1044336 - Insert Link by context menu does not work in Thunderbird 31.0 - doesn't show a Paste menu item (paste using ctrl+v works fine)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Description

[BirdieBob]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/31.0 (Beta/Release)
Build ID: 20140716183446

Steps to reproduce:

Attempted to insert link in composing a message.  Link Properties box appears.  When I try to copy a URL into Link Location, I right click on the Link Location bar ( in order to paste the URL in) and receive the message "(no named anchors or headings in this page)"


Actual results:

Link could not be created and inserted into the message.


Expected results:

URL location should be able to be pasted into link location, link named in Link Text bar, and link then  inserted into message after clicking OK.

Comment 1

[Albert Scheiner [:alberts]]

Just checked on OS X. Same happens here.
Latest TB 31; OS X 10.9

Comment 2

[BirdieBob]

Also confirmed to occur in Win 7, Win XP and Win NT 5.1.  Appears to work properly in other OS.

A workaround allows Insert>Link to be used until the bug us resolved: copy target URL, left click in Link Location bar, hit Ctrl-V.  The URL will be copied into the Location Bar and the Link Name can be added to insert the desired link into the message.

Comment 3

[Anje]

Windows Vista OS
TB v.31.0
I highlight some text in a new Write message eg: link to my website 
use Insert > link

If I right click in the 'link Location' area and select 'paste',
grayed out statement "No named anchors or headings in this page."
Bug = unable to use the available 'paste' function and an inaccurate and irrelevant error message is seen. named anchors nor heading are required when pasting a hyperlink to a webpage.
This has suddenly occurred in v.31.0

If I put cursor in 'Link location' area and use 'Ctrl+V' then the url is inserted. 

However, developers cannot assume that all users understand and use shortcut keys because they do not.

I expect if the right click option to paste is available then it should actually work and not lead to an error message that is irrelevant and inaccurate. 



There is a work around:

    highlight text in a new Write message eg: link to my website
    Insert > link
    type anything (even a single character eg: 'X') into the Link Location field.
    click on the 'Advanced Edit' button in that same window. 

In the Advanced Property Editor window select the 'HTML Attributes' tab if not already selected.

    Click/select/highlight the new link you just created 

Under 'Attribue' it will say 'href' Adjacent under Value , it will show what you typed into the Link Location field even if just a letter eg: 'X'

At the bottom right locate 'Value', it will also show 'X'

    highlight 'X' and right click and select 'paste'
    Click OK to close Advanced Editor
    click OK to insert link

Comment 4

[Martin]

I also checked with
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.0
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:33.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/33.0a2, Build 20140806004003
same happens.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=13722509#p13722509 also reports this

bug 1050566 is another recent report about insert

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

related to bug 974857?

Comment 7

[Alice0775 White]

Regression window(comm-central)
Good:
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/c67a79064fd4
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/109486fb2b22
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.0a1 ID:20140427030201
Bad:
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/4d926af89907
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/c8a51e3fbe7e
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.0a1 ID:20140428030201
Pushlog:
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=c67a79064fd4&tochange=4d926af89907
http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=109486fb2b22&tochange=c8a51e3fbe7e

Comment 8

[Alice0775 White]

In local build
Last Good: c-c=b940fa424367 , m-c=ec96cdad9097
First Bad: c-c=62d03039a718 , m-c=eadb8b61b59a

Regressed by:
  62d03039a718	Magnus Melin — Bug 959209 - Investigate whether Thunderbird still needs the XPFE autocomplete widget. r=standard8 a=[avoid bustage since m-c part landed]

	eadb8b61b59a	Magnus Melin — Bug 959209 - Thunderbird should use toolkit autocomplete widget, not the XPFE one. r=neil

Comment 9

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Anje from comment #3)
> Bug = unable to use the available 'paste' function and an inaccurate and
> irrelevant error message is seen. named anchors nor heading are required
> when pasting a hyperlink to a webpage.

