Formatting Private Messages

AlanS

As most of you know, there is no "Preview" mode in private messages. You only see what the message looks like after it has been sent. And, of course, there is no way to edit a message once it has been sent. So you type your message, hope that it looks OK and says what you want, then hit "Post Message," only to find out later, you messed up, inserted the wrong or a rotated photo, etc. Arrrgggghhhh!

Well, I just discovered there is a solution that doesn't take much extra time or effort. This is not for everyone, but if you are a tad OCD and want to make your Private Messages better, here is what you can do:

Instead of starting a "new message," instead, compose your message as a "New Discussion" (a regular forum post)- type and format the text, insert, photos, etc. Then do a "preview" and fix errors, but DO NOT hit "Post Discussion."

If everything looks good, go back into the edit mode, copy everything including the photo codes, and paste it all into a "New Message." Then hit "Post Message." Go back into the discussion, if it is still there, cancel it. If the software has already automatically saved a draft you can select "My Drafts" and delete the draft (or any draft) by clicking on the tiny "x" at the far right.

BKMD

Or just do text in PMs

kfnknfzk

Or just proofread. What a concept!

JohnS

One can also send a PM to yourself. As a borderline member of the OCD club I like to color any links in my posts Blue since blue is best practices for hyperlinks.

I also may on occasion sneak a Tooltip into a post.

Sending a PM to myself I can check all this before sending the PM. One can easily delete a forum post however.

BKMD

JohnS - you know you're in trouble when you get an answer to a PM to yourself!

AlanS

kfnknfzk
5:42PM
Or just proofread. What a concept!

Oh, snark!

Do you want to explain to the group how proofreading will help determine whether a photo, which only appears as a text string, will be upright or rotated, or if it is even the correct photo, or whether special formatting is correct??

MikeHenderson

@AlanS @JohnS How do you color text? I see that both of you did, but I don't see any options to color text. I don't think Markdown supports color.

AlanS

MikeHenderson
9:37PM
@AlanS @JohnS How do you color text? I see that both of you did, but I don't see any options to color text. I don't think Markdown supports color.

Markdown does in fact support color and a few other html codes. What it doesn't support is underline! I will PM you a short Markdown formatting cheat sheet I made and use.

MarketArt

While we are discussing Forum writing, is there a way to stay logged in? I find myself having to log in several times each day. The preview bold font btw is quite helpful for proofreading; speaking of which I never did figure out what 2 melas meant in a long-ago post lol.

AlanS

Unless Tauck IT does a reload, etc. I always stay logged in, but that may be a function of the software- Win10 on my laptop and IOS on my iPad. There is probably a security setting you need to change- I can't help with that.

MarketArt

I'm on an iPad and it seems that something new goes haywire after every IOS update. Rick Steves has a box, stay logged in for 2 weeks I think it is. I'll check security settings, thx!

kfnknfzk

I am not familiar with such vernacular as "snark" and will assume it is meant to be derogatory. As such, I will not respond Moreover, not everyone requires a word processing 0001 lesson. That's great that there seems to be some interest herein. How it relates to Tauck travel escapes me, however.

Why is it acceptable for some to show humor but not others? That is a rhetorical question. I will not entertain any additional comments.

British

Marketart, I think you nailed it for me. I have two iPads and a phone. They all had IOS updates at the weekend. The phone, I have rarely logged into Tauck with it. My small iPad and our computer logged out of Tauck. They won’t let us in with our password. The iPad I use in my bedroom, easier to read at night, did stay logged in. I daren’t try changing my password incase I get logged out here too and can’t get into our Tauck account. These things always seem to happen at the weekend, I thought it was a Tauck problem but now I am not so sure.
I am also so surprised that Tauck is continuing to have long wait times for phone assistance, it’s not good for their reputation at all.
There are many things that are related to travel, things like recipes, book recommendations, photography. Not always obviously connected. And some of us are grateful for help with the workings of how to incorporate things on the forum. If it is not of interest to some forum members, they can ignore them.

MikeHenderson

@AlanS. Got the cheat sheet. Thanks!.

AlanS

MikeHenderson
11:19PM edited 11:23PM
@AlanS. Got the cheat sheet. Thanks!

It is not easy but it works. FYI, instead of typing the formatting, I just copy from my cheat sheet and paste.

JohnS

AlanS
Markdown does in fact support color and a few other html codes. What it doesn't support is underline

Alan, you can underline with the proper markdown syntax. As a retired computer geek I tend to look under the hood of all this stuff.

AlanS

Ooh, ooh, please send me the code. underline Never mind. I found several ways that were awkward but just now tried 'u' surrounded by the lesser than/greater than symbols (angle brackets) and it worked- so simple. D'Oh! Thanks!

And by nesting, you can create a full-up blue underlined hyperlink. Of course it doesn't change color after it has been followed and it is easier just to make it blue:

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