Thundebird doesn't have a built in html source viewer. I suspect you have been using an addon for this and maybe the addon hasn't been kept up to date and isn't compatible with 52.3.0.

Two addons that offer html editing that come to mind are Stationery and kaosmos's EditHTML.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/addon/stationery/ https://freeshell.de/~kaosmos/edithtml-en.html

The two links didn't give me what I wanted --- or, to be fair, perhaps I didn't explore them enough. I found an alternate answer, not as quick as the old HTML editor, but actually better with HTML editing than whatever I was using before: See Answer 9 in SuperUser's "How can I view the HTML of a Thunderbird e-mail?" <https://superuser.com/questions/295721/how-can-i-view-the-html-of-a-thunderbird-e-mail>. I just edit what is displayed and click "Insert". One disadvantage: there is no Find function in this method.

In any case, I should thank the team for straightening out the problem with images that used to disappear in Replies (next, how about straightening out the jumble of font sizes generated in the Reply function?)

Well, yes, ctrl+u lets you see the source of a received or stored message, but a) does not let you work with a message being composed and b) does not offer any way to edit same.

That's why I didn't even consider mentioning it.

Ah, I didn't know about ctrl-u, and agree, no modifications can be made with it.

But, sorry, I wasn't clear: composition hasn't been a problem. The peculiar arbitrary mixing of font sizes in Reply has been my main concern.

I've found that I can change HTML code (primarily deleting font size changes) in the Reply window with ctrl-a and Insert>HTML. After making changes in the window, I can save the changes to the text by clicking the Insert button.

End of problem.

The jumble of font sizes that is occuring when you use 'Reply':

Sounds like the original email was created using a load of css coding which would effect the entire composing email when you use a 'Reply'.

For example: I have an email from amazon. If I'm viewing using 'View' > 'Message Body As' = 'Original HTML' I click on 'Reply' and the cursor is not visible; any text I start typing is shown starting very top left and is using a font specified in the original email. eg: Arial.

If I'm viewing using 'View' > 'Message Body As' = 'Simple HTML' I click on 'Reply' and the cursor is visible abd the font is the one I specified to use here: 'Menu icon' > 'Options' > 'Options' > 'Display' > 'Formatting' tab Default font: eg: 'Times new roman' This controls default font in Display AND Composing new email.

'Menu icon' > 'Options' > 'Options' > 'Composition' > 'General' tab HTML Font: 'Variable Width' and 'Size' = medium. This means nothing is hard coded and so the email appears as the recipient chooses using settings they prefer. The default font used will be the one specified in 'Display' - see above.

So, I would suggest you change the 'View' > 'Message Body As' to use 'Simple HTML' and then see if you re able to use 'Reply' with more control.

Did this work for you?

Ah, the mysteries of the computer: thank you Toad-Hall for your latest and to those before for your efforts.

Somehow, with all the mucking about that I've done, I've changed some critical switch (unbeknownst to me) and I can't even duplicate the problem that motivated me to complain about a sudden inability to edit HTML That problem was the strange collection of font sizes that used to display in a Reply window; by the way, that problem appeared only with personal correspondence, not complex emails like those of Amazon. Which is to say that font size no longer appears arbitrarily changed within a text in my Reply window.

Not being able to recreate the problem to step it through again, I can't comment on the various solutions suggested. Hopefully the solution, whatever it is, "sticks", and I'll not need to access an HTML editor. If I do (it is handy sometimes), I still have access to HTML editing via SuperUser's suggestion.

End of problem.

Well, I use the Stationery addon with its Edit HTML tab option on the few occasions where I feel I need to fiddle with the HTML markup. You appear to have dismissed this addon.

More often, though, I simply select and reformat the offending message text to an explicit typeface and size. I use the Extra Format Buttons addon for this.

The most common reason to have to do this is with messages that have been mangled by Outlook. The markup is horrible and complex, so option 2 is very much painless compared with trying to mend it.

Another effective fix is to simply cut the existing text and paste it back in using "Paste Without Formatting" thereby removing all the horrible mso clutter. This works well in conjunction with Stationery where you can define and assert your preferred formatting via a Stationery template.

Zenos:

With respect to EditHtml, I tried again. You mention "tab option". Is that the "Source (HTML)" tab in the Write and Reply windows? (if so, I'll give it another try.)

For the "Extra Format Buttons" addon, the functions seem to be already available under the Format dropdown menu. The add-on info says that it is not compatible with my version of Tbird (52.3.0 (32-bit)). Is there a 64-bit version?

Agree totally with the comment about the incredible format clutter from Outlook. Even worse for something composed in Word and transferred to email. And I agree with your last solution. I've used that more than once in disgust with the senseless formatting I've come upon. But Thunderbird is not exactly impressive with its formatting. For example:

<font face="Verdana">Welcom<font face="Verdana">e back to Jon.