The dialog originally comes from Mozilla Composer, where named anchors are relevant. The list of anchors is provided by a feature of the XPFE autocomplete widget which Thunderbird has stopped using. Unfortunately that feature confuses the Toolkit autocomplete widget and overrides its context menu.

Comment 10

[[e-mail]]

Attachment: Possible patch

Comment 11

[[e-mail]]

Comment on attachment 8475102 [details] [diff] [review]
Possible patch

Feedback match fail :-(

Comment 12

[Anje]

(In reply to Anje from comment #3)
> Bug = unable to use the available 'paste' function and an inaccurate and
> irrelevant error message is seen. named anchors nor heading are required
> when pasting a hyperlink to a webpage.

> The dialog originally comes from Mozilla Composer, where named anchors are relevant. The list of anchors is provided by a feature of the XPFE autocomplete widget which Thunderbird has stopped using. Unfortunately that feature confuses the Toolkit autocomplete widget and overrides its context menu.


You are more knowledgeable to see how it has occurred and how it is effecting the issue.

From a user point of point:
"No named anchors or headings in this page." I was under the impression that 'named anchors and headings' were referring specifically to created named anchor links defining a target location within a page, so enabling a quick link to another area of the same email eg: where a content menu had been used. So not used for an anchor hyperlink directly to a website, in this context the error message seems incorrect.

Whatever the reason, the error message should not be displayed and the enabled paste function should work as in all previous versions that I can remember.

I very much appreciate all efforts to sort this out.

Comment 13

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Comment on attachment 8475102 [details] [diff] [review]
Possible patch

Review of attachment 8475102 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Well this makes the menu with paste show up. 
On trunk headers can be selected by using right-click, but with the patch that possibility is gone.

Also the text above the link field would have to be fixed... 
All in all, I'm not sure if this is an improvement or not - it removes the broken history dropdown but removes the (obscurely hidden) possibility to select headers to link to.

Comment 14

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Magnus Melin from comment #13)
> On trunk headers can be selected by using right-click, but with the patch
> that possibility is gone.
> 
> Also the text above the link field would have to be fixed... 
> All in all, I'm not sure if this is an improvement or not - it removes the
> broken history dropdown but removes the (obscurely hidden) possibility to
> select headers to link to.

Unfortunately the history dropdown works differently in Toolkit, so I assumed that the ability to get the normal context menu was more important.

Comment 16

[Alice0775 White]

I think the offending patch bug 959209 should be backed out before EOL of esr24 .

Comment 17

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

It did have more issues than anticipated, but backing it out now is not an option. That would be break "api stability" and break add-ons that have adapted to use the new version.

Comment 19

[J2m06]

Bonjour (Hello) 

A savoir: Le Glisser-Déposer du lien fonction aussi ;-) 

For information: Drag and drop works too ;-) 

J2m06

Comment 20

[Michal Stanke (Mozilla.cz) [:mstanke][:MikkCZ]]

I was ready to fill the same bug (missing "Insert" context option in Link Location field), as it has been reported in Czech support forum. Is there any estimated time, this will be fixed (returned back "Insert" option), e.g. in the next Thunderbird (minor/major) release?

Comment 21

[Anje]

Version 31.1.1
Confirmed that the paste function into the Insert > Link > Link location is now working as expected.
I can right click and paste and there is no error message.
Many thanks to all who helped to fix this bug.

Comment 22

[Anje]

Just to confirm, that in comment 21, paste means Ctrl+V.
There is no pop up that offers a paste function.
The pop up will only offer any created named anchors or if there are no named anchors you will see the error message.

Comment 23

[john]

In the last Thunderbird, I could type in the text I wanted to link, highlight it, and the link would appear in the dialogue box.  I did not have to use Ctrl+V.  That is no longer the case.

Comment 24

[Tinman]

(In reply to john from comment #23)
> In the last Thunderbird, I could type in the text I wanted to link,
> highlight it, and the link would appear in the dialogue box.  I did not have
> to use Ctrl+V.  That is no longer the case.

  But that's really not a fix.....

Comment 25

[Jeff Bloomfield]

Ho-hum.  Another Thunderbird regression that shouldn't have happened.  (Just found it on search).

