If you need to copy a specific bit of text from an email and a data detector is positioned in just the wrong spot, it can be a real pain. Faced with this irritation the other day, and getting peeved, I wondered how to make the problem go away — here’s how to get it done.

To turn off data detectors in OS X Mail, open Terminal (Finder > Applications > Utilities) and copy-paste (or type) the following:

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableDataDetectors YES

Hit return. Then quit and restart Mail, and data detectors will be gone.

Alternately, if you want to restart data detectors, open Terminal once and type this command:

defaults write com.apple.mail DisableDataDetectors NO

It’s pretty darned easy to make this annoyance go away and just as easy to get this valuable feature back.

Know a nifty OS X tip or trick? Share it in the comments below…

via Mac Tricks and Tips