Help me with this formatting question?

I would go to the answer, hover over the “permalink” icon at the bottom of it, and right click to choose “copy link location”. Now the answer’s address is stored in memory. Just hitting “paste” in your PM text box would post the whole address string as a link, or you would type the text that you want to become the link within quotes (e.g. “this answer”) followed by a colon, then hit “paste” to enter your copied address. That should link to the answer.

Am I describing what you’ve already been doing?

How do I “right click” on the “permalink” icon using a Macbook Air (late 2011) touchpad?

I can try this trick later using a conventional Mac mouse.

Ah, then it’s ctrl+click

You could also “normal-click” the permalink button and the link will be at the web address bar at the top. The permalink icon is that scarlet, backwards “P” that appears when you hover around the “flag as” and “great answer” sign. It’s just to the right of all of that stuff.
Then, put that link after the colon. You can PM me to test it if you want.
But it’s smart to get used to right-clicking on Macs because right-clicking is pretty useful, at least for me.

@gailcalled – On touchpad Macs, the user programs how to Right Click – I have mine set up as a 2-fingered tap. Go to System Preferences > Trackpad to see how yours is set up and to make any changes that would be more intuitive for you.

@hearkat I used to have that setting but it drove me crazy because I’d always right-click by accident. Mine is set so that the right-click is when I click on the left side of my touchpad and normal-click is when I click the right side. I know it’s backwards. I like doing things differently.

@dxs – my fiancé has his set up some completely different way, too – he prefers to click rather than tap, and his right click is only in a certain corner of the pad – it always messes me up when I use his laptop for something real quick if mine isn’t readily available. We do have user accounts on each others machines for that reason, though. I like that it is totally customizable.

Ofter the “right-clikc“menu does come up but I cannot figure out how I did it. Random tapping, clicking and letting-my-fingers-do-the-walking brings up nothing.

My System Preferenes > TrackPad instructions don’t seem to include that.
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Hold down the key marked “ctrl” while you click on the link. That’s the Mac equivalent of a right click no what matter input device you’re using.

I am a slow learner, sorry. And thanks.

Pfft. I only learned this recently myself.

This is perhaps more of a workaround than a technique, but you could compose your message in the answer box on an old question (e.g., this one) and use the live preview function to see what it will look like when sent. Then just copy and paste it into someone’s message box and send it along once you are satisfied with how it looks.