Tech Forum Archive

Formatting for "send a message"

57 postsstarted by cntaylor 22,994 viewsoriginal topic

cntaylor
New Member
#1
Is there a way to check your formatting in "send a message" before it gets sent out. I usually use pretty straight-forward formatting, but half the time the separation between my paragraphs disappear, half the time they don't. There are several other annoying things, but the changing of whitespace makes most the e-mails I send to my ward look very unprofessional. I can't figure out when "send a message" keeps the white space and when it doesn't. Ideas?
lajackson
Community Moderators
#2
cntaylor wrote:Is there a way to check your formatting in "send a message" before it gets sent out.
I am not aware of a way, other than just sending it through the system to yourself.

I write all my messages in a text or Wordpad file. It is decidedly low tech, but the email usually comes through as it appeared when I pasted it into the online app. You also have limited formatting capability at the website. (Very limited.)
drewsky5
New Member
#3
I just sent an email to all the members of the ward and just about all the special formatting was removed from the actual send. What's the point of having rich formatting for composing a message if it doesn't get used when sent?
scgallafent
Church Employee
#4
drewsky5 wrote:I just sent an email to all the members of the ward and just about all the special formatting was removed from the actual send. What's the point of having rich formatting for composing a message if it doesn't get used when sent?
The point was never to have a full-featured rich formatter. When we implemented the formatting in the editor, we made a specific, conscious decision to support some basic formatting but not to try to implement a full-featured editor.
drewsky5
New Member
#5
scgallafent wrote:
drewsky5 wrote:I just sent an email to all the members of the ward and just about all the special formatting was removed from the actual send. What's the point of having rich formatting for composing a message if it doesn't get used when sent?
The point was never to have a full-featured rich formatter. When we implemented the formatting in the editor, we made a specific, conscious decision to support some basic formatting but not to try to implement a full-featured editor.
I can certainly understand that. However, if the basic formatting you refer to is things like bold, italics, font sizes, or spacing between paragraphs, then it doesn't seem to be respecting those, either. I've tried pasting formatted text into the editor, as well as making changes directly in the editor and neither appear to work.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#6
drewsky5 wrote:However, if the basic formatting you refer to is things like bold, italics, font sizes, or spacing between paragraphs, then it doesn't seem to be respecting those, either. I've tried pasting formatted text into the editor, as well as making changes directly in the editor and neither appear to work.
I used notepad to create a message with some bold text. When I pasted the message into Send a Message, all of the bold highlighting was gone.

In Send a Message, I bolded the text again and sent the message. The message I received back had the bold sentences in it, just as I had prepared it in Send a Message. I have not checked with others to see if the bold formatting showed up in their messaging programs.
zaneclark
Senior Member
#7
I use Notes on my Mac to create my newsletter, and I also found that some formatting, including bold text, will not appear in Send a Message, so after I paste it, I use the formatting there to finish the newsletter before I send it out. Seems to work pretty good, including bold, color text, etc.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#8
lajackson wrote:The message I received back had the bold sentences in it, just as I had prepared it in Send a Message.
I had a different experience this morning. With Send a Message displaying exactly the way I wanted to see the email appear, I sent the message. It included some bolding and double spacing between paragraphs, and a few indented bullet points, no other formatting at all.

The message delivered was one continuous blur of words, zero bold, no spaces between paragraphs or sentences. It was the lesson for our elders quorum today. I doubt that anyone will read it and I look like an idiot. The quorum instructor will think I have gone rogue. This is so disappointing, that Send a Message would not even deliver what it was showing when I pressed the button.

Here is the four-letter word of the day: sigh.
drepouille
Senior Member
#9
Perhaps a PDF attachment is the way to go?
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
lajackson
Community Moderators
#10
drepouille wrote:Perhaps a PDF attachment is the way to go?
Too complicated for most of the quorum. Many can barely open the email and fewer are able to download an attachment.

Some bolding of titles. A blank line between paragraphs. That is all I ask. And I had thought those little buttons above the text box at Send a Message would have provided that. What is disappointing is that, apparently, what you see is not what you get, even in the simple things at SaM.

