Problem opening links in K9 Mail

[Gallopinhairpin]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question so apologies if it isn't.
As per subject I'm using K9 Mail on my Samsung S22 using Android 14, One UI 6.1. My daughter often sends me http links from her S22 and they don't display as links, i.e. they are monochrome and not underlined. Tapping on them does nothing but until recently I've been able to tap and hold and this would open a pop-up menu offering to open the link. However this functionality has suddenly stopped working. Now if I tap and hold it just selects a single word in the string and offers to copy, share etc.

As things stand the only way I can open these links is on my PC by copying and pasting into the URL bar of my browser. Not very helpful if I'm not at home.

Can anyone suggest what may have happened to stop me opening these by tapping and holding? Is there a setting I can change anywhere to restore this function? I've looked through the K9 settings and can't see anything relevant. Alternatively is there a way for her to get her phone to send openable links?

Any insights will be gratefully received.

 

[olbriar]

I do not use K9 so I did a search:
AI Overview



If hyperlinks are not showing as clickable (active) or cannot be launched in K-9 Mail,
it is often due to theme settings, how the sender formatted the link, or how Android processes the link content.
Here are the most effective solutions based on common K-9 Mail issues:

1. Disable Dark Theme (Most Common Fix)
If you are using a dark theme, K-9 Mail may be rendering links in a color that makes them invisible or visually indistinguishable from plain text.

• Go to Settings > General settings > Display.
• Uncheck Fixed message theme or switch to Light theme to test if the links appear.
  

2. Format Issues: Use "http://"
K-9 Mail may not recognize links as active if they lack the protocol prefix.

• Links formatted as www.example.com or <Example Domain> sometimes fail to become clickable.
• Ensure the link includes http:// or https:// (e.g., Example Domain).
  

3. Use "Long Press" to Open
If the link is visible but doesn't react to a normal tap, try a "long press" (press and hold) on the link. This often brings up an Android menu to open the link in a browser, bypassing issues with the K-9 interface.

4. Check Android Browser Permissions
K-9 Mail relies on your default browser to open links. If your browser settings are restricted, links will not launch.

• Go to your Android phone's Settings > Apps > [Your Browser, e.g., Chrome].
• Ensure your browser is allowed to open links and that JavaScript is enabled.
• If using a Samsung device, check Browser Settings > Useful features > Allowed Apps to ensure your email app is not blocked.

5. Check for "Broken" HTML in Emails
Sometimes links are wrapped in HTML code that K-9 Mail does not interpret correctly. If the link is behind a button, it might work, while text-based links might not, or vice versa.

6. Copy and Paste
If a link simply will not activate, copy the text and paste it into your browser to verify if the link itself is valid. If it works there, the issue is with how K-9 is rendering that specific email content.

 

[Gallopinhairpin]

Thanks for your response @olbriar . Taking your points and suggestions in order:

1. I'm not using Dark Theme (I don't like it anyway). When I receive openable links they are displayed in blue and are underlined. The links that won't open are black and not underlined.

2. All the links are prefixed with https://.

3. The "Long Press", which I presume is what I referred to as tap and hold, worked until quite recently when for some unknown reason it stopped working.

4. Links that display in blue and underlined open with a tap without issue in my browser (Firefox) which I assume indicates it is allowed to open links and my K9 app is not blocked.

5. I can see the links are wrapped in HTML code. It's difficult to show the code here as Firefox insists on converting it to a clickable link. It starts with '[URL unfurl', continues with '="true"]' then the link and it terminates with '[/URL]'.

6. As I said above I can open the links on my PC by copying them from Thunderbird and pasting into Firefox. At the moment I can't see a way to do this on the phone.

What continues to baffle me is that "Long Press" used to work and now doesn't and I've no idea what might have changed. I can only assume it's the result of a recent update to K9 as I've not installed any Android updates. I've looked through all the settings I can find in K9 and can't find anything relating to opening links.

I guess the best way of resolving this would be by my daughter finding a way to send clickable links.