Will Thunderbird survive the next few years? Lately, with each new release many bugs that really are regressions are filed.  I think Thunderbird needs a new bug/development process.

Comment 26

[Joe Sabash [:JoeS1]]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #9)
> (In reply to Anje from comment #3)
> > Bug = unable to use the available 'paste' function and an inaccurate and
> > irrelevant error message is seen. named anchors nor heading are required
> > when pasting a hyperlink to a webpage.
> 
> The dialog originally comes from Mozilla Composer, where named anchors are
> relevant. The list of anchors is provided by a feature of the XPFE
> autocomplete widget which Thunderbird has stopped using. Unfortunately that
> feature confuses the Toolkit autocomplete widget and overrides its context
> menu.

Ah, yes but Ctrl+v is not a very vexing workaround. But the loss of named anchors in the dropdown is.
Personally, I'd like to be able to compose an html mail with the full composer. At the very least "Show all tags" and "Edit HTML" without an extension to help.

Comment 27

[Anje]

I am still getting repeated requests on the support forum regarding the inability to create Links.
The recent changes are continuing to cause much confusion and frustration over what should be a simple function.

Insert > Link
The Link Location field needs:
1. All named anchors to appear in drop down selection - not as a right click pop up.
2. Right click to offer standard 'Paste' function.

This would make the Insert > link have the same generic feel and functionality as the rest of Thunderbird.
It would also be a better design as it would be naturally intuitive.
It would mean that those who are not familiar with keyboard shortcuts are not automatically excluded from performing a simple operation. For this very reason it should not have been even considered.


Can anyone confirm that this error is being reviewed and changed to expected, appropriate and intuitive functionality?  Has anyone taken this one to fix?

Comment 28

[Jon]

Indeed!  Please simply return that easy, quick, and intuitive functionality for this feature that we still had in Version 24.7.0 (and which I'm still using, because that's my most frequently used Thunderbird feature).  Surely this can't be rocket science ...

Comment 30

[Jones]

I have this bug too. Thunderbird worked perfectly, and now it doesn't after updating to latest version. Used to be able to simply right click and copy and paste. Now it won't let me put in a custom link with what I want the link to read. (Windows 7 OS) It worked before just fine before and  now does not, I actually had to use gmail for the first time in over a year. Please FIX ASAP!! Thank you :)

Comment 31

[Jon]

Yes, this downgrade has persisted despite several months of users like us complaining about it.  As one who relies upon that feature several times daily, I finally had to resort to a prior version (24.7.0) in which it still operated correctly, and I still use that version despite being offered newer ones which don't repair it. Several "around-your-elbow-to-get-to-your-wrist" work-arounds have been suggested, but none of them actually addresses the underlying mistake.

Comment 32

[cybersailer]

i flagged this as a problem several months ago, right after the version update caused it.  i have been hoping this would be corrected.  i use (used) this feature all the time.  please, PLEASE fix this bug.  i really, REALLY NEED THIS FEATURE.  i've used thunderbird forever (well it seems like it) and wish to continue, BUT i need this link feature.............    PLEASE!!!!!!

Comment 33

[Len]

(In reply to cybersailer from comment #32)
> i flagged this as a problem several months ago, right after the version
> update caused it.  i have been hoping this would be corrected.  i use (used)
> this feature all the time.  please, PLEASE fix this bug.  i really, REALLY
> NEED THIS FEATURE.  i've used thunderbird forever (well it seems like it)
> and wish to continue, BUT i need this link feature.............   
> PLEASE!!!!!!

Instead of right clicking just click the link space and hit ctrl +v. This will insert the clipboard into the space the same as right clicking and selecting paste does. You do need to have a keyboard. If you're mouse only try the "Quote Text" addon for firefox. It inserts the web address and whatever text has been highlighted into the email. I often use both. This is a sometimes annoying bug, but hardly a problem with the easy work around.