There was one small difference in the way this morning's email was prepared for sending that seems to have made a terrible difference in the delivered result. I am looking into whether or not that was the cause. If my theory is correct, then what you see in the text box does not correctly represent what is stored for sending on the actual page at the site. I will know after I send the next few emails.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#11
I am having a particular challenge with line spacing in the Send a Message page at LCR.

On a blank slate, every Enter, which used to be a Carriage Return/Line Feed back in the days when I was ringing the bell on my Underwood typewriter, adds a double line space. Is there any way to enter a single line space? I need this in particular when I enter my name and calling at the end of the message. I want them on two single-spaced lines, not Name, double space, Calling du Jour.

My workaround is to copy and paste text from a text program. When I do that, everything is single-spaced when it arrives at LCR SaM and will stay that way as long as I do not do anything to it afterward in LCR. But as it stands, I cannot properly type a message at LCR SaM until I learn how to single space.

I am not to the point of calling the Global Services Department because I do not need another nickel in my retirement fund. (If you understand that reference, you have been around for a long, long time.)

I am not set enough in my ways to be oblivious to suggestions that work. Bring them on, please.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#12
lajackson wrote:On a blank slate, every Enter, which used to be a Carriage Return/Line Feed back in the days when I was ringing the bell on my Underwood typewriter, adds a double line space. Is there any way to enter a single line space?
Sounds like a bug to me.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
eblood66
Senior Member
#13
Have you tried Shift-Enter? In some editors Enter creates a new paragraph but Shift-Enter just inserts a simple line break. I don't have access myself anymore so I can't check.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#14
lajackson wrote:Is there any way to enter a single line space?
An 'Enter' (hard return) is treated as an end of paragraph (new line + extra pace formatting). Use a soft return (wrap line key stroke) 'Shift + Enter' to avoid the extra line space formatting.
lajackson wrote:My workaround is to copy and paste text from a text program. When I do that, everything is single-spaced when it arrives at LCR SaM and will stay that way as long as I do not do anything to it afterward in LCR.
That works because text editors do not have all the special formatting as found in word processors. There is no hard return or soft return in text editors. An 'Enter' is a line feed with no paragraph formatting such as extra spaces between lines. To get an extra space between lines in a text editor another blank line has to be added.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
lajackson
Community Moderators
#15
jdlessley wrote:An 'Enter' (hard return) is treated as an end of paragraph (new line + extra pace formatting). Use a soft return (wrap line key stroke) 'Shift + Enter' to avoid the extra line space formatting.
eblood66 wrote:Have you tried Shift-Enter? In some editors Enter creates a new paragraph but Shift-Enter just inserts a simple line break.
Thank you and thank you. Working with everything as a paragraph by default is a new experience for me.

So for my next lesson, working with existing text in Send a Message:

Sometimes I add a return (Enter) to break a paragraph into two at the end of a sentence. It appears to do so in SaM, but when the message is sent, the two "paragraphs" are run together with no spaces.

So what clues do I have to tell me where the divisions are between the various paragraphs in Send a Message.

If this formatting information is all available somewhere online, I will be glad to go there and learn. Just point me there. But as I said, this death by paragraph is a new thing for me. I am an old 0D/0A CR/LF guy from back in the day where the "Enter" key sometimes gave you both.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#16
lajackson wrote:Sometimes I add a return (Enter) to break a paragraph into two at the end of a sentence. It appears to do so in SaM, but when the message is sent, the two "paragraphs" are run together with no spaces.
I tested this in SaM and ended up with the same results. I found that when reviewing the SaM message body code that a paragraph has this code using two formatting tags:

Code: 

<p>The first sentence. The second sentence.<br data-mce-bogus="1"></p>
Where "The first sentence. The second sentence." is the text typed into the message box for a single paragraph.

When the original paragraph of two sentences are split into two single sentence paragraphs by hitting "Enter" after the first sentence then the break tag, <br>, is missing that splits the two new paragraphs and the code looks like this:

Code: 

<p>The first sentence.</p><p> The second sentence.<br data-mce-bogus="1"></p>
So when the message is received the two one sentence paragraphs are one paragraph again.
lajackson wrote:So what clues do I have to tell me where the divisions are between the various paragraphs in Send a Message.
Unless you review the code I have no other idea.

