Do you use SmartTemplate4 addon ? If yes, check your Account Settings. Right click on mail account name in Folder pane and select 'Settings select 'composition & addressing'. There maybe an additional setting in this location which is overriding the default. eg: another button for SmartTemplate4 addon which in Advance Mode config force the reply to Paragraph mode.

The only "addon" I have is the Lightning Calendaring extension. I disable it and also tried clicking "restore defaulys" in the global comp. settings.

Nothing works. It always comes up checked.

This is a new bug as of version 60.3.1

Thanks for the try at helping....

Can someone tell me where this setting is stored? Is it in a db or json or ini somewhere? I am a developer and can try to debug what is causing it.

Menu icon > Options > Composition > 'General' tab uncheck checkbox :"Use Paragraph format instead of Body text by default"

This setting is a global setting not a per account setting.

In 'Config Editor' it is this line:

• mail.compose.default_to_paragraph; false

'False' means not selected.

It is a preference stored in the 'prefs.js' file which is located in the 'profile name' folder usually called 'xxxxxxxx.default' where the x's are letters and numbers.

• user_pref("mail.compose.default_to_paragraph", false);

Note: If you are replying to an email which has html hardcoding inserted by the original sender of email then that css html coding could be influencing the 'reply' html of your email.

If you use the bulletted or numbered list then immediately after you may notice it has changed to paragraph. Or even if you start a list and then remove it. This is because there is some default html code associated in the style of the bulletted/numbered lists.

Here is the problem. This is a bug introduced when I upgraded to 60.3.1

1) My prefs.js does not have this setting. user_pref("mail.compose.default_to_paragraph", false); When I add it and save the prefs.js file then start TB, it removes this line when it starts!

2) I then go into the UI (options / composition / general ) and un-check the Use paragraph formatting.

3) When TB exists the prefs.js now has this setting and it is correctly set to false.

4) When TB starts up it removes this setting and defaults to paragraph!

It does correctly write the setting when it exits, but ===> The problem is TB is deleting this setting when it starts up and then defaulting to paragraph.

I guess I could download the source for this version and diff it with some older version or maybe a developer could look into it?

Thanks.

go into the UI (options / composition / general ) and un-check the Use paragraph formatting.

When TB exits the prefs.js now has this setting and it is correctly set to false.

Please try the following. Do the above to get the setting stored in prefs.js. Whilst Thunderbird is not running. Access profile name folder and delete the 'session.json' and 'xulstore.json' files. Start Thunderbird.

Please report back on results.

It still comes up with paragraph checked. To be sure I 1) I started TB set paragraph to false. 2) Exited TB and verified that the prefs.js in the data folder had the paragraph set to false. 3) I deleted the session.json and xurlstore.json in the data folder. 4) On start up it is set bak to true for pragraph in the UI.

I don' tknow if this is a factor, but I did a long time ago move my data folder and I am using this for my profiles.ini for my currently logged in user.

[General] StartWithLastProfile=1

[Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=0 Path=C:\ThunderbirdMal\data Default=1

Also, looking at the original data folder that was created under AppDate/Roaming/Thunderbird I see the date and time is being updated on the prefs.js in that folder every time TB is run. This seems weird to me since profiles.ini is directing TB to a different data folder and the files in that data folder c:\Thunderbirdmal\data seem to be the ones used so why / how are the files in the AppData folder being updated on every run of TB?

To be sure I followed the steps you gave me and deleted the session.json and xurlstore.json files in BOTH directories Path=C:\ThunderbirdMal\data and C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\usmxwwl3.default> while TB was shutdown but it still came up with paragraph set to true.

Thanks again for the help!

re :Exited TB and verified that the prefs.js in the data folder

As you have moved the profile contents, do you have two 'prefs.js' files, one in the default location and one in the ThunderbirdMal\data location ? If yes, did you modify both of them to say user_pref("mail.compose.default_to_paragraph", false);  ?

Yes I did update it in both places. I mentioned that above. "To be sure I followed the steps you gave me and deleted the session.json and xurlstore.json files in BOTH directories "

I have an identical install on a portable with the same data folder structure, but it is running version 45.8.0 and it does not have this problem with loosing the paragraph setting.

I will copy both installs to a test machine and diff them and do some tests to try to location the problem, but it is almost Certainely a change in the source code between version 45.8.0 and 60.3.1 that causes this.