Comment 34

[Jon]

Thanks for your apparent good intentions, Len, in offering that same annoying work-around once again.  It is by no means a solution to the mistake somebody made a few versions ago, and were I only to use it once a week or so, I suppose I could live with it.  But I typically send out at least half a dozen messages a day needing that quick, easy, and intuitive function, one of which prompted me to choose Firefox in the first place, but which has been mangled in recent versions.  And we should most certainly not need to install a third-party add-on in order to fix a fundamental design/programming error. So yet once again, please, Firefox programmers, just simply give us back the functionality we enjoyed before, OK? Thanks in advance.

Comment 35

[Tinman]

(In reply to Jon from comment #34)
> Thanks for your apparent good intentions, Len, in offering that same
> annoying work-around once again.  It is by no means a solution to the
> mistake somebody made a few versions ago, and were I only to use it once a
> week or so, I suppose I could live with it.  But I typically send out at
> least half a dozen messages a day needing that quick, easy, and intuitive
> function, one of which prompted me to choose Firefox in the first place, but
> which has been mangled in recent versions.  And we should most certainly not
> need to install a third-party add-on in order to fix a fundamental
> design/programming error. So yet once again, please, Firefox programmers,
> just simply give us back the functionality we enjoyed before, OK? Thanks in
> advance.

 You ​got that right!  It's bad enough I've had to install add-ons to fix what firefox either broke or left out (Classic Theme Restorer anyone?), and now they want us to do a "Workaround" for something else that they broke???  With the way other browsers are taking the market, Firefox can't afford **** like this.
  BTW, do the developers actually read these threads?

Comment 36

[rsx11m]

And why are we talking about Firefox now?

Please stop the off-topic discussions and "why isn't this fixed yet?" posts. As you can see, a patch was posted but didn't quite seem to solve the issue despite receiving partial approval. Thus, time to do some more thinking to avoid breaking something else in the process...

Comment 37

[Len]

(In reply to Tinman from comment #35)
> (In reply to Jon from comment #34)
> > Thanks for your apparent good intentions, Len, in offering that same
> > annoying work-around once again.  It is by no means a solution to the
> > mistake somebody made a few versions ago, and were I only to use it once a
> > week or so, I suppose I could live with it.  But I typically send out at
> > least half a dozen messages a day needing that quick, easy, and intuitive
> > function, one of which prompted me to choose Firefox in the first place, but
> > which has been mangled in recent versions.  And we should most certainly not
> > need to install a third-party add-on in order to fix a fundamental
> > design/programming error. So yet once again, please, Firefox programmers,
> > just simply give us back the functionality we enjoyed before, OK? Thanks in
> > advance.
> 
>  You ​got that right!  It's bad enough I've had to install add-ons to fix
> what Firefox either broke or left out (Classic Theme Restorer anyone?), and
> now they want us to do a "Workaround" for something else that they broke??? 
> With the way other browsers are taking the market, Firefox can't afford ****
> like this.
>   BTW, do the developers actually read these threads?
My workaround for the new Firefox version of Google Chrome was to install Pale Moon. It uses the same engine and transferred all my UI customizations with their profile transfer tool. Much quicker and easier than CTR. Since the workaround for Thunderbird is easy and convenient I don't expect a fix is a big priority. I believe Thunderbird is still responsive to users though so a fix is probably in the pipeline. It has been a long time though.

Comment 38

[Bob]

Incidentally, the bug is also present in the Linux (Ubuntu 14.04LTS) version. Not happy, I used to use the feature a lot, but I had to switch to Evolution e-mail client so I could still insert links in e-mail.

Comment 40

[Paul]

This is an issue in Linux Mint Thunderbird as well. I may downgrade, as I tend to use this feature a lot.

Comment 41

[edikted]

i wound up backing up my mailbox & then i down loaded an older version of thunderbird ~  i then uninstalled thunderbird ~ i then restarted my machine ~ then ran the older version set up ~ all is back to being good now.... thunderbird retained all the info / settings ~ so it was easy breezy ... for now ~ it works 4 me ~ it might work 4 u 2 .....