I did check the code for a message created in a text editor like Notepad and then copied into SaM and noticed that SaM only had the opening paragraph tag, <p>, at the beginning of the message body and the end paragraph tags, <br data-mce-bogus="1"></p>, at the end of the message body. There was no other paragraph tags in the message body between paragraphs. There was only the simple break tag, <br>, without the code block "data-mce-bogus="1"".

By the way, <p></p> are browser HTML tags that define a paragraph. Browsers automatically add some space (margin) before and after each <p> element. The size of these margins can be modified with the margin properties in cascading style sheets (CSS).

There may be some issues in viewing SaM messages created with only text. I don't know whether it happens when the message is sent by SaM or at the recipient's message client. If the client defaults to text only then SaM paragraph formatting is possibly lost and the HTML paragraph tag space is lost. But if the client defaults to HTML then the space coded by HTML tags are present.

On the other hand there is the issue I see. My email client is MS Outlook and I have the default view to be HTML. When I get SaM messages there appears there are extra spaces (margins) added between paragraphs. The margins could also be just larger. I have not looked at the code for these messages but the way Outlook displays the message tells me there are some HTML formatting issues for paragraphs.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
lajackson
Community Moderators
#17
jdlessley wrote:When the original paragraph of two sentences are split into two single sentence paragraphs by hitting "Enter" after the first sentence then the break tag, <br>, is missing that splits the two new paragraphs and the code looks like this:

Code: 

<p>The first sentence.</p><p> The second sentence.<br data-mce-bogus="1"></p>
So when the message is received the two one sentence paragraphs are one paragraph again.
This is fascinating. I just tried to duplicate it and the paragraphs were separated just fine in the resulting email. I will have to try it again and look at the code before I send the message.

I am sending the messages to my Gmail account. I suppose it is also possible that something there is toying with me. I fully expected the separated sentence to be rejoined when it hit my inbox.
jonesrk
Church Employee
#18
I have found for SaM that I can copy safely from a formatted rtf (Rich Text File) file and have that formatting survive through the sending.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#19
jonesrk wrote:I have found for SaM that I can copy safely from a formatted rtf (Rich Text File) file and have that formatting survive through the sending.
I had not thought of that. Thank you very much.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#20
lajackson wrote:
jonesrk wrote:I have found for SaM that I can copy safely from a formatted rtf (Rich Text File) file and have that formatting survive through the sending.
I had not thought of that. Thank you very much.
Well, I tried it. The formatting from the rtf file came over and displayed properly in the SaM message box. I sent the message. None of the bold or underlining showed up. Every paragraph was in a different font and size. Most of the double spacing between paragraphs had reverted to single spacing. At least the paragraphs started on new lines and were not run on from the end of the preceding paragraph.

So, I investigate some more.

It was such a hopeful suggestion.

I have been able to reproduce the loss of bold and underlining repeatedly, along with a workaround that sticks and gets sent with the email, so I sent that information through the Feedback link at the bottom of the SaM page.

