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Submission details

28 +29/-1 votes

[Windows Live Mail] Let users turn off emoticon substitution!

Submitted by pmbAustin on March 7, 2009 to Aesthetics, Annoyance, Usability

Currently, when typing in the body of an email, if you type ":-)", it's instantly converted into a graphic smilie face. There is no way to turn this off.

This is very annoying. I hate peppering my email text with distracting graphics like that, but I like the ability to continue to use basic emotions.

Additionally, the way to "undo" the transformation is to hit Ctrl-Z. This is inconsistent with other Microsoft products like Outlook and Word. Hitting backspace immediately after the substitution should also "undo" the transformation, just as in Outlook and Word.

1) Provide a configuration option to enable/disable the auto-substitution of graphic emoticons for text ones

2) Allow such auto-substitutions to be 'undone' with backspace, as well as Ctrl-Z, just like Outlook and Word.

High

High

Not fixed

Discussion (8 comments)

Ensign Joe wrote on March 7, 2009, 2:17am

Oh yes! They should do it the ICQ way, if you Type ":-)" it should convert to a smiley, but then if you hit backspace if reverts back to ":-)" which you then can edit manually (e.g. to ":-") or leave it as is. +1!!

pmbAustin wrote on January 4, 2010, 7:23am

This is consistently my single biggest (DAILY!) annoyance with Windows Live Mail. Nine months in, and I still hate this, even though I've trained myself to hit Ctrl-Z. I really want to turn it off completely, but if it IS on, backspace should 'undo' it.

traviswashburn wrote on February 10, 2010, 4:53pm

Hear, hear. This is horrible UI design. No wonder people hate Microsoft.

The truth is, I prefer Windows Live Mail over Outlook just because it is to simple and clean. UI is king (that's why Mac has so many loyal followers).

This emoticons issue is huge. Please fix it. It's like torturing your users. Ack. I feel sick now. :-(

.Chris wrote on February 10, 2010, 5:09pm

People don't "hate" microsoft. Just like people don't "hate" apple. Take your "trolling" (what the British call it) elsewhere

mac? I thought it was apple? Apple makes the mac. Mac doesnt make it self.

nyp wrote on September 9, 2010, 10:55am

Good news! In Wave 4, you can press Backspace to revert the emoticon into plain text!

fiberray1 wrote on October 25, 2010, 10:37pm

Please fix this problem I get these emotioncon's with every keystroke this is insane!

Laura wrote on October 28, 2010, 6:29pm

Yeah, I hate the emoticons but sometimes have/want to use those character combinations. Please add an option to suppress the substitution.

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