Comment 42

[sea2005]

Thanks for that info and I'm glad it worked for you. I, however, have moved on to another e-mail client which imported all my stuff and links work well.

But I do appreciate your info and efforts.

Larry

Comment 43

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

I don't have time 4 details, but here's UX guideline for fixing this bug:

Can we please ensure that *both* functionalities are retained:
- copy/paste on context menu
- a simple way of adding existing headers/anchors from a list

From the existing user feedback, it's quite clear anything below that is an inacceptable loss of functionality, and I agree with that sentiment.
I'm also sure this must be technically possible somehow if there's enough clarity and will.

Comment 44

[sea2005]

Thanks, Thomas.

Your fix and the previous one seems to put a lot of responsibility on the user, rather than on Thunderbird where it belongs, in my opinion.

A context box that allows pasting is not a huge programming issue. Usually a menu selection.

if it's an oversight on their part, they should have fixed it by now.

Larry

Comment 45

[edikted]

i agree about the responsibility part ~ but i use the program daily ~ i don't know if it is a complete fix as occasionally i now get a pop up error message that refers to C;\PROGRA-2\Mozilla ~ i am not a programmer ~ just a user trying to use..... i have another "bug" now?? to be continued....

Comment 46

[sea2005]

Edikted,

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I didn't mean to imply that the user should try and change the code, but Thunderbird themselves.

Like I said, too much of hassle to deal with right now.

Larry

Comment 47

[Jim Scott]

TB ver 31.3.0 / WinXP SP3 / HP m7357c
Just for reference, one could formerly highlight text, a name for example, click INSERT | LINK, and right-click-paste their email address (or a URL or a file link) into the text box. TB appeared to determine the proper protocol (ie, http, mailto, etc.) and proceed on its merry way. I'm pretty sure it worked properly, per se, early last Summer (2014) when I finished up my work for the season (as a volunteer webmaster for a local little league). Now the right-click action brings up a list of filenames or an error message of some sort. Reading through here it would appear that something fundamental was changed after version 24.7.. Also, something this also happened in 2011, pre-version 6 (Bug 665538 - Can't paste url into Link Location input field of Link Properties window, standard right-click context menu is missing). How did it got fixed in between? I've used enough of your valuable time now. Please advise if this humble layman can help.

Comment 48

[merel469]

Several reports (at duplicates) mention that paste attempts with Ctrl+V do NOT WORK !
Here as well paste does not work either way.
Thunderbird 31.0

Mozilla HELP says that a link becomes 'active' after message has been stored as draft.

But even hyperlinks manually typed and after storing in draft, even if the link shows as a real link, that dis not seem to work either. (maybe verify this statement, for HELP might telling wrong information)

OS Platform is irrelevant. But anayway if you want to know : same bug using Ubuntu

Comment 49

[Anje]

[e-mail]
re :Several reports (at duplicates) mention that paste attempts with Ctrl+V do NOT WORK

In this bug report, there is no mention that Ctrl+V does not work. It is explicitly mentioned in the bug title that Ctrl+V works and in several comments.
The problem is that there is no right click selection to choose 'paste' option from a drop down list.
Please read comment 3 for additional workaround.

If you are experiencing a different issue then it would be a separate and different bug.
If it has not been previously created as a bug report then you would need to report it.


re: Mozilla HELP says that a link becomes 'active' after message has been stored as draft.
This has nothing to do with this bug.

Comment 50

[BirdieBob]

Merel469:

Do not right-click and attempt to paste. Copy the link location, LEFT-CLICK in the link location space, then hold down Control while pressing V.

Comment 51

[deb]

How in the world is it that the Firefox gods think it's acceptable to know about this bug since JULY and STILL not have it fixed? I guess we are all to blame for putting up with it. Time to move on to Gmail. No concern for months of inconvenience. Really inconceivable!