Basically, if you highlight the text that appears to be bold or underlined and click on the appropriate button (B) or (U) twice, it will appear that the formatting (which is not really there) is removed and then reapplied. This consistently works and the sent email is formatted as desired.
gwillden
New Member
#21
scgallafent wrote:The point was never to have a full-featured rich formatter. When we implemented the formatting in the editor, we made a specific, conscious decision to support some basic formatting but not to try to implement a full-featured editor.
The problem is that the formatting options that the UI provides are not all supported in the email that is generated. For example I tried creating a table with some contents. I set the border color. The border does not show up in the email. That really limits the usefulness of tables in formatting the messages.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#22
gwillden wrote:The problem is that the formatting options that the UI provides are not all supported in the email that is generated.
"Basic formatting" means bold, italics, and underline. You can also set a bullitized list. Anything else, including tables, is not simple formatting. It may be stone age stuff, but it is what it is.
kd7mha
Member
#23
lajackson wrote:
gwillden wrote:The problem is that the formatting options that the UI provides are not all supported in the email that is generated.
"Basic formatting" means bold, italics, and underline. You can also set a bullitized list. Anything else, including tables, is not simple formatting. It may be stone age stuff, but it is what it is.
while I would agree, the fact remains that there are table formatting options in the send a message application but that formatting is not sent in the message
the received message has a table but there is no formatting
sent table.jpg
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received table.jpg
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There are 11 types of people. Those who understand Gray Code and those that don't.
gwillden
New Member
#24
kd7mha wrote:
lajackson wrote:
gwillden wrote:The problem is that the formatting options that the UI provides are not all supported in the email that is generated.
"Basic formatting" means bold, italics, and underline. You can also set a bullitized list. Anything else, including tables, is not simple formatting. It may be stone age stuff, but it is what it is.
while I would agree, the fact remains that there are table formatting options in the send a message application but that formatting is not sent in the message
the received message has a table but there is no formatting
Yes. This exactly. The UI allows you to create a table. I'm not talking about copy-pasting a table in. The UI allows you to create a table and set various properties including border color, background color, etc. Those options are not included in the generated email. If the options are not actually supported, then they should be removed from the UI since it gives false hope and leads to even more frustration when a new person spends time trying to format a message to only have it come out very poorly.

Tables are very very helpful. It wouldn't take much to fix the problem. If the backend would simply drop in a <style> tag with the table properties, it would work much better for users.
Hilohi
Member
#25
Any chance the formatting can be fixed so that the line breaks in the email that is sent to the members actually appear as how the email was drafted?
drepouille
Senior Member
#26
I wonder if the Send a Message app should be changed to send text messages to cell phones, rather than sending email messages. Text messages are usually short, simple, and unformatted.
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
kristianjohnson
New Member
#27
With greater emphasis from the Brethren on keeping announcements in sacrament meeting to a minimum (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/stu ... d?lang=eng), combined with no printed programs in limited capacity in-person meetings and the present & ongoing use of virtual meetings, many wards' dependence on email communication has greatly increased. It is time for Send A Message to have a full-fledged modern rich text editor that actually works. Send A Message is such a useful tool to ensure that all members receive intended emails, eliminating the burden of managing separate email lists. However, given the greater complexity of information that needs to be sent over email (tables of virtual meeting times and links, etc.), simple text editing is no longer sufficient (if it ever was). Please, please, make Send A Message a full WYSIWYG editor that can better accept the formatting pasted from other common rich text editors. It is very frustrating to work hard on getting effective email communication out to a ward, only to find that what was actually received by members looks nothing like what was intended/sent.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#28
kristianjohnson wrote:It is time for Send A Message to have a full-fledged modern rich text editor that actually works.
Many have requested this, but it does not seem to have a very high priority (if any) from those who give the programmers their instructions. Simple seems to be the mode of the day.

There are two ways to add your voice so the decision makers will know of your desires. One is by way of the Feedback link at the bottom of the web page. The other is through your bishop and stake president to the Area Seventy. Either way, the programmers receive direction from those above them and follow the instructions they are given. They rarely frequent this user-to-user forum.

