Pasting text sends e-mail

[forotherstuff]

I can't take it anymore, so I beg an MVP to please respond to this e-
mail. I've encountered the following problem sporadically for several
years in various versions of Outlook, but it has happened twice today
with important e-mails, to important people, and I'm mad.

Every so often, with no discernible rhyme or reason, pasting text into
a message body using the CTRL-V function will immediately send the e-
mail (without even pasting the text). No, I'm not accidentally hitting
CTRL-ENTER, and no, I'm not hitting any other keys along the way. This
is simply a matter of having an e-mail open (with an address in the
address field), hitting CTRL-V in the body to paste something from the
clipboard (a URL, some plain text, doesn't seem to matter what), and
having the e-mail zapped from my screen and get sent.

Needless to say, this results in stupid-looking e-mails for the
recipient. "Thank you for the interview opportunity. Please have a
look at my resume here:" BLANK

Google searches on both the Web and in newsgroups have turned up only
a few posts about this -- but then, searching for "outlook and ctrl-v
and send," etc., doesn't exactly make for an easy hunt, so who knows
what's out there on the topic. The few references I've found offer no
solutions, let alone explanations.

In fact, at this point I don't even care if there is a solution. I
just need to know what the explanation is. Something this frustrating
cannot remain this mysterious without making it that much more
frustrating...

Thanks very much.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

what addins are installed? do you have any tweak or keyboard remappers
installed?

 

[F.H. Muffman]

what addins are installed? do you have any tweak or keyboard remappers
installed?

In addition, what software do you have on the system that might capture key
strokes? If it was an add-in, I'd expect it to happen every time you hit
control-v, but it sounds like you might run a different piece of software
that occasionally jumps in and reads the control-v and sends a
control-enter.

Do you ever try the menu to paste, or are you always using the keyboard
shortcut?

And, if you can train yourself, just start putting something completely
un-resolvable (I used to put in xyzzyxyzzyxyzzy) into the CC line. IIRC,
pop3/imap in OL won't just try to send it, but you'll want to verify that
just to be sure.

 

[forotherstuff]

"what addins are installed? do you have any tweak or keyboard
remappers
installed? "

None, and no. I wish it were that simple. And actually, this has
happened on at least three different PCs, including my (very clean)
computer at work.

"In addition, what software do you have on the system that might
capture key strokes?"

None.

"Do you ever try the menu to paste, or are you always using the
keyboard shortcut?"

As far as I can recall, this has happened only with the CTRL-V
shortcut.

Like I say, there are other reports of this behavior floating around
out there, and most of these users are baffled just like me --
reporting that there's no errant typing, no apparent software
conflicts, that it happens only every so often, etc.

I've tried to figure out a pattern. Like crazy I've tried, down to
scribbling down every action I can recall prior to the paste/send. But
it never matches up into a discernable pattern.

I can type a bit into the body of the e-mail, go to my browser, copy
10 paragraphs, paste, and BOOM. I can type a bit, copy two words from
a Notepad file, paste, BOOM. I can have an empty draft, copy whatever,
paste, BOOM. It can be the first e-mail of the day, or the 50th. It
can be with my cheapo Office Depot keyboard at home, or my MS Comfort
Curve keyboard at work. None of it seems to matter.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

None, and no. I wish it were that simple. And actually, this has

happened on at least three different PCs, including my (very clean)
computer at work.

All computers you use? Or is this referring to the other instances you
found?

When it happens to very few people while working correctly for 100's, it is
something with the system - possibly a driver or utility installed by the
vendor - not a bug in Outlook. You say your system is very clean - what all
is installed besides office?

What computer model do you use? did any of the others who had this problem
mention their computer model?

 

[F.H. Muffman]

Like I say, there are other reports of this behavior floating around
out there, and most of these users are baffled just like me --
reporting that there's no errant typing, no apparent software
conflicts, that it happens only every so often, etc.

Like you, I had trouble seaching for this. Out of curiousity, can you point
me to the other mentions of this behaviour? I'd really like to see what
they said. It might give me a spark for something to search for.