Comment 52

[Jon]

Yes, Deb, this absolutely boggles the mind.  The only reason I can possibly imagine is that Mozilla software engineers have somehow boxed themselves into some sort of impossible corner that they find difficult to program their way out of.  On the surface, this seems like one of the very simplest mistakes to fix, (you just go back to a previous version which worked correctly, and re-insert that code), but apparently they've so badly mangled things in that area that such a simple fix can't work.  Incredibly disappointing, so much so that I'm still using version 24.7.0 ... so far as I know, the last version which worked correctly.  I'll probably hang in here for another couple months or so, hoping against hope that someone at Mozilla actually cares about this blunder and has the smarts to fix it.  Failing that, like so many others have now done, I'll reluctantly ditch Thunderbird and move on ...

Comment 54

[Jim Scott]

Jon, Deb, et al: Problem / Issue defined. Now, this channel is for the folks working on the problem. Feel free to stay on the cc list to monitor the progress but ... can we please move the chatter to the social media platform of your choice? Thanks and have a Happy New Year.

Comment 55

[Kenk]

(In reply to BirdieBob from comment #2)
> Also confirmed to occur in Win 7, Win XP and Win NT 5.1.  Appears to work
> properly in other OS.
> 
> A workaround allows Insert>Link to be used until the bug us resolved: copy
> target URL, left click in Link Location bar, hit Ctrl-V.  The URL will be
> copied into the Location Bar and the Link Name can be added to insert the
> desired link into the message.

May already have been noted but if the url is copied and then pasted into an email and then sent to an orange.fr address the recipient receives the pasted url as a hyperlink.

Comment 56

[BirdieBob]

Kenk:

I believe that would be the case for for any URL sent via email to or from orange.fr or any other domain.  The Insert Link function is intended to allow the sender to specify a name as a hyperlink to access the URL rather than sending the entire URL.

Comment 57

[B Jones]

I spent 30 minutes to find/register for this bug page. I would really like it fixed, please, I've used the "right-click" "paste" for creating links for years and years. I would like it back!

Comment 59

[Jim Scott]

(In reply to Kenk from comment #55)
> (In reply to BirdieBob from comment #2)
> > Also confirmed to occur in Win 7, Win XP and Win NT 5.1.  Appears to work
> > properly in other OS.
> > 
> > A workaround allows Insert>Link to be used until the bug us resolved: copy
> > target URL, left click in Link Location bar, hit Ctrl-V.  The URL will be
> > copied into the Location Bar and the Link Name can be added to insert the
> > desired link into the message.
> 
> May already have been noted but if the url is copied and then pasted into an
> email and then sent to an orange.fr address the recipient receives the
> pasted url as a hyperlink.

Insert | Link merely attaches the URL you enter to your selected text (whatever it is). As BB said, domain matters not. Formerly, TB was smart enough to format email addresses with the proper mailto: header and web addresses with the proper http: header. It will be interesting to see how the "fix" comes out. 

Having said that, Kenk, I have noticed that SOME email applications have been extracting the URL from the hyperlink in the email and displaying it in plaintext inline with the original email contents. This is probably what you have observed. It is NOT something TB did. It is happening on the receiver's end. It seems to happen more with large corporate systems (which makes sense since it does let the recipient know what the actual URL is so they can decide if the link is legitimate or not). 

Perhaps this would be a good suggestion to make for TB as a user preference option (ie, to display hyperlink URLs inline with their link text).

Now, we need to clear this channel for the folks working on the present issue. :-)

Comment 60

[rickeilers]

I did not see anyone confirming that this bug also manifests in V31.4.0 with Win 8.1 Pro. It "buggs" me to the point that I am considering checking out Outlook as an alternative, even though I have been using TB for more than 15 years now through several OS iterations. I am adding my voice to this discussion in the hopes that it may help to get someone to tackle fixing this issue.

Comment 61

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

I have to say I'm quite curious why so many people think this is a serious bug (not saying it shouldn't be fixed). 
Ctrl+V seems a *very* easy workaround.

Comment 62

[Anje]

I agree, this bug cannot be described as 'critical' or 'serious' in the grand scheme of things, but it is a fully widespread reproduceable bug that causes much frustration and confusion. 

