- This topic has 12 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Is there a willing ‘expert’ out there to whom I can explain the details, which are a bit complex and lengthy, not to mention paradoxical.
There are (received) emails consisting of text plus graphics. If I SELECT ALL and paste into WORD, the text appears, but only rectangles for the graphics. Whether or not I can paste individual graphics into the rectangles, is variable, but usually not. Then paradoxically, there are emails where I can paste graphics from a received into a new email ONLY after pasting first into WORD, then recopying from Word.
I think it gets more complicated than even that – that is why I listed ‘complex’ along with ‘paradoxical’ and that is where I have to owe you further ‘detail’.My experience has been that some emails use links to pictures stored online embedded in them – as opposed to actual images inserted in between the text. When I try to copy anything with links embedded, I don’t see the graphics in Word. If the images are actually inserted into the text, it usually copies.
As for for copying from Word to email, to some extent what happens will be determined by your email program. Some are better than others, but AOL is the worst I’ve tried when it comes to graphics and forwarding etc.
What you say about on-line images makes much sense.
The situation I refer to, is where images show in an email AFTER going off-line.
I use Outlook Express where the emails are stored locally, and will display graphics without an internet connection being open.Afraid that was my only idea. But then again, I don’t have any experience with Outlook. Perhaps someone else will have some more to add for you. I’ll cross my fingers and I hope you find some answers!
The concept that you’re dealing with is OLE, or Object Linking and Embedding. This technology has been around since Win95, and is a core part of data exchange between applications on Windows. Any time that you drag an object between locations (e.g. files, directories, images, text), or even copy it to the clipboard, OLE is involved.
OLE is a complex system even for developers, so I’ll try to simplify how it works and why you’re seeing unexpected behavior. When some content is put on the clipboard, a type is specified by the application that the data came from. Having a ‘type’ is really important, because otherwise it would be tough to determine what you’ve actually got in the clipboard. When pasting into an application, the type is queried and data extracted.
But what happens if the type that the copying-application put on the clipboard isn’t supported by the pasting-application? A fall-back type can be used. (This can be seen when pasting content from Word into Notepad – just the text will remain)
Hopefully that explains why data isn’t copied perfectly between applications. Copying and pasting between Outlook Express windows should not be a lossy operation, but in my own quick tests – content is not preserved exactly as it should be, losing certain visual style attributes.
It seems to me that you should always be able to copy the image out of the email simply by dragging it directly into a new message, or directly into Word. Mixing graphics with text may not succeed. The other option is to ditch Outlook Express for Windows Mail, or a web-based mail client. Dragging from the browser will certainly succeed.
If you think this analysis is incorrect, please provide more detailed information and reproduction steps.
David
I have put this problem to a few people, and you are the first to approach it in an insightful manner instead of merely indicating work-arounds. That is very encouraging to me. Your example of WORD to NOTEPAD is illuminating.
<> for a number of reasons I would be reluctant to do that. That is not the kind of work-around I am prepared to consider. I had more or less given up hope of of getting the problem ‘solved’, but I was still intrigued as to why/how the problem arises. Your primer in OLE has started to open my door to under-standing, if not fixing, the issue.
<> On the contrary, I think you analysis is correct, and I look forward to gathering “more detailed information and reproduction steps.” That is going to take time, just like my awareness of the mismatch took time to grow. I cannot lay my hands on good examples in the very short term, but am confident that I can in a longer term; so I will keep the URL to this thread on a safe place till examples arise, which they used to and so surely will again.
I have an email example I COULD send, but its extension (eml) is not valid according to the Rules of Attachments. So I await if you have a work around for THAT.
Quote:<> for a number of reasons I would be reluctant to do that. That is not the kind of work-around I am prepared to consider.What I should have indicated, is that you can likely use a web-based mail client in tandem with Outlook Express. Just about every ISP or mail service provides webmail access which won’t disrupt your ability to download and store messages in Outlook Express. (Just in case you’ve got something you really want to save and are unable to with OE)
Quote:I have an email example I COULD send, but its extension (eml) is not valid according to the Rules of Attachments. So I await if you have a work around for THAT.
Actually .eml files should be completely text. You can rename it to .txt and upload or attach it that way.
<>
These days my email is with Gmail (that is web based, isn’t it ?), so I am already there (?).
And since emails are indelible from Gmail, I could always go back and open in Webmail the one I want to copy from and have the copy facility ????<> Before I try it, I have get my head around the idea that an email with graphics can be converted (renamed) to .txt, but leave the graphics intact !!!! ????
After all, my discussion is not about copying text, but about copying graphics elements.@Sebastian42 245747 wrote:
<>
These days my email is with Gmail (that is web based, isn’t it ?), so I am already there (?).
And since emails are indelible from Gmail, I could always go back and open in Webmail the one I want to copy from and have the copy facility ????[/quote]
Yes, right-click on the image in Gmail in select ‘Save image as…’ or similar.
Quote:<> Before I try it, I have get my head around the idea that an email with graphics can be converted (renamed) to .txt, but leave the graphics intact !!!! ????
After all, my discussion is not about copying text, but about copying graphics elements.Graphics may be saved as text using various encoding systems that will turn image data into more verbose text data. The most common for this task is called Base64 encoding. The other option is that the images are actually URLs to images hosted on the internet.
<>
As near as I know, I was already able to do that in O.E. Is was COPYING that I was asking about.I’ll try your suggestion of converting an eml to txt, more for the sheer wonder of it than the actual usefulness of this example. So I hope to hear from you whether what I attached reached you with images intact. If it did, I’ll tell you it’s relevance to ‘my problem’.
For you to see the image, do you just reverse the process and rename ‘txt’ to ’eml’ ?
@Sebastian42 245756 wrote:
For you to see the image, do you just reverse the process and rename ‘txt’ to ’eml’ ?
Yes. But remember that a file can have any extensions. Nothing stops you from reaming a .jpg to .txt. Naming it .eml tells Outlook Express to open the file assuming it uses a certain format which allows for graphics to be stored in the message.
This whole thing is a technical can of worms, so I’ll try not to over-explain. 🙂
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.