   

   <font face="Verdana">And <font face="Verdana">do <font face="Verdana">phone <font face="Verdana">if</font> you get
         in</font></font></font> to CNX. I can't be sure that I'll have
   transport<font face="Verdana"> --- that depends on the repair sh<font face="Verdana">op. In any case, with the <font face="Verdana">long

         stretch of rain, we wouldn't be going up to<font face="Verdana"> Khun Tan tunnel anyway. Well, actually we
           could go up there<font face="Verdana"> to enjoy the scenery,
             but I don<font face="Verdana">'t think I'll hazard a <font face="Verdana">hike up the hill / mountain.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font>

 </font></font>

I think I could do with a bit less "<font face="Verdana">" Yes? </font>

Apologies. Let me try that last part again:

<font face="Verdana">Welcome back to Jon

 

 <font face="Verdana">And do phone if you get in<font face="Verdana">
     to CNX. I can't be sure that I'll have transport --- that depends
     on the repair shop. In any case, with the long stretch of rain, we
     wouldn't be going </font></font>up to Khun Tan t<font face="Verdana">unnel anyway. Well, actually we could go <font face="Verdana">up there to enjoy the scenery, but I don't think
     I'll hazard a hike up the hill / mountain.</font></font>

</font>

I think I could do with a bit less of "font face="Verdana""

Sorry, I don't understand the limitations of this. Let me try sending an image in which information hopefully will not be distorted/deleted.

So my comment on this image is

I think I could do with a bit less of mention of Verdana. Yes?

You appear to have a lot of hard coded returns or indentation there. Always messy to repair. I'd take it out to Notepad++, nuke all the multiple spaces and any tabs, join it all into one line then copy'n'paste back into Thunderbird where it would be soft-wrapped to fit the display. It's possible that a Select All and Edit|Rewrap might help it.

On this forum you have the added wrinkle that a leading space prompts a change to fixed width font, useful for code snippets or poetry but disastrous with normal text or prose.

The tab I mentioned is added (or provided) by the Stationery add-on, but IIRC you have to explicitly enable it. It gives you a tab on the composition window. Since I use Stationery for other purposes, I use its HTML editor and don't need the other add-on being discussed. ISTR that the EditHTML add-on offered quite a cramped workspace, whereas the Stationery offering is as big as your normal composition space.

A significant downside of Stationery is that if you change the stationery template, it destroys all your new typing. :-(

In general, add-ons don't care about 32 vs 64 bits, with the exception of the very few that are platform specific, notably Lightning. Actually I think the only other commonly used add-on that had this characteristic was Enigmail, and I think that was made platform agnostic a couple of years ago. You occasionally find themes that are not cross platform too, but again they wouldn't be affected by the bit width.

Tee hee. Since this forum software uses html itself, and has its own idiosyncrasies, getting it to render tags without executing them is quite a task.

Again, I'd go to a decent editor and swap all the & for &amp;, all the < for &lt; and all the > for &gt; (and then curse at all the email addresses I'd broken!)

Or, ha ha, paste it into a new message in Thunderbird, copy the source from the HTML (Source) window and paste it here.

<font face= "Verdana"> Welcome back to Jon<br>
 <br>
 <font face="Verdana">And do phone if you get in<font face="Verdana">
   to CNX. I can't be sure that I'll have transport --- that depends
   on the repair shop.  In any case, with the long stretch of rain, we
   wouldn't be going </font></font> up to Khun Tan t<font
   face="Verdana">unnel anyway. Well, actuaIly we could go< font
   face="Verdana">up there to enjoy the scenery, but I don't think
   I'll hazard a hike up the hill / mountain.</font> </font> <br>
</font><br>

Apologies for this tardy observation, but I just don't have much time to devote to a dialogue on making Thunderbird work better.

Zenos writes: "You appear to have a lot of hard coded returns or indentation there. Always messy to repair."

Yes, but note that each of those is the result of my entering a correction in the Edit mode/tab of the Reply window (my typing ability is not the best, plus on rereading a text, I often revise it). Try it yourself: every change entered in a text results in an addition of font information.

Point is, shouldn't Tbird programmers be able to eliminate this needless repetition to begin with?

Please provide a screen shot of this "Edit mode/tab" - the description given simply doesn't relate to any built-in feature that I know of.

Zenos: See attached per your request

so you are trying to remove font entries that were inserted by the snder of the mail to you. They were probably using Outlook, as it is know to be the world best padder of emails with useless information. Having font face and size information all over the place is almost a trademark of outlook as it uses Word as a HTML editor. The Microsoft Schema used is a kitchen sink approach that other than sprinkling font tags everywhere includes the entire content of the word normal.dot file and binary objects that only have meaning in Word.

Needless to say, your attempts to clean up the HTML. however admirable, are also probably leading to some fairly bizarre display when the reply gets back to the sender. Where word is again in charge of rendering.

Mars:

With apologies, no. I am using Thunderbird. Thunderbird is the one introducing the font entries. I am introducing them with Thunderbird by entering text in Thunderbird's Reply window, and then changing the text that I had entered. Every time I make a change, Thunderbird adds a font entry, even though there is NO change in font.

The problem usually, but does not always, seem to arise when I respond to an email that was originally generated in Thunderbird. It does always seem to arise when I respond to emails generated, for example, by Yahoo in iPad, hotmail in Windows 10, Yahoo in Android, and, yes, in Outlook on Windows 10.

The problem is generated by Thunderbird, and no, the text of the replies that I have generated which include deleting those endless font entries, as viewed on others' (receivers') computers, is not distorted or bizarre. The text of the receivers' original emails contained in blockquotes remains the same.

How do you know that new font entries are being added? How do you see them?

Your original query referred to "the old reply display" so the inference is that something has changed. I don't think any of us understand what it was you had that you want to get back. Thunderbird has no native built in support for viewing the html source of a message in the compose window, so we're puzzled by how you are editing or viewing source.