Hyperlinks within email body work in browser but not Gmail mobile app

Question

I've got a program that generates email reports and sends to certain recipients. The email contains a table of contents with hyperlinks to bookmarks later in the email.

This works perfectly when viewing mails in the browser, e.g. on gmail.com. However, recently something seems to have changed in the Gmail mobile app, and my hyperlinks no longer work there.

When generating the email, the link is of the form:

<a href="section_1">Section 1</a>

and the bookmark is of the form:

<a name="section_1"/>    

In the browser, the link URL appears in the form:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#m_3653008429050877336_1

In the Gmail app, however, the link appears in the form:

x-thread://-90370221/435827759917983#m_3653008429050877336_1

Any ideas what has changed, and how to make my intra-document hyperlinks work again?

Magruder

Answer 1

Orignal Answer

This functionality is not available in gmail app. Here is the link to google forum where you can confirm:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/CdhA_3Z1yTo

You can insert link in the gmail app (like http://www.google.com) in Gmail app which is automatically converted to clickable link when you send the message but if you want hyperlink (like "click here" and when you click on it you are directed to the link to the page) you will have to do it from your browser only. There is no option available in Gmail app to do that.

The alternate solution is to use Microsoft Outlook. Add your google account in Outlook app.

In the compose section long press in the area then you get option to add hyperlink.

Answer after discussion in chat

It seems that the problem is with the gmail app version. If you want to open links received in your gmail app so that you are redirected to the location of message in the same mail you need to have minimum version 8 of gmail app. Verified this as I was able to access the links in my gmail app as well as my browser.

Platforms on which veried the links:

Android 6.0.1 - Gmail Version: 8.1.7.182107449.release

Windows 10 - Chrome: Version 63.0.3239.132

Ubuntu 16.04 (xenial) - Firefox: Version 57.0.4

Stork

Arg. That's really not what I wanted to hear. Funny thing is, it used to work. Then something changed and it stopped working... – Magruder

if the question is answered, can you mark it as answered :) – Stork

I know; I'm waiting to see if anyone else can present any kind of hack/workaround :-) – Magruder

I just added an alternate fot your problem which will resolve your problem – Stork

Unfortunately I'm not in control of the clients. I've got about 10,000 subscribers getting these emails and I can't tell them what client to use. – Magruder

Oh wait, I think there's a misunderstanding here. I know how to create the hyperlinks. That's not a problem. It's the fact that the hyperlinks in the Gmail app do not work, whereas the same links in the same email do work when viewed in the browser. – Magruder

that is what i have mentioned – Stork

did you read my answer completely including the part where i mentioned you can insert a link but not hyperlink in the gmail app? – Stork

Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Magruder

Answer 2

To get around the Gmail app not having an option to insert a link into text (hyperlink) on my mobile device I use another mobile app to compose the email first. Currently, the only app I have discovered to be compatible with this trick is Google Docs. I find it works for typing, formatting, inserting images and creating hyperlinks.

To upload from Google Docs into Gmail I am presently only aware of the ability to highlight the planned body of the email in Google Docs then pasting it into Gmail.

Using Google Docs I am aware of the ability to carry over changes to some features of the hypertext. Such as colour, boldness, italics, size, underline. There are possibly more customizable options available before inserting what you have composed into Gmail.

I am unaware of any tricks to create a usable hyperlink of images for use in the Gmail app.

Such a feature outside the “Signature” on Gmail desktop could prove most beneficial.

Knickknack

This is legendary. I work for Google and had no idea this was a thing, thanks! I've discovered the text styling doesn't always line up between the two editors, but using the "remove formatting" button in Gmail keeps the link & strips it back to plain style. – Youngs

Answer 3

I had the same issue. I was adding hyperlinks as following

<a href="//mywebsite.com">Click Here</a>

I did it to handle the possibility of https not available on the website as links are dynamic in the email. When I changed it to following then it worked on gmail app as well.

<a href="https://mywebsite.com">Click Here</a>

Taritariff

Answer 4

You can’t do it in the gmail mobile app. Sorry. Also, it matters what version you have.

Possing

Answer 5

I found a link on these forums with a fix. Essentially they said that if you put a span inside the link, it will fix the problem. I've not yet had a chance to test it however. According to the post:

This won't work:

<a href="#foo">Bar</a>

But either of the following will:

<a href="#foo"><span>Bar</span></a>
<a href="#foo"><font>Bar</font></a>

Liston

Looks interesting, will give it a try! Meanwhile please can you include a link to the original post you're referring to? – Magruder

Alas, no joy. I added the span tags but the hyperlinks still don't work – Magruder

tried both span and font tags, but anchors still doesn't work on gmail mobile app – Deter

Answer 6

It does not create a clickable URL.

Muldrow

This is all that was left when I deleted everything that clearly is not an answer. You however still need to add some explaining to make more obvious how you mean this to be an answer according to How to Answer. Note that anything which basically iw "me too", or "thanks" or a rant is never an acceptable answer, no matter how you phrase it. In those case you want to delete this post, for which you need to first register - or flag your own post to have a moderator do the deleting for you. – Stereotomy

If you edit make sure that your post afterwards contributes anything valuable beyond existing answers, especially https://mcmap.net/q/947473/-hyperlinks-within-email-body-work-in-browser-but-not-gmail-mobile-app – Stereotomy

Please make sure that your post afterwards contributes anything valuable beyond existing answers, especially https://mcmap.net/q/947473/-hyperlinks-within-email-body-work-in-browser-but-not-gmail-mobile-app – Bruch