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Emailology: Stop Gmail from Wrapping Your Phone Number into Text Links

Posted October 12, 2011 by Michelle Klann

Both the desktop and mobile version(s) of Gmail now insert an anchor link around phone numbers.

In the desktop version, the link opens Google's new voice/chat console which is displayed along the right column of the Gmail interface.

In mobile versions, the link opens up the mobile phone console with your phone number pre-populated making it very easy to dial numbers directly from your email.

Each of the following formats will get converted to links:

212-389-3934
212.389.3934
(800) 389-3934
1-800-389-3934
(212) 389-3934
212–389–3934
212—389—3934
212–389–3934
212–389–3934
1–212–389–3934
212 -389 -3934

So how do you get around it?

1.) Use an HTML entity in your phone number that Gmail does not recognize:

212­-389­-3934

In the example above I used the following entity just before each dash: "­"

212­-389­-3934

In the example above I used: "­"
Unfortunatly, this HTML entity renders a dash "-" in Lotus Notes 6.5 and 7 (only) so the phone number appears like this: 212--389--3934

2.) Wrap an anchor tag around the phone number with an inline style that matches the rest of your text:

<a href="#" style="color:#0F3; text-decoration:none">342-389-3934</a>

3.) If it's possible, use the text version of the phone number:

555-212-SHOP

If you can find any additional ways to bypass the text links in Gmail, don't hesitate to share them below!

Update October 14, 2011: This fix also works if you want to block Gmail from inserting links around your URLs and Email addresses.

So change name@test.com to:
name@test­&#173;.com 

Change www.mydomain.com to:
www.mydomain­&#173;.com 

Change http://www.mydomain.com to:
http:&#173;­//www.mydomain­&#173;.com

Comments

Eli
Eli 		This is great. Just implement the first work around in our enewsletter template. Much appreciated!
Posted 10/18/2011

Mindius
Mindius 		You could use spans to achieve the same thing. Set som span-tags around both parenthesis for example. (else span inside the phone number somewhere should work)
Posted 02/07/2012

Colleen
Colleen 		Is there anything that might work in email signatures?
Posted 03/29/2012

Mike
Mike 		Just use an anchor tag leaving the href completely out. <a > content</a>. It will show up as a clickable link in hotmail, but do nothing when clicked on. It won't show up as a link at all on any other email client (yahoo, outlook, gmail....)
Posted 04/06/2012

francadaval
francadaval 		I found in stackoverflow.com a less intrusive way to resolve it. You can use <span> html tags around '.' or '@' to avoid gmail to convert to links. It may wark also with phone numbers.
Posted 05/06/2012

IndyRob
IndyRob 		You can permanently turn off this feature by going into
Settings--> Chat--> Call Phones: Disable Outbound Outbound Voice Calling
Posted 05/07/2012

Dano
Dano 		You can use middle dots (·) instead of periods:
212·389·3934
Posted 06/07/2012

Clayton
Clayton 		Great idea Dano! Works great.
Posted 06/19/2012

foo
foo 		The ­ or ­ method does not work for me. The <span> method does, however.

I just replace all "." with "<span>.</span>" in a text with many numbers (readings, not phone numbers).
Posted 10/09/2012

DLM
DLM 		You can permanently turn off this feature by going into
Settings--> Chat--> Call Phones: Disable Outbound Outbound Voice Calling

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was infuriating.
Posted 11/06/2012

neuroxik
neuroxik 		@IndyRon & DLM: However helpful that may be to others searching how to disable it on THEIR client-side, the issue here is what gets to be seen on the customer's device (which probably DIDN'T disable that "feature").

@author: Thanks so much! It's funny because just before I searched and fell here, I tried the HTML entities for the numbers themselves but Gmail still recognized them (which is reassuring in some way).
Posted 12/14/2012

Avatar
Fathom 		Does this interfere with the ability of a mobile phone user to dial a number? (We don't want them to stop calling us, only for Google to stop turning our phone numbers blue!)
Posted 01/24/2013

Steve
Steve 		Thnx for such an intersting post Michelle. I just triend it in personal blog. Its working great thanks again. Steve
Posted 02/04/2013

David
David 		Fathom: You brought up a VERY good point. Since most people check their email on their smartphones, the chances of them clicking on a phone number might decrease because the phone number doesn't look 'accessible.'

One would have to decide the best way for their subscribers to contact them... via phone or email... then code and style the HTML accordingly.
Posted 03/12/2013

staz
staz 		To add the style you wish on a phone number and keep the tap to call function on a mobile, you have to consider the phone number as a link, into a class.
Like this :

HTML :

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td class="call">Call us : 212-389-3934</td>
</tr>
</table>

CSS :

.call {
font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:12px;
color:#FFF;
}
.call a {
color:#FFF;
text-decoration:none;
}

Tested on iOS and Android.
Hope this will help !
Posted 03/28/2013

MarketAgent 007
MarketAgent 007 		The following CSS and HTML code will allow you to style your phone number anyway you wish while also keeping the tap to call function on mobile.

1. Insert the following <style> tag within the <head> tag:

<style type="text/css">
.ii a {text-decoration:none; color:#464646 !important;}
</style>


2. Wrap the telephone number with an <href> tag. Then add a class name plus an inline style to the <href> .

Example:

1.555.555.5555

This was tested in all major web browsers plus iOS and Android.
Posted 04/26/2013

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