Mail Messages Now Have Linkable, Clickable URLs in iOS 7

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I’d noticed that calendar events created from the iOS 7 Mail app now contain a clickable URL that links back to the original e-mail message, but what I didn’t know is just how rad this is. Federico “another espresso please” Viticci over at Mac Stories knows exactly how rad it is, though, because he dug in and found out that it’s not only system-wide for iOS 7, but hooks into something similar that the Mac has done for years.

The mechanics are straightforward. Each and every message processed by either OS X or iOS 7 Mail has a unique ID, and a link to the message can be generated from that ID. As long as the message can still be accessed (i.e.. You haven’t deleted it) then that link will work, even if you have buried the mail in some crazy folder structure.

Now iOS can do the same trick, as long as that message has been previously downloaded. This means that you can drag a Mail message into Evernote on your Mac and, when you click the message:// URL in Evernote on the iPad, the message will open in mail.

Now you see why I used the word “rad” twice in the first paragraph.

Generating the URLs is a little trickier, which is where Viticci nerded out and got dirty with some Applescript. Currently it’s all but impossible to generate the URLs in iOS 7 (other than creating a calendar event from a suitable mail), but I’m sure some genius will figure it out soon enough. For now, though, I’m happy enough just to have a way to remember why I arranged a meeting with somebody in the first place.

Source: Mac Stories

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