I can type a bit into the body of the e-mail, go to my browser, copy
10 paragraphs, paste, and BOOM. I can type a bit, copy two words from
a Notepad file, paste, BOOM. I can have an empty draft, copy whatever,
paste, BOOM. It can be the first e-mail of the day, or the 50th. It
can be with my cheapo Office Depot keyboard at home, or my MS Comfort
Curve keyboard at work. None of it seems to matter.

So, just to make sure, it only seems to happen on the first control-v in the
message. IOW, whatever is causing this, while random, isn't random beyond
the unsent message window.

You say the machine is 'clean'. So, that tells me that there is *no*
software installed on the system besides Office?

 

[Benjamin Gay [MSFT]]

I must confess that this is the first time that I have heard of this issue
as well. Whilst this issue is being investigated might I suggest that you
add a rule to delay delivery of your messages by a few minutes. This way if
you do inadvertently have a message sent out you can catch it in time before
it causes you any further embarrassment.

 

[forotherstuff]

All computers you use? Or is this referring to the other instances you
found?

Yes, I meant that these were three PCs used by me. I found a handful
of links to reports by others, if not so informative; I've pasted them
into a response below.

When it happens to very few people while working correctly for 100's, it is
something with the system - possibly a driver or utility installed by the
vendor - not a bug in Outlook. You say your system is very clean - what all
is installed besides office?

What computer model do you use? did any of the others who had this problem
mention their computer model?

I'll see later today if I can find some common links between the two
guilty PCs I can currently access (home and work).

Thank you, by the way, for your responses.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks?http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007:http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

Outlook Tips:http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center:http://www.slipstick.com
Subscribe to Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)

"what addins are installed? do you have any tweak or keyboard
remappers
installed? "

None, and no. I wish it were that simple. And actually, this has
happened on at least three different PCs, including my (very clean)
computer at work.

"In addition, what software do you have on the system that might
capture key strokes?"

"Do you ever try the menu to paste, or are you always using the
keyboard shortcut?"

As far as I can recall, this has happened only with the CTRL-V
shortcut.

Like I say, there are other reports of this behavior floating around
out there, and most of these users are baffled just like me --
reporting that there's no errant typing, no apparent software
conflicts, that it happens only every so often, etc.

I've tried to figure out a pattern. Like crazy I've tried, down to
scribbling down every action I can recall prior to the paste/send. But
it never matches up into a discernable pattern.

I can type a bit into the body of the e-mail, go to my browser, copy
10 paragraphs, paste, and BOOM. I can type a bit, copy two words from
a Notepad file, paste, BOOM. I can have an empty draft, copy whatever,
paste, BOOM. It can be the first e-mail of the day, or the 50th. It
can be with my cheapo Office Depot keyboard at home, or my MS Comfort
Curve keyboard at work. None of it seems to matter.

 

[forotherstuff]

Like you, I had trouble seaching for this. Out of curiousity, can you point

me to the other mentions of this behaviour? I'd really like to see what
they said. It might give me a spark for something to search for.

Managed to scrape up a couple:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/af9bcc34c75e8879/570ad26a7db6c77a
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/470982bee0d56f29/16d7ff9f611b3a64
http://help.lockergnome.com/office/Outlook-mail-paste-Ctrl-ftopict594140.html

Found one from a woman who assumes she's just hitting bad keys (but
I'll bet it's actually this whole deal -- I kept assuming the same
thing when it first happened):
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/1c99e9c9d6b5a0da/d0aec15e0333eb31

So, just to make sure, it only seems to happen on the first control-v in the
message. IOW, whatever is causing this, while random, isn't random beyond
the unsent message window.

Yes, that's right: an unsent e-mail with an address in the address
field. And good point: As far as I can recall, it is indeed always the
first instance of CTRL-V on that unsent body. (Though not necessarily
the first CTRL-V during that session of Outlook.)

