'Mail Link to this Page' not working anymore

[BJJ]

When I find a web page that I want to keep I would use the 'Mail Link to this Page' in Safari or the 'Mail Link' in my gmail browser to send an email to myself with the link in it. Last week both of those features stopped working. I don't know why and I don't know how to fix it. Any ideas?

 

[Mickey330]

Well, a quick test with my Safari browser shows this function works for me. So, have you tried either of the two initial efforts we recommend to get the iPad to behave normally - restart or reset?

Restart: Hold down the power button until the power off slider appears. Slide it off. When the iPad finishes shutting down, hold down the power button again until the Apple logo appears.

Reset: Hold both the power and home buttons until the screen goes dark and the Apple logo then appears (the slide to unlock screen may or may not appear). Once the logo appears, release the buttons. After a time, your homescreen will appear. Please note that it may take some time for the Apple logo to appear or for your homescreen to appear (or both). This is normal. Eventually, the homescreen will appear.

It's surprising how well either (or both) of these two "fixes" solve a lot of the hinky problems the iPad develops. Try them and let us know how it goes. If that doesn't work, we'll figure something out...

Marilyn

 

[BJJ]

Marilyn, thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, after 3 Restart and Resets, it is still not working. Do you have any other suggestions?

 

[twerppoet]

Can you supply more details. Is the feature absent, you can't select it, you don't get the mail editor to choose address and send, does the emai get sent but never arrive, or something else entirely.

 

[BJJ]

The feature is not absent in either my Safari or my Google Apps Browser, G-Whizz!. I was able to use this feature flawlessly up until about a week and a half ago. I still perform the linking as I always did in both browsers. I click on the menu image at the top, select 'Mail Link to this Page' (if I'm in Safari) or 'Email Link' (if I'm in the Google Apps Browser), the message is displayed with the link in the body of the email. I click on the 'To' and begin typing my own email address. A list pops up to choose an email from my contacts and I select my own email address. I press 'Send' and the email appears to have been delivered but when I go to my Gmail, the messages are never received.

I have managed to do the same task with a workaround. If I am in Google Apps Browser I will use the same menu link at the top of the screen and instead of choosing 'Email Link' I choose 'Open in Safari'. Then from Safari I can copy and paste the link into a new email that I generate by choosing the 'Compose Email' link. The solution works. It just takes a few extra steps. So that is good. But it doesn't explain why this feature has stopped working.

Is this enough information? I'd be happy to answer any other questions that might help.

Thanks!

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Does the emailed link appear in the iPad's Mail app Sent mail folder?

I'm trying to work out if the emailed link 'left' the iPad and is 'lost' in 'cyberspace' or whether it never really 'left' the iPad.

Tim

 

[BJJ]

Ah Ha! I use the Gmail app to do all my mail. But your question triggered me to go back and check the Mail program that was on my iPad when I got it. I did use it for awhile then switched to the Gmail app since I use Gmail on my PC. All the mail (the links I've been sending myself) is still sitting over there in the Outbox. Funnily enough when I go into the Mail program I get a message that says 'Cannot Get Mail - The user name or password for "Gmail" is incorrect.' I remember changing my Gmail password just awhile ago. It seems like that may have been the point at which the linking feature stopped working. Also, I just checked my PC Gmail inbox and saw that the last mail sent to myself from the Gmail app G-Whizz! was on September 23. The messages stacked in the outbox of Mail on my iPad start on September 24.

It would seem to me that I need to tell Mail what my new Gmail password is so it can release the mail from the Outbox and receive mail into the Inbox. But it also seems redundant to have both Mail and Gmail storing all my messages, both inbound and out, not to mention Sent, Spam and Trash.

Does this new information help?

 

[twerppoet]

The Mail app will handle all out going mail by default, no matter what app you start from (with the exception of other mail apps). It's kind of like Safari, as it is the default app for the system. So yes, if you want to send mail from other apps you'll have to keep your Mail app account on and current.

 

[BJJ]

All the old mail that was sitting in Mail has now been sent to my Gmail Inbox.

I went to Settings, Mail, Gmail, and retyped my new password over the old one. I did not realize it needed to be changed here whenever I changed my password through Gmail. Thank you so much for helping me through this problem and helping me understand a little bit more about how my iPad works.

 

[twerppoet]

No problem. Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data; change Push to off and Fetch to Manual. If you do this Mail will download nothing unless you open the app.

 

[BJJ]

Hmm. The setting is already at OFF and Fetch to Manually and yet when I check Mail, a couple of the links I sent just a few minutes ago ended up in my Mail as well as my Gmail. Do they only get 'fetched' whenever I open Mail? And is the 'whoosh' and 'ding' created by the Mail system or the Gmail system. Sorry to be a pest, I just really like to understand my technology as much as I can. Things have to make sense if you know what I mean. I don't just like blindly going through life.

 

[twerppoet]

The settings should not effect outgoing mail. Manual means that mail will only be downloaded to the Mail app when you open it or select the update icon within the app.

Push works with most IMAP and Exchange accounts. When the server receives a new email, it pushes it to the device.

Fetch is the device itself periodically contacting the server to check for and download email.

There is no way to keep Mail from downloading email when you open it. However, since you are on a GMail account you are using either IMAP or Exchange Active Sync to get your mail. This means that whatever you do in Mail, online, or another app will automatically sync to the other services. So if you you do something in Mail, it will change on the server immediately. When you do something on the server (either with the web interface or the GMail web app) it will sync with Mail as soon as it connects.

You can safely ignore email in the Mail app if you don't want to use it, though if you've opened it with unread mai on the serverl the red badge will appear until you either mark those emails read in Mail, or open it again after you've read or deleted them in another app.


If I've just confused you, ask away. I'm sure I can do better, maybe even get you all the way to bewildered.

 

[BJJ]

I went to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, Push was already set to OFF and Fetch to Manual. But when I send myself a test email (again, by sending a link to a webpage) and then check the Mail and Gmail from my home screen (note, I don't open either one) both icons have incremented by 1 the number at the top right corner of the icon which represents how many unread emails there are. This would indicate to me that the Mail function is still downloading the messages into it's Inbox. Yes? It's not a problem really, I'll just hide Mail on the second or third page of my Home Screen so I don't see it anymore. But it seems to me that you're telling me this shouldn't happen on Mail. Unless I'm not understanding you.
Sorry to be a pest but I like to understand the technology as best I can. I have this need to understand how my world works.

 

[BJJ]

Sorry, ignore that last bit. My screen didn't refresh properly (or something) and you had already answered my question from before (which I thought I forgot to it 'Post Reply' to).

So, you have confirmed to me how I thought Push and Fetch worked. Thank you. I did notice through experimentation that if I read or deleted a message in one program (Mail or Gmail) it took effect, or synced as it were, in the other.

I guess for now I'll just hide Mail on the second page of Home so I don't have to be distracted by the incremental red badge.

Thanks again for all your help. I really do appreciate it. I have thoroughly enjoyed my transition to Apple via the iPad. Who knows, my next computer may just be a Mac.

Cheers!

 

[twerppoet]

Happy to help.