631893 - Preformat is blank and set to default when reply or forwarding w/ no option to change default

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Description

[gmeades]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0b7) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/4.0b7
Build Identifier: 3.1.7

Preformat simply shows blank white space.  I have to manually highlight the entire email then manually change text to body text in order to see the text.
If the text type is set to preformat, anything pasted into the body of the email doesn't show and only whitespace is seen.  Preformat doesn't work, and doesn't do anything except show white space. Why would anyone possibly set this as the default type for replying or forwarding...?  Why isn't there any way for the user to change the default to something else when replying or forwarding...?

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. press reply from an open email
2. or set type to preformat and either try to type something or past some text into the body
3.
Actual Results:  
whitespace.  Only whitespace.
Preformat sucks.  Get rid of it.  I see absolutely no use for it, it is simply an aggravation.

Expected Results:  
I should be able to see the text, what else?

Comment 1

[Joe Sabash [:JoeS1]]

Testing with:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0b12pre) Gecko/20110216 Thunderbird/3.3a3pre
I am not able to reproduce the problem.
The default always comes up as body-text and even if preformat is selected, I can type in and copy text into the reply.

It's possible that there is something in a particular message that is causing a problem. If so, could you provide a sample testcase.

Comment 2

[gmeades]

It's not in one particular message, it's in every message I try to reply to or forward, although I may have left out something in the steps to reproduce. Let me test it a bit and see what I've left out...

Okay, It's not in the body of the email itself that has the problem, it's in the section below the body where the prior message is quoted that is the problem. This area is where the white space occurs. It's when the quoted text area which shows only white space is highlighted that it shows as Preformat, and must be entirely highlighted then changed to body text so that the text becomes visible.

I've just tested this on a number of emails, and you're right, the default text type does show as "body text" on a reply to or forwarded email, but that is not the problem.  The problem is in the quoted area below the body.

To reproduce in Thunderbird 3.1.7 - 

1. Reply to or Forward an email.
2. Address information shows, but quoted area below address area shows only white space where text should be.
3. Highlight area below address.
4. Text type shows as "preformat"
5. Change Text type to "body text".
6. Quoted text from email being responded to or forwarded now appears.

Also, in the body area, if I highlight any text and change the text type to 'preformat', the text is no longer visible and white space appears.
Keeping the text highlighted and changing the text type back to "body text" makes the text in the body once again visible.

Comment 3

[gmeades]

It's not in one particular message, it's in every message I try to reply to or forward, although I may have left out something in the steps to reproduce. Let me test it a bit and see what I've left out...

Okay, It's not in the body of the email itself that has the problem, it's in the section below the body where the prior message is quoted that is the problem. This area is where the white space occurs. It's when the quoted text area which shows only white space is highlighted that it shows as Preformat, and must be entirely highlighted then changed to body text so that the text becomes visible.

I've just tested this on a number of emails, and you're right, the default text type does show as "body text" on a reply to or forwarded email, but that is not the problem.  The problem is in the quoted area below the body.

To reproduce in Thunderbird 3.1.7 - 

1. Reply to or Forward an email.
2. Address information shows, but quoted area below address area shows only white space where text should be.
3. Highlight area below address.
4. Text type shows as "preformat"
5. Change Text type to "body text".
6. Quoted text from email being responded to or forwarded now appears.

Also, in the body area, if I highlight any text and change the text type to 'preformat', the text is no longer visible and white space appears.
Keeping the text highlighted and changing the text type back to "body text" makes the text in the body once again visible.

Comment 4

[gmeades]

Not sure if there's anything I might be able to provide other than the correct info to reproduce that might help in reproducting this bug. Is very consistent on my computer. I don't imagine a screen capture or saved email would do much for anyone trying to reproduce this.