The Insert > Link window is not logical and does not follow the standard and generic method of right click to select drop down option 'paste'.
When this fails it causes people to become confused and frustrated as the error message - grayed out statement "No named anchors or headings in this page." - is equally illogical especially if they have no knowledge regarding 'named anchors'. 
Currently. if there are 'named  anchors', they will appear as a type of pop up list when you right click, so if none set you get the "No named anchors or headings in this page.". But this is of no use nor makes any sense if not creating and using named anchors, but simply wanting to Insert a url link.

Developers should not assume users have the same level of knowledge; many people never use nor do not know about various keyboard shortcuts and their only hope of using the function would be to locate this bug with the 'work around' option.

On right click, there should be a drop down selection which includes 'paste' and 'named anchors' > 'anchor name'. Right click needs to offer options as drop down list. Just like the rest of the generic Thunderbird user interface.

What people would like to hear from developers/bug fixers is that this prime example of bad design bug is being taken seriously and has someone started to work on this and will they fix this to work using an expected intuitive method?

Comment 63

[Malcolm]

I agree entirely with Anje the bug seriously affects people who have been brought up with Windows and have no knowledge of Ctrl V. TB used to work perfectly and now it's broken. This is so frustrating and I just wish that I had enough programming knowledge to do this myself. Please someone take this up as these sort of bugs that affect ordinary non-programmers will force people to stop using TB if not acknowledged and fixed promptly.

Comment 64

[Jon]

    It's important to recall that my complaint was not about inserting a URL into message text, but about the loss of an intuitive process to insert an image/photo into an outgoing message and assign a URL link to it, (that link being totally unrelated to the location of that image on the local PC), so that when the message recipient clicks on that image, it takes him to a remote news article illustrated by the image/photo.

    That highly intuitive process to which we had all become accustomed, which I still use several times each day on version 24.7.0, and which we'd like returned to current versions is:

    *  Outside of Thunderbird, copy to the clipboard a URL link to a remote web page or news article.
    *  Compose a Thunderbird message, and place cursor at the location within that message where an image should be inserted.
    *  Click on the "Link/Anchor/Image/H.Line/Table" dropdown icon.
    *  Click on the "Image" option within that dropdown.
    *  Click on "Choose File" button to select and insert a stored image from the local PC.  (The "Attach this image to the message" checkbox is already checked).
    *  For reference purposes, the "image location" on the local PC is then displayed, along with several handy resizing/editing buttons (which I frequently use to produce a smaller image at the receiving end) and a "Link" button.
    *  Click on that "Link" button.
    *  Left-Click on the insert box to insert the previously stored link.
    *  Click "OK" and the image is inserted, along with the appropriate remote URL.

    That process is fast and completely intuitive, it does not rely upon any memorized shortcut keys nor knowlege of "named anchors", it's worked for years, and we need to continue using it.

Comment 65

[Anje]

Yes Jon, there are two places where a link can be inserted in a Write message.
'Insert' > 'Link'
and
'Insert' > 'Image' then add clickable link to image via selecting the 'Link' tab.

Both places have the same identical issue. Both places need the fix.

Comment 66

[Jim Scott]

  Rick: good luck with Outlook
Magnus: it's been said
  Anje: yadda, yadda, yadda
Malcom: seriously?
   Jon: same problem and not all that intuitive to typical email user BTW

AND NOW can we clear the channel ?!?!?!?! 

The longer we clog this up with commentary and anecdotes, the longer it will be ignored.

Comment 67

[Jon]

Thanks so very much, Jim, for once again jumping in with arrogantly obnoxious replies to sincerely intended comments which should of course continue until a long overdue fix to the subject bug is published.  Your denigrating remarks most certainly "clog" this discussion forum far more than those from we who actually care about the product, and which factually address the issue at hand.

Comment 68

[Jim Scott]

As I understand it, the tracking flags indicate a target release for the "fix". I'm extrapolating that meaning from this thread: https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/tb-planning/2014-October/003520.html  It depends obviously on how soon someone can get on it and how much core code is affected (which increases the debug time, etc.).

