Customizing Reply Header in Emails

[slyph...@gmail.com]

TB 45.0.1 on Win/32 7 Pro SP1.

Surely I must just be overlooking something. I just can't find it. When I reply to an email, TB generates a header ahead of the original message I am quoting, which is standard practice going back a long time. The header that gets generated is something like this (going from memory, as I am not using a computer with TB installed just now).

On <date> <time> <so-and-so> wrote:

Because the time listed is according to my time zone, it might be misleading. Is there a way to suppress the time and only list the date? So far I haven't found any way to customize the Reply header in the body of the message. TIA.

[WaltS48]

Modify "mailnews.reply_header_type" to "3" and modify
"mailnews.reply_header_authorwroteondate" to "#1 wrote on #2:"

You could also play with "mailnews.reply_header_ondateauthorwrote"

The values for those prefs are #2 is the date, #3 is the time, and #1 is
the author.

--
Linux Mint 17.3
Go Pens! Go Bucs!
Go Thunderbirds! <http://pghthunderbirds.com/>
Coexist · Understanding Across Divides <https://www.coexist.org/>

[WaltS48]

Sorry, I forgot one "mailnews.reply_header_type" needs to changed also.
The default is 2. My previous reply was with it set to 3.

All changes made in the Config Editor.

Accessible from Options/Preferences > Advanced > General tab

[slyph...@gmail.com]

Thank you for replying. (I made an original typographical error, in that my Thunderbird is 45.1.0 on Win/32 7 Pro SP1.) Please bear with me, as I am an older user and not fully adept with all this computer stuff.

Sorry, but I could not find any Config Editor in Thunderbird according to what you suggested. When I go to Tools > Options > General (there is no "Preferences), nothing looks like a configuration editor. It is just a bunch of boxes with no options for changing any of the reply header line settings. I tried to go into Windows Explorer and find some kind of profile that might be editable and configurable but was not successful. But thank you anyway.

[Onno Ekker]

Op 26-5-2016 om 19:14 schreef slyph...@gmail.com:

> Thank you for replying. (I made an original typographical error, in that my Thunderbird is 45.1.0 on Win/32 7 Pro SP1.) Please bear with me, as I am an older user and not fully adept with all this computer stuff.
>
> Sorry, but I could not find any Config Editor in Thunderbird according to what you suggested. When I go to Tools > Options > General (there is no "Preferences), nothing looks like a configuration editor. It is just a bunch of boxes with no options for changing any of the reply header line settings. I tried to go into Windows Explorer and find some kind of profile that might be editable and configurable but was not successful. But thank you anyway.
>

You're warm: Tools -> Options -> *Advanced* -> General.
That is the Advanced pane and then the General tab.

Onno

[slyph...@gmail.com]

Thank you both. These suggestions at a first trial seem to have done what I need. It would seem that there might be better documentation for some of us, as I was not able to find what I needed without assistance, even after I had searched as best as I was able on Mozilla's website.

[Mike Easter]

Besides the moz support pages that Tb guides you to, accessing the
m'zine kb has useful info, but sometimes old.

This kb page describes the # meaning of the reply header setting and how
to get to the config editor:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Reply_header_settings

For one type of navigation purposes, that kb Tb front page is:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Category:Thunderbird - Articles relating to
the Thunderbird e-mail and newsgroup client. Each page typically has a
list of subcategories at the top, and a list of articles in the current
category/subcategory at the bottom of the page. If you can't find what
you're looking for by navigating these categories, try entering some
keywords in the search field to the right. New users should read Getting
started with Thunderbird and How to keep Thunderbird working smoothly.


If you only use Tb help, you are only guided to the moz support pages
which start here and are quite useful, but 'slight' (ignore) the m'zine
kb usefulness.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/thunderbird

--
Mike Easter

[Mike Easter]

Mike Easter wrote:
> Besides the moz support pages that Tb guides you to, accessing the
> m'zine kb has useful info,

If you use the moz support pages search function and reply header in the
search field, you get a LOT of/ way too many/ non-useful pages of
alleged hits. I didn't look at all of them.

If you use the m'zine kb search function and reply header in the search
field, you not only get the exact info needed at the top of the hit
list, but also a few items down a notice of change in the default # to 2.

--
Mike Easter