Microsoft KB Archive/269272

= Mail Client Address List Truncated Using &quot;Mailto:&quot; Link If Tag Exceeds 260 Characters =

Article ID: 269272

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

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This article was previously published under Q269272



SYMPTOMS
When you click a hyperlink that uses a &quot;Mailto&quot; Uniform Resource Locator (URL) with a recipient list that exceeds 260 characters, a truncated address list may be created in the e-mail program that is started (such as Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Outlook Express).



CAUSE
This is a Windows NT 4.0 limitation. The URL is passed to a Windows NT 4.0 shell function (ShellExecute) to create a process for the mail client to run under. The Shell function passes the address list as a parameter and the variable used for that parameter is declared as a fixed size buffer (260 bytes). When the mail client is started and the address list is passed as a parameter, the address list is limited to 260 bytes.



RESOLUTION
One possible workaround is to place the members of the recipient list in a distribution list and reference the distribution list alias in the &quot;Mailto&quot; URL.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

This issue does not occur in Microsoft Windows 2000.

Keywords: kbbug kbfix KB269272

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