[X Newbies] Disappearing subject line in Sent Mail?

[Florin Alexander Neumann]

On Wednesday, Aug 13, 2003, at 10:39 Canada/Eastern, Steve St-Laurent 
wrote:

> Sorry, Norm, it's NOT that clear-cut:
>
> 1. Blank message window.
>
> 2. Type a couple of words in the message area, making sure not to type 
> a carriage return or any other character that would get blamed.
>
> 3. Highlight and drag to subject line. Heck, drag same from BBEdit 
> with show-invisibles on just to be sure there is no carriage return.
>
> [...]

> 5. I consistently do not get the dragged subject saved, as Macintosh 
> Lady described [OSX 10.2.6/Mail 1.2.5] and have had this problem 
> through every iteration of Mail to date.

Actually, it is clear-cut. Check out what began the thread and compare 
it with what you're doing.

> On Tuesday, Aug 12, 2003, at 02:05 Canada/Eastern, TheMacintoshLady 
> wrote:
>
>> I am dragging text clippings into the message pane

TheMacintoshLady was talking about text clippings, i.e., files created 
by dragging selected text from an application to the desktop. You are 
talking about dragging-and-dropping text between applications or inside 
Mail.app, not about creating text clippings. With text clippings the 
behaviour described by TheMacintoshLady occurs only if the clipping 
ends in one or more blank lines.

Dragging from the message area to the subject line in Mail.app results 
in what you describe; the same if dragging from BBEdit (with a small 
proviso). But drag from the message area to the desktop (to create a 
clipping), then the clipping from the desktop to the subject line and 
you'll see something else.

Now, about BBEdit. Dragging from BBEdit behaves as you describe, with 
one exception: if the insertion point is in the subject line when you 
drag, then switch to Mail.app and tab out of the subject line, the line 
is saved.

Is all this a bug? Of course, and already known. The point is to 
document what can one do to work around it. Don't end your text 
clippings with blank lines, etc.

f