Nectar, Outlook 2007 - Why Some Email Links are not Working 9 December 2021 at 10:59AM edited 9 December 2021 at 5:38PM in Shop but don't drop

WattNext

Nectar changed the way that logins work some while ago: instead of using the last 11 digits of of your nectar number and a password you now have to enter an email address. The process of moving from the old style login to the new is straight forward. You apply to register where you are given the choice of entering your existing nectar card number or starting a new account. Entering your existing number, the process continues with in an email being sent to you and what should happen is that you click the link to be taken to a nectar web page where further details can be entered.

In Outlook 2007 clicking the link does nothing. In programming speak it fails in an uncontrolled manner leaving the user wondering what is happening. If you hover over the link observe a very long URL. Its this long because strong authentication is being used and URL strings can be some 1300 chars long or more. This breaks Outlook 2007 as the max URL string length is 1023 chars.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/lync/en-US/bfbaf146-5f48-42cc-8172-41eb7be2e595/outlook-2010-what-is-the-character-limit-for-a-link-to-open?forum=outlook 

Right clicking the link to copy or open the link does not work. There is however a work around: on the email ribbon click 'Other Actions' and select 'View Source'. This opens notepad containing the source code. Find the link URL then copy and paste it into a web browser - done a web page opens where you can now continue the registration process.

More often than not Outlook 2007 URL links are less than 1023 chars long and work quite normally. The problem also occurs on other websites where the link for security reasons contains strong authentication. Hope this helps...