I agree with much of what you say. However, I am amused because I grew up in the day of the manual typewriter. I often ponder how we were able to so effectively communicate without all of the bells and whistles that are considered by many to be so required today.
jonesrk
Church Employee
#29
kristianjohnson wrote:It is time for Send A Message to have a full-fledged modern rich text editor that actually works.
One other option is to build the program (or any other formatted document) as a pdf and just attach it via Send A Message. That is what my ward is currently doing for the sacrament meeting program
Hilohi
Member
#30
jonesrk wrote:
kristianjohnson wrote:It is time for Send A Message to have a full-fledged modern rich text editor that actually works.
One other option is to build the program (or any other formatted document) as a pdf and just attach it via Send A Message. That is what my ward is currently doing for the sacrament meeting program
I know it's one quick and simple step to open an attachment, but sometimes that one extra step is the difference between a person reading a message and not reading it.
zollinger
New Member
#31
I have had some success with formatting (bold, underline, text color, hyperlink, and limited tables) by cutting and pasting from the online version of MS Word (using onedrive.live.com). I have tried the same method using google docs (docs.google.com). I find that cutting from the online version of the word processor works to keep the formatting. I typically prepare the weekly ward newsletter/program in Word, then open the online version of word, cut and past into "Send a Message" and the formatting generally holds and comes through fine after being scrubbed by SaM. I have been able to use tables for the Sunday program information with 2 columns listing the agenda item on the left and name/hymn on the right. The table separates the text in columns but does not include borders or shading. I used a table to list Sunday school class information and zoom links for each class with student and teacher names with the online class link (one cell per class). That formatting came out with nice spacing (I added an extra space in each cell so the text from one class did not run into another because the SaM does not space). Again, the table did not have borders or shading. I submitted feedback on the SaM page recommending a more robust editor. We've tried attachments too, but as other have mentioned, those do not seem to be as effective as the text in the body of the email.
jedci
New Member
#32
'back in the day' the SaM allowed for html tags to be included - and it honored font, weight/color, table formatting, etc. The move to the inline UI for formatting simplified basic formatting. But....

After many tries and various sending to myself using the table feature of the UI editor, I came here to see if there was something I was missing. Apparently not... thanks for validating my frustration/inability to send a decently formatted table.

As has been stated, tables are very useful to arrange information, but if the formatting options provided by the UI don't work then stop giving false hope and just remove the table format from the editor. Or fix it :)

(Yes, i submitted feedback on the site)
lajackson
Community Moderators
#33
jedci wrote:I came here to see if there was something I was missing. Apparently not... thanks for validating my frustration/inability to send a decently formatted table.
I can repeatedly prepare messages the same way and have them send differently each time.
thattoe
New Member
#34
I haven't found any rhyme or reason with what formatting is accepted and what isn't. I compose my emails in a gmail compose box. I am looking for nothing more than consistency with bold, italics, underline. It would be a dream to have text that is different sizes or fonts, but I know I'm asking a lot there.

Riddle me this:
When I send out an email, I'll include a spiritual quote. I will copy the quote, state the individual who said it, and hyperlink to the talk. There was one that had some words italicized and bolded, but not all. I tried to clear the formatting it had and make it conducive to my email. In the "send a message" portion, after the email had been put together, I cleared the formatting, kept the hyperlink, and italicized the quote (since I can't seem to change the font size or style, all i wanted was some visual discrepancy between the quote and the rest of the email).
I sent the email, and when I saw it, it had the original formatting for the bold and italicized words, as well as a different font! Copying the quote gave me zero control over the end result in the email. I even cleared the formatting... HOW? just how?
Hilohi
Member
#35
Hard to believe this is still an issue. With as much communication that takes place via email, you'd think this issue would have been addressed by now. Yet on the other hand, the interface on the Church's website has changed a couple of times within the last few months (making the website a little confusing to use initially). In my opinion, this messaging formatting issue should be addressed before making any seemingly unnecessary aesthetic changes to the Church's website. I've provided my feedback multiple times on this messaging format issue via the Church's website. If there's any other channel through which I should provide my feedback on this issue, please let me know.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#36
Hilohi wrote: I've provided my feedback multiple times on this messaging format issue via the Church's website. If there's any other channel through which I should provide my feedback on this issue, please let me know.
Should? No. The only other alternative would be to ask your bishop or stake president to take your request to the area coordinating council and let the Area Seventy take it up the line through his priesthood leader.
jakob.jarvis
New Member
#37
scgallafent wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:19 am
drewsky5 wrote:I just sent an email to all the members of the ward and just about all the special formatting was removed from the actual send. What's the point of having rich formatting for composing a message if it doesn't get used when sent?
The point was never to have a full-featured rich formatter. When we implemented the formatting in the editor, we made a specific, conscious decision to support some basic formatting but not to try to implement a full-featured editor.

