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Incoming emails are shown as text only, even when I select show in original HTML format on the menu

  • 10 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 33 views
  • Last reply by lgriffin

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All my incoming messages show up as text only when I select them to view. I have checked the option on view message body is set to "original HTML". I have selected text only and reselected original HTML and that did not solve the issue. No links show up and no formatting is shown in the message body.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and help.

All my incoming messages show up as text only when I select them to view. I have checked the option on view message body is set to "original HTML". I have selected text only and reselected original HTML and that did not solve the issue. No links show up and no formatting is shown in the message body. Thanks in advance for your suggestions and help.

All Replies (10)

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Select an email click on 'More' and select 'View source'

there will be a load of headers. Then you should see email in plain text below that should be email in html

Do you see html section

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If you logon to your webmail account via a browser to view emails, are they also only in plain text ?


Note: some companies give you the option eg: Amazon

  • logon to Amazon and view 'Your Account'
  • section: E-mail alerts, messages, and ads
  • select 'Communication Preferences'
  • select: Email Preferences
  • make sure you have the 'HTML text and images' option selected.
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Toad-Hall said

Select an email click on 'More' and select 'View source' there will be a load of headers. Then you should see email in plain text below that should be email in html Do you see html section

When I select "more" and "view source" I see the HTML code but not the formatted content. I need to be able to see the email content as formatted.

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Toad-Hall said

If you logon to your webmail account via a browser to view emails, are they also only in plain text ? Note: some companies give you the option eg: Amazon
  • logon to Amazon and view 'Your Account'
  • section: E-mail alerts, messages, and ads
  • select 'Communication Preferences'
  • select: Email Preferences
  • make sure you have the 'HTML text and images' option selected.

No... When I use the browser to view the emails, they are fully formatted. Thunderbird is just not rendering them properly. It just shows the text all together with no line breaks or spaces.

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Please test in thunderbird Safe Mode. Help > Restart with addons disabled

do you see the same results ?

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This article appears to have been abandoned by 'drhal'. I have the same problem and worked through the suggestions until 'safe mode' which I can't find in 60.2.1. Emails that I was receiving with links, no longer show the links, as of 11/21/18 5:"20 PM. Is there some way to tell when I upgraded to 60?

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Thunderbird Safe Mode: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/safe-mode-thunderbird See image as guide Note: your 'Menu icon' 3 bars, may be on the far right of Mail toolbar. I've moved mine over to the far left as it seemed more logical.

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Thanks for the reply Toad Hall. Safe mode doesn't change anything.

I just realized this morning that my other email account doesn't have this problem, both accounts have the same ISP and are on that ISP. The problem then is in my setting or the web site sending the email the problem account is for the one web site. I've looked for the difference and haven't found it. I'm one of those guys that firmly believes in 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', unfortunately that means relearning everything when it breaks.

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Check your Address Books Is that email address for your account somewhere in any of your address books? If yes, open to see 'Edit Contact for...' In the 'Contact' tab, 'Prefers to receive messages formatted as' Is 'Plain text' selected ? If yes, change to 'Unknown' click on 'OK'

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My address books evidently are gone I only what has been collected since 11/21. The upgrade to 60 did not go well for some reason.