You say the machine is 'clean'. So, that tells me that there is *no*
software installed on the system besides Office?

Sorry, that was just me being a layman using a term that probably has
a technical meaning. What I meant is that the work PC is scrupulously
maintained by high-level corporate admins, and so isn't filled with
random gunk as a home PC might be.

Because of those same corporate admins, I won't be able to post
further to this thread until tonight. ;-)

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Ok... so it happens to you on different computers you use. Look for common
things between the systems- programs, hardware.... voice activation. Speech
utilities are an often overlooked cause when weird things happen. If it's
enabled and a microphone is connected in a noisy room, funny things will
happen.

All computers you use? Or is this referring to the other instances you
found?

Yes, I meant that these were three PCs used by me. I found a handful
of links to reports by others, if not so informative; I've pasted them
into a response below.

When it happens to very few people while working correctly for 100's, it
is
something with the system - possibly a driver or utility installed by the
vendor - not a bug in Outlook. You say your system is very clean - what
all
is installed besides office?

What computer model do you use? did any of the others who had this
problem
mention their computer model?

I'll see later today if I can find some common links between the two
guilty PCs I can currently access (home and work).

Thank you, by the way, for your responses.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks?http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007:http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/

Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

Outlook Tips:http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center:http://www.slipstick.com
Subscribe to Exchange Messaging Outlook newsletter:
(e-mail address removed)

"what addins are installed? do you have any tweak or keyboard
remappers
installed? "

None, and no. I wish it were that simple. And actually, this has
happened on at least three different PCs, including my (very clean)
computer at work.

"In addition, what software do you have on the system that might
capture key strokes?"

"Do you ever try the menu to paste, or are you always using the
keyboard shortcut?"

As far as I can recall, this has happened only with the CTRL-V
shortcut.

Like I say, there are other reports of this behavior floating around
out there, and most of these users are baffled just like me --
reporting that there's no errant typing, no apparent software
conflicts, that it happens only every so often, etc.

I've tried to figure out a pattern. Like crazy I've tried, down to
scribbling down every action I can recall prior to the paste/send. But
it never matches up into a discernable pattern.

I can type a bit into the body of the e-mail, go to my browser, copy
10 paragraphs, paste, and BOOM. I can type a bit, copy two words from
a Notepad file, paste, BOOM. I can have an empty draft, copy whatever,
paste, BOOM. It can be the first e-mail of the day, or the 50th. It
can be with my cheapo Office Depot keyboard at home, or my MS Comfort
Curve keyboard at work. None of it seems to matter.

Diane Poremsky [MVP] wrote:

Every so often, with no discernible rhyme or reason, pasting text
into a message body using the CTRL-V function will immediately send
the e- mail (without even pasting the text). No, I'm not
accidentally hitting CTRL-ENTER, and no, I'm not hitting any other
keys along the way. This is simply a matter of having an e-mail
open
(with an address in the address field), hitting CTRL-V in the body
to paste something from the clipboard (a URL, some plain text,
doesn't seem to matter what), and having the e-mail zapped from my
screen and get sent.

what addins are installed? do you have any tweak or keyboard
remappers
installed?

In addition, what software do you have on the system that might
capture
key
strokes? If it was an add-in, I'd expect it to happen every time you
hit
control-v, but it sounds like you might run a different piece of
software
that occasionally jumps in and reads the control-v and sends a
control-enter.

Do you ever try the menu to paste, or are you always using the
keyboard
shortcut?