All we’re asking for is that the production copy of the email that actually gets delivered, retains the basic formatting that we included when writing the email (e.g. line spacing between paragraphs, spaces after periods, bold, italic, etc.

We are not asking for a full suite of robust content creation tools.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#38
jakob.jarvis wrote: All we’re asking for is that the production copy of the email that actually gets delivered, retains the basic formatting that we included when writing the email (e.g. line spacing between paragraphs, spaces after periods, bold, italic, etc.
But it cannot, unfortunately.

I write my messages in a plain text file and then copy and paste them into Send a Message. You are right. If I then make any changes to the spacing the message is kluged. So I never add even so much as an extra carriage return in SaM. If I proof it at the end and see the need for a change, I make the change in the original text file and paste it in again.

The only thing I do in SaM is highlight text and select the bold, italics, or underline commands.

SaM does not know how to handle line returns and spacing, or much of anything else for that matter, that is entered directly into the message space. I realize that this comes from the sad fact that there are a dozen different forms of line feed carriage return commands, and that every computer, laptop, browser, ISP, website, and application have a different definition of what to do when you hit the return button.

We make our simple world so complicated.
LEDS
New Member
#39
I'm having the same issue here. No matter what I do, all of the whitespace disappears, making the end result very hard on the eyes. I really wish they'd find a way to update this, as a lot of people are having this issue.
dolenslager
New Member
#40
I've successfully sent formatted emails by using another email editor and pasting the formatted text directly into our editor. Here's the editor I used: https://products.aspose.app/email/editor
kristik2
New Member
#41
dolenslager wrote: Tue Jan 03, 2023 5:43 pm I've successfully sent formatted emails by using another email editor and pasting the formatted text directly into our editor. Here's the editor I used: https://products.aspose.app/email/editor
I tried this and it did not work for me, I'm on chrome using a microscoft desktop.
davesudweeks
Senior Member
#42
kristik2 wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:38 pm
dolenslager wrote: Tue Jan 03, 2023 5:43 pm I've successfully sent formatted emails by using another email editor and pasting the formatted text directly into our editor. Here's the editor I used: https://products.aspose.app/email/editor
I tried this and it did not work for me, I'm on chrome using a microscoft desktop.
The send a message tool clearly states that pasted text may lose it's formatting. If it retains it, count yourself lucky...
garystroble
Senior Member
#43
davesudweeks wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:37 pm
kristik2 wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:38 pm
dolenslager wrote: Tue Jan 03, 2023 5:43 pm I've successfully sent formatted emails by using another email editor and pasting the formatted text directly into our editor. Here's the editor I used: https://products.aspose.app/email/editor
I tried this and it did not work for me, I'm on chrome using a microscoft desktop.
The send a message tool clearly states that pasted text may lose it's formatting. If it retains it, count yourself lucky...
In some browsers one can right click and paste without formatting. I have been able to successfully do that with the Church email system.
revincent
New Member
#44
lajackson wrote: Thu Apr 16, 2020 7:09 pm Is there any way to enter a single line space? I need this in particular when I enter my name and calling at the end of the message. I want them on two single-spaced lines, not Name, double space, Calling du Jour.
[font]Try holding down the <SHIFT> key while pressing the <ENTER> key. That usually works in other simple text editors such as social media and other net based systems. [/font]
Summervw
New Member
#45
I have tried starting from scratch using the formatting tools in the messaging, it does NOT apply anything to the message when it sends. I've also tried copying and pasting. Nothing works. Who is supposed to be fixing this? It's absolutely broken and unusable. Communication is important, and we can't do it properly.
Summervw
New Member
#46
This helped me today-- No idea how! I literally just copied and pasted what I'd written in the church message box into this editor and then copied and pasted it back into the church's. Before, I'd send it to myself and the formatting was different every time.. once I copied and pasted in this editor it kept the formatting. SO weird... makes no sense to me how it worked. Thank you! ;D
brent.taft
New Member
#47
dolenslager wrote: Tue Jan 03, 2023 5:43 pm I've successfully sent formatted emails by using another email editor and pasting the formatted text directly into our editor. Here's the editor I used: https://products.aspose.app/email/editor
This worked better for me than anything else has before. It still didn't leave paragraph breaks.
I tried again but this time also used the SHIFT+ENTER trick shared here to add an additional line break between each item. It actually worked!
revincent wrote: Sun Apr 09, 2023 6:46 pm [font]Try holding down the <SHIFT> key while pressing the <ENTER> key. That usually works in other simple text editors such as social media and other net based systems. [/font]
It is still more work than what I think it should be, but at least I wont look so "uneducated" when I send out my messages.

