- click the 'new message' button - if menu bar is not shown, click the alt key - click view>toolbars and tick composition toolbar

Thank you David but your suggestion did not solve my problem. When the Alt key was pressed the dropdown menu's dissapeared.

I am unclear on which menu disappeared. After clicking 'new message' I don't think a menu will appear. Pressing the alt key only opens the menu bar briefly, giving time to select the view option. I may be misunderstanding what you are telling me.