Turn off Data Detectors in Mail.app

Among the new features Apple touted in Leopard was data detectors in Mail.app. The idea is that if somebody sends you an email with a street address in it, for example, Mail.app can detect that it's a street address and add it an Address Book contact with just a couple of clicks. Unfortunately, while the basic idea isn't bad, sometimes you just want to copy something and the data detectors simply get in the way (and leads, in my case at least, to some gratuitous cursing).

Well, Michael Tsai has found the solution with a hidden preference. All you have to do is type in (or copy and paste in) one line to the Terminal and the data detectors will be banished from Mail.app. Head on over to Tsai's post for full details and kiss the cursing goodbye.

[via Daring Fireball]

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Source: http://mjtsai.com/blog/2008/07/29/turning-off-apple-data-det…

Among the new features Apple touted in Leopard was data detectors in Mail.app. The idea is that if somebody sends you an email with a...

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john russell

I love data detectors in Mail. I wish other apps had them as well. Is this some secret preference to turn them on in Safari and other apps?

August 06 2008 at 3:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Todd

I'm also in the data-detector lovin' camp. They sometimes get in the way of selecting something, but they've become one of my favorite Leopard features as well - they just work!

August 01 2008 at 10:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

motech

truly one of my favorite features in leopard,
use it all the time!!
(being that i depend on ical and address book!)

i really wish they had it in the iphone . .

one way they could improve it is adding a copy option in the drop down menu, but otherwise i havent really had an issues . .

August 01 2008 at 10:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mark

Data detectors might work fine in English messages, but in foreign languages they are really, really bad. Forget about detecting appointments (it doesn't detect the date properly), and address detection is very flaky as well (streets consisting of multiple words get detected only partially, etc.)

August 01 2008 at 10:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Harris

So.... maybe I'm doing something wrong but this is totally unnecessary. If you start copying away from the address, maybe the line underneath it or even a few spaces after it, anywhere near it that doesn't popup the detection interface dropdown, and drag across the address, it will select the text and you can copy it to the clipboard. Seems like your fixing something that doesn't need fixing.

August 01 2008 at 9:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Kelmon

Bugger that - data detectors are probably one of the best additions to Leopard and it's often spooky how accurate they are.

August 01 2008 at 9:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply