Sending plain text from New Compose

[Andy]

It seems that the "new compose" feature of Gmail has gone mainstream, as in, the old one ... the one that worked just fine, thank you ... is gone.  :-(  How does one send messages in plain text, in the "new" version?  I've tried using the Remove Formatting button, but it does not appear to do that.  I can get the message to be sent without fancy formatting, fonts, etc., but it is still not in email's Lowest Common Denominator, a.k.a. plain text.

So I've enjoyed the experience of using Gmail's web interface for the last couple of years, but I think the fun is over and maybe it's time to go back to using an email client from now on.  I totally miss the point of hiding everything from me.

Andy

[Kenneth Ayers]

I still see a "temporarily switch back to old compose" option in the new compose window.  It shows up when you click on the little arrow for "more options" at the bottom right corner.

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[Marko Vukovic]

Andy, under the same drop-down on the bottom right is the 'Plain text
mode' toggle.

Google is rolling out the new compose as default.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/

--
Marko

[Andy]

> Andy, under the same drop-down on the bottom right is the 'Plain text
> mode' toggle.

Ah, THERE it is. Thanks.

You'd think Google should have put it with the other text formatting
controls, instead of hiding it. But they would have had to actually
think about user interface design to have done that.

I could not find the "switch back to normal compose" option when I
first went looking for it.

Many thanks.

Andy

[Marko Vukovic]

My guess would be to save space. I find it perfectly fine where it is,
as I don't use it that often.

I very much like the new compose window, the design makes sense to me
and along with keyboard shortcuts, I find it a breeze. You opinion on
interface design may simply disagree with the Google designers.

[Marko Vukovic]

On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 9:11 PM, mh9 <michael...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree with Andy. The old composer worked just fine but the new one still
> doesn't.
>
> Not sure if this is just a firefox issue but during a reply/forward/etc.,
> clicking on the Plain Text mode doesn't immediately switch it to plain text
> mode. You need to switch to plain text mode, discard the draft and then
> restart the message. Same process to switch it back to Rich Text mode.
>
> Why not make your new almighty composer work correctly before forcing us to
> use it?

Michael, switching to plain text and back works just fine in FF for
me. No need to discard anything.

[Marko Vukovic]

On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 8:57 PM, mh9 <michael...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Really? Try this...
>
> Be sure your default format is already set to the Rich Text mode. Go to
> google.com, Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C. Now go to your Gmail, start a new message, click
> the Plain Text mode and Ctrl-V. What do you have?
>
> For me, all of the Rich Text/HTML formatted data including Google images,
> other graphics, hyperlinks and formatted text are still there.

Not for me, pastes all in plain text.

What troubleshooting measures have you taken? Have you done the usual
sign out, clear cache and cookies, sign back in steps?
Have you tried without Labs? https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?labs=0

> However, if I click the Plain Text mode, discard the message, restart the
> message and then Ctrl-V, only the plain text is pasted. At least that's the
> way it works in my Gmail running within Firefox 19 on Ubuntu 12.04.

I don't have Ubuntu desktop but I confirmed this with FF 18.0.1 on Win 7.

> Hmm, and if the new composer is so great, why isn't this posting interface
> using it?

What exactly is 'this posting interface'? I can only guess that you
are referring to the post/reply interface in Groups.
Personally, I've never had the need to create or reply to a topic from
the Groups page but I suspect the Gmail new compose will eventually
make it's way there.