Comment 69

[rsx11m]

... where obviously the tracking requests for past milestones can be cleared given that a solution wasn't included there (the '?' only means that a bug has been nominated to be put on the list, only a '+' means that it's actually on the list, which still won't guarantee that it's actually solved for this milestone). Since we are in the 38.0 cycle now, which will follow for the releases once the 31.x branch is done, there are five weeks left to find a satisfactory solution for this issue, if there is any. To reiterate the charge:

(Quoting Thomas D. from comment #43)
> I don't have time 4 details, but here's UX guideline for fixing this bug:
> 
> Can we please ensure that *both* functionalities are retained:
> - copy/paste on context menu
> - a simple way of adding existing headers/anchors from a list
> 
> From the existing user feedback, it's quite clear anything below that is an
> inacceptable loss of functionality, and I agree with that sentiment.
> I'm also sure this must be technically possible somehow if there's enough
> clarity and will.

Comment 71

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Attachment: Show paste if no headers

Magnus, what do you think of this variant? It only shows the popup when there are no anchors or headers. I think this would fix this for the majority of users who just want to past a link, even though it is not a complete fix.

Comment 72

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #71)
> Created attachment 8572943 [details] [diff] [review]
> Show paste if no headers
> 
> Magnus, what do you think of this variant? It only shows the popup when
> there are no anchors or headers. I think this would fix this for the
> majority of users who just want to past a link, even though it is not a
> complete fix.

Nice compromise improvement over status quo.

The other option might be to always show the tradional copy-paste-etc. context menu on the URL input, and add a dedicated dropdown menu button for Anchors and Headers:

[URL input field                      v]
  [Choose file...] [Anchor or Heading v]

Clicking the button shows the popup with anchors and headers:
[Anchor or Heading v]
| #Anchor1          |
| #Anchor2          |
| #Heading1         |
| #Heading2         |
+-------------------+

Comment 74

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Comment on attachment 8572943 [details] [diff] [review]
Show paste if no headers

Review of attachment 8572943 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Yeah it's not a complete fix but still an improvement.
Please add a comment in the code about that we're showing the menu when no anchors/headings are found. Also file a bug for the real fix.

Comment 75

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Comment on attachment 8475102 [details] [diff] [review]
Possible patch

We decided to use the alternate patch.

Comment 76

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Comment on attachment 8572943 [details] [diff] [review]
Show paste if no headers

[Approval Request Comment]
(We'll consider uplift to aurora after a nightly cycle)

https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/18eee81947b6

Comment 77

[Jim Scott]

Attachment: Image; see comment #78 (Jim Scott)

Comment 78

[Jim Scott]

Just performed Insert Link | Link Location | Right Click to display the last "n" links -- which I assume to be email or url addresses I ^copied to the clipboard -- and found ... well, I don't know what. Something from AOL (which has never to my knowledge set foot on this computer)?!?! Reference the attachment in Comment #77. Thanks.

Comment 79

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Jim, what version of TB are you using in comment 78?

Comment 80

[Jim Scott]

31.5.0

Comment 81

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Comment on attachment 8572943 [details] [diff] [review]
Show paste if no headers

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-aurora/rev/a53fc9417977

Comment 82

[Kent James (:rkent)]

Jim, I just landed this patch in aurora, so it should be in the next EarlyBird build, which will be tonight if nothing fails. So you might try installing EarlyBird (Thunderbird 38) in 24 hours and see if this fix is adequate.

It is more of a workaround than a full fix, so perhaps we should file a followup bug for remaining issues.

Comment 83

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Filed full fix bug 1148751.

Comment 84

[Jim Scott]

Prologue: On one email I did this morning, when the Link Properties window opened and I right clicked the Link Location text box and clicked on Paste, instead of the link I got a drop down that listed only "#AppleMailSignature". This is a PC. iTunes is not installed nor is any other Apple product that I am aware of. And, worse, it only happened in that one email. All the other emails were fine. Weird stuff but thought I'd mention it in case is has any significance to someone else. Cheers. Windows 7 Pro 64 and TB 38.5.1.