Thanks!
dkm747
New Member
#48
What would it take for the church to invest in a better messaging system? All I want is a system that sends an email out exactly as it appears in the preview screen.
davesudweeks
Senior Member
#49
dkm747 wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:56 am What would it take for the church to invest in a better messaging system? All I want is a system that sends an email out exactly as it appears in the preview screen.
Short answer is it would take the sponsoring organization to push the change to the developers. The 2 official ways to get these kinds of requests in front of the sponsoring organizations are to:
1. Provide feedback from the Send a Message page.
2. Convince your Stake President that it is enough of an issue to bring up in the Area Coordinating Council (that he is a member of).

Nothing we say here on this user-to-user mutual help forum will likely have much effect unless someone else has found a work around they can share. Keep in mind that the developers have callings like the rest of us so I'm sure they are well aware of the current limitations of the system (since they have to live with it just as we do).

Apparently, all feedback is read and considered though we usually don't receive a personalized reply. We are not privy to the decision process on how the church determines which feedback is important enough to expend limited resources on it. It is possible that what you want is already on the horizon, but the church typically does not reveal their plans with respect to technological development of the church tools.
davesudweeks
Senior Member
#50
I think it may also be useful to remember that the church has a worldwide presence and may have to manage tools in a way that work globally. What works in a country with good internet access and tons of bandwidth may completely break down in countries that have poor internet access and tiny amounts of bandwidth. I have no special knowledge of this, but it makes logical sense to me to explain a bare-bones system for basic communication without lots of bling. The church used to have a newsletter tool but that was retired some years ago (due to lack of use as I understand).
bbsquare
New Member
#51
@[lajackson, drepouille, zaneclark, drewsky5, scgallafent, cntaylor]

So, what is the bottom line?

Do we write our message in our favorite Word Processor, copy it into the message format, and then add our modifications (bold, italics, font sizes, or spacing between paragraphs [double spacing between paragraphs], indented bullet points, etc.) to it, or do we need to use pdf?

I cannot seem to find the resolution/solution.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#52
bbsquare wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2024 9:34 am I cannot seem to find the resolution/solution.
My solution is to write the message in a text file, copy and paste it into Send a Message, and then format it there.
zaneclark
Senior Member
#53
I use a text file like lajackson and use Send a Message to format. The formatting tools have improved over time but still needs some improvements. For one thing, it would be nice to be able to imbed photos in the body instead of adding them as attachments.
Durelle
New Member
#54
It continues to be a problem.
I type the text in the church's system email.
Often the return spaces between paragraphs or a sentence is removed and everything listed becomes one run-on paragraph.
I do all formatting in the church's system and it still removes some of it's own formatting.
This does not make sense. Features in an app should not be offered if the app is going to strip those codes when it sends the email out.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#55
Durelle wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 9:50 am It continues to be a problem.
Make sure to report the issue by using the send feedback link at the bottom of the Send a Message page or most any other Church web page.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
caillines
Member
#56
Durelle wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 9:50 am Often the return spaces between paragraphs or a sentence is removed and everything listed becomes one run-on paragraph.
I only use ctrl+enter for my line breaks now when sending a message. I don't trust the text box to accurately reflect what will be sent.
kirtchristensen
New Member
#57
My solution is not elegant, but it works :)

...I copy and paste in the text I want to send, from wherever it was created.

I remove all the paragraphs/line breaks on each paragraph.

I insert 2 hard returns on each one, by using "Shift + Enter".

I remind other ward members of this trick, if they need it, avoids the cluttered messy looking emails that result if you don't do this...