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How to configure attribution for quoted messages in replies?

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  • Last reply by david

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The default attribution line created by Thunderbird when replying doesn't work well when sending e-mail to Outlook users. [Unfortunately, Outlook users comprise 100% of the people to whom I send emails in TB.] TB's default attribution line causes Outlook OWA to hide the entire reply from the reader unless they click on a [...] button to show it. Then when displayed, the entire message is quoted/indented.

Yes, this is a bug in Outlook. No, it's not going to get fixed.

This can be avoided by changing the attribution line which current defaults to:

       On <date> <time>, <name> wrote:

Simply adding a space after the colon at the end of the line "fixes" the problem, but it's annoying to have to do that manually.

Can that attribution line be configured somewhere?

I've found all sorts of addons that let you muck with the headers of replies, but the headers are fine. It's just the attribution line that needs to be fixed.

The default attribution line created by Thunderbird when replying doesn't work well when sending e-mail to Outlook users. [Unfortunately, Outlook users comprise 100% of the people to whom I send emails in TB.] TB's default attribution line causes Outlook OWA to hide the entire reply from the reader unless they click on a [...] button to show it. Then when displayed, the entire message is quoted/indented. Yes, this is a bug in Outlook. No, it's not going to get fixed. This can be avoided by changing the attribution line which current defaults to: On <date> <time>, <name> wrote: Simply adding a space after the colon at the end of the line "fixes" the problem, but it's annoying to have to do that manually. Can that attribution line be configured somewhere? I've found all sorts of addons that let you muck with the headers of replies, but the headers are fine. It's just the attribution line that needs to be fixed.

Chosen solution

You should be able to do that by setting a 'Customized reply header' with this add-on (see picture):

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/changequote/

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Chosen Solution

You should be able to do that by setting a 'Customized reply header' with this add-on (see picture):

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/thunderbird/addon/changequote/

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What you are asking is that Thunderbird make a modification to fix a bug in Outlook. I propose that is not Thunderbird's responsibility and I, as a user, would not want to see developer resources spent fixing a problem for Outlook users. However, that's not my call. You're welcome to suggest that at connect.mozilla.org in the IDEAS section to see if fixing Outlook should be attempted. On the contrary, I think bugs in Outlook might encourage some of them to transfer to Thunderbird. I do not suggest reporting in Bugzilla, as this not a bug. Thank you.

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> What you are asking is that Thunderbird make a modification to fix a bug in Outlook.

No, I did not ask for Thunderbird to be modified. I asked if there was a way to configure the attribute line for a quote in a reply message. It turns out there is — using an add-on. I had actually seen that add-on, but was fooled by the name and description that talked about a custom "header".

> I do not suggest reporting in Bugzilla, as this not a bug.

I never said this was a bug in Thunderbird, and I certainly I didn't mean to implied that. I had no intention of reporting this in Bugzilla. I specifically stated that it's a bug in Outlook, and I was looking for a work-around by configuring TB in a certain way.

I'm sorry that my question offended you.

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The ChangeQuote ChangeQuote add-on did what I wanted. I had seen that but got fooled by the documentation's use of "header" and examples like this:

  This means that a header with
  To : %%2{{ and %%3}}
  will give
  To : mail1@xxx.org (if CC is null)
  

I thought it was referring to the reply message's headers rather than the quote attribution line.

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No, not offended. I regret having given that impression. I'm probably just too protective. And I learned about this addon, too. So, win/win. IF sfhowes doesn't know it, I don't need to know it. I'm glad he responded on this.

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