And, if you can train yourself, just start putting something
completely
un-resolvable (I used to put in xyzzyxyzzyxyzzy) into the CC line.
IIRC,
pop3/imap in OL won't just try to send it, but you'll want to verify
that
just to be sure.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

Managed to scrape up a couple:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/af9bcc34c75e8879/570ad26a7db6c77a
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/470982bee0d56f29/16d7ff9f611b3a64
http://help.lockergnome.com/office/Outlook-mail-paste-Ctrl-ftopict594140.html

Something mentioned in one of these threads is niggling at my mind, so I
want to verify that you're 110% sure that the send happens when you hit
control-v and not immediately after when you hit enter (assuming you hit
enter)? The reason I ask is two fold. First, as a touch typist, I know how
quickly fingers can work even when you're not thinking about it. Secondly,
just to say that I don't think you're accidentally hitting control-enter,
ever since Win95 I've had problems with control, alt and shift 'sticking'.
It isn't sticky keys, it isn't a ratty old keyboard that I've had a few
scones over, it just seems to get, well, stuck. Usually takes a bit of
banging on the key (occasionally enough to turn sticky keys on) to get it
unstuck. I've never tracked that one down, but I've seen it quite a few
times with coworkers as well. I usually have to hit them a few times as
well to get them out of m office. Ok, no, I meant the keyboard thing, but,
anyways. That sticky key problem, along with hitting enter, *could* do
it....

 

[Chris Stassen]

So, just to make sure, it only seems to happen on the first control-v in the
message. IOW, whatever is causing this, while random, isn't random beyond
the unsent message window.

I've had it happen to me about a half-dozen times in the past few
months.
Nothing on my machine is configured to catch keystrokes, but I can't
say that there's nothing other than office installed on my computer.
The only thing that (annoyingly) installs itself to run with Office is
Acrobat.

The "send on paste" problem doesn't always happen on the first paste
in
the message -- last night it happened on about the fifth (I was
assembling
a message of selected lines from various error logs). Just hit
control-V,
and poof, the message was sent without the pasted content.

Since the pasted comment doesn't show up in the E-mail, I wonder if it
is something like this: When copying and pasting, one goes to a
different
window to get the content to copy; when the eMail message window is
made
the active window again, perhaps the focus is no longer in the
message
body, so the keystrokes are interpreted differently.

 

[F.H. Muffman]

The "send on paste" problem doesn't always happen on the first past in
the message -- last night it happened on about the fifth (I was assembling
a message of selected lines from various error logs). Just hit control-V,
and poof, the message was sent without the pasted content.

Since the pasted comment doesn't show up in the E-mail, I wonder if it
is something like this: When copying and pasting, one goes to a different
window to get the content to copy; when the eMail message window is made
the active window again, perhaps the focus is no longer in the message
body, so the keystrokes are interpreted differently.

It is possible. How are you switching windows? Do you *always* use
alt-tab, or do you sometimes use the mouse? If you click on anything but
the body of the message or the title bar, you could conceivably shift focus.

 

[Chris Stassen]

It is possible. How are you switching windows? Do you *always*

use alt-tab, or do you sometimes use the mouse?

I generally click on the window's label in the taskbar, or click on
the window's frame.

However, while I am not 100% certain, I believe that it has happened
at times when the focus is in the body. My usual pasting procedure is
to find the stuff to paste, and then find the location to paste it, so
I'd come back to the mail message and move the focus to the desired
paste point after coming back.

It is really strange, and happens only very rarely. It happened twice
yesterday, which brought me to searching for the solution... but it
had probably been at least a week before that without it happening --
hundreds of emails and pastes into emails.

Getting into the habit of filling in the recipient fields last is not
too hard, the problem is that most emails are replies to received
emails, which causes those fields to be populated up-front.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Getting into the habit of filling in the recipient fields last is not

too hard, the problem is that most emails are replies to received
emails, which causes those fields to be populated up-front.

a better habit is typing garbage (i.e. dlkjmbnsj) in the cc field - doesn't
matter if it's a reply or new message when you do this.

 

[bb]

Just to reopen this topic, it happens to me as well on a random basis. I almost always alt tab back to my email from the "copy from" window and hit ctrl v. I know that I am not hitting an incorrect key combination. I am running with an application called SlickRun (which is a really awesome productivity tool) which does intercept keystrokes, but I quite doubt it would be the culprit.
I have gotten into the habit of adding a garbage address to the CC line, so the incidence of this happening is much lower. Still, there are those times you forget and it happens. Makes you go D'oh!