it doesn’t arrive within a few minutes, check your junkmail folder… then bother us if its not there either, we’ll resend you another one.
What? Great, already your starting to have doubts about this website… its bad enough they don’t trust new users, they can’t even email you a link based verification, you actually have to TYPE the code in by hand? Groan. But you’ve too vested in the process, all those Tabs and AutoCompletes are going to be good for nothing if you don’t go through this right of passage.
So you open Outlook, your hand already on the mouse, and Outlook already downloading your new messages, bam, there it is, the verification code containing email. You open the email, you see the code, it’s a long ugly one with numbers, characters, mixed case. No worries. You double left click on it, and with your left hand you do a stealthy CNTRL-C to copy (you’re not some newbie, you know how to roll with the Cut ‘n’ Paste) and move the mouse back to the browser over the verification input bar… CNTRL-V to paste your left hand and last you click submit.
Your verification code you entered does not match the one we have recently sent you. Please try again.
What?! What is it talking about? You just did it perfectly. Your not wrong, it’s wrong! Ok, calm down. You do it again, double left click
with the mouse, left hand CNTRL-C to copy, you move the point over, select the verification input field, CNTRL-P to paste, and this time RETURN for good measure.
Your verification code you entered does not match the one we have recently sent you. Too many attempts have been made, you may contact support and we may response at our earliest convenience.
Great. What happened?
Well… looks like your Outlook 2007 is picking up a trailing space. When double clicking, the highlight surrounds not just the word, but an extra trailing space. The reason for is that Word or Outlook is trying to help you by not leaving a space when editing text. But if you do a lot of single word copying from Outlook to your browser (in the case of verification codes or forgotten passwords), it can be a pain because it means you have to remember to remove the trailing space.
To change this quirky behavior, it’s very easy to do:
Step 1 differin
Click Tools and select Options
Step 2
Select Mail Format tab
Step 3
Click on Editor Options
Step 4
Select Advanced
Step 5
Near the bottom of the page, next to “Use smart cut and paste” click on Settings
Step 6
Uncheck Adjust paragraph space on paste
Why this works?
Most verification codes come in their own line without anything else after it. So by disabling paragraph space, it doesn’t grab the last space into your browser. You can still edit your emails just fine, using “smart” cut and paste, your just make sure it doesn’t try anything too smart ass.
There’s 97 checkbox options in Outlook that you have to go through with until you found how disable this, but aren’t you glad I just told you? Your welcome.
January 1st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Ernesto, thanks for hooking us up with this! Its been working great. I’m so pleased I can now sync my contacts without worry. Stop by some time if your in the area. Jake
April 16th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Hrm…no idea what you talkin’ ’bout, hoss. I got a mac and I double-click and grab the word, triple-click and grab the sentence. Or single-click and position the cursor. What’s this about a left button and clicking twice while blinking with your right eye??
August 28th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Nice,
I’ll absolutely use it.