bkushner said

It's unchecked, has been doesn't fix issue. annemilne7 said

OPen a blank E-mail as if you are going to write one. Click on Tools, then Options at the top. Then click on the General tab. You will see a sentence saying "when using paragraph format, the enter key creates a new paragraph". Untick that box.

This worked for me out of the box. Try restarting T'Bird, perhaps even rebooting. Sometimes things get stuck and need to go to zero to reset.

Best,

Allen

Picture my embarrassed face. The "solution" worked on the e-mail reply I was working on at the time, but not on the next one. Damn!!

So it is an actual problem that needs to be resolved for us that use Open Office/Libre Office or other programs that require two taps of the "Enter" key and has become an embedded reflex.

Thanks,

Allen

It seems to me that the wording is incorrect. "When using paragraph format..." suggests that there is another toggle "Use paragraph format (y/n)". Instead, the "When using paragraph format..." is the "Use paragraph format" setting. Better name it that way too and explain that the consequence is that when on (default), the enter key creates a new paragraph.

I don't mind the behavior, btw.

THUS: When checked, the ENTER key creates a new paragraph (which inserts a blank line):

Actually, it's even more complicated.

What the setting really does is to set the default paragraph format (upper left corner when composing) to 'Paragraph' AND to make the enter key create a new paragraph. When unchecked, the default paragraph format is 'Body Text' AND when you manually select 'Paragraph' then enter key inserts a line break but doesn't seem to create a new paragraph (no blank line).

So, actually it's two settings in one. Default style and paragraph behavior. Nice :)

> I don't know if you have gotten help to solve this problem, but if not here is your answer: Go to Tools > Options > Composition > General tab. Here you need to uncheck where it says "When using paragraph format, the enter key creates a new paragraph. Volla - problem solved right?

I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH for your help. This literally was so bad I nearly was forced to leave Thunderbird after 15 years of use - and would have without finding this fix. Such a drastic and damaging change should NEVER have been done silently, should never have had such a buried and subtle option to turn off. (I searched and searched by could not find the option without this post.)

In any case, I'm replying because I'm using a Mac, and on a Mac, the options are vastly different, so I wanted to provide the OS-X version of the path to this option to help others in my position:

'OS-X Instructions: to fix massive new Thunderbird formatting bug: ' 1. Go to Thunderbird->Preferences. 2. Click on the Composition Icon on the top, the 3rd tab. 3. At the bottom you'll see the option "When using paragraph format, the enter key creates a new paragraph.

TeleServe said

stevestarr13 said

Since the latest update to Thunderbird, when writing replies I get a double space gap How can I get it to revert to the old single space thanks Steve

I don't know if you have gotten help to solve this problem, but if not here is your answer: Go to Tools > Options > Composition > General tab. Here you need to uncheck where it says "When using paragraph format, the enter key creates a new paragraph. Volla - problem solved right?

But, the latest version of Thunderbird, I downloaded, last week does not have Composition after Options!

BUT, after fumbling around a bit, following someone, which I cannot get back, too, I did what the person said, and created a NEW message, then clicked on Tools, then Options, and up pops Composition. Lo-and-behold, I unchecked 'When using paragraph format..., then had to work with finding the 'OK' button, and she works.

Sorry folks, the website instructions DO NOT WORK!

Hi grimosilla, Composition isn't on the menu. You need to call up the Options dialog first (or for non-Windows users, it's the Preferences dialog). Then once you have that dialog open, you'll see Composition.

Thanks, jscher2000, but I found an easier way, from another, and that is to click on 'Write,' like YOU are creating a NEW message, then click on Tools, then Options, then comes up Composition, the go down and uncheck 'When using paragraph format....! The website instructions for Thunderbird are not correct!

I don't know if any Thunderbird developers read these posts, but this is such a huge problem for so many people. Please make this an option during install, and please make the toggle very obvious, e.g., a button on the control bar next to bold.

There are two main kinds of email uses - those that email in plain text, and those that email in html. This change crushed all the plain text email users. Very few I know even got this far - even saw it as an option you could turn off, let alone found such an obscure option. Many just left Thunderbird forever. I nearly did.

Something THIS serious, something that makes it literally impossible to type a text email, cannot be such a buried option. If any developers read these things, please change this. There are no other email clients I've encountered that do this. And even though I've found this thread explaining how to turn it off, I now constantly fear that the next time I have to install Thunderbird, I won't be able to find the option or this thread again.

Okay, jdiamond, I read it, but, what did you say?

I have been using Thunderbird, for years, and after downloading it, then installing it, did I begin to have a PROBLEM! Why Thunderbird would want to implement, I have no idea?

Thunderbird could very easily make two corrections: 1st, do not download it with the problem, and 2nd, change the instructions as to the HOW to correct it!

In the meantime, until Thunderbird makes two corrections, created a NEW message, then clicked on Tools, then Options, and up pops Composition. Lo-and-behold, I unchecked 'When using paragraph format..., then had to work with finding the 'OK' button, and she works.

grimosilla said

Okay, jdiamond, I read it, but, what did you say? I have been using Thunderbird, for years, and after downloading it, then installing it, did I begin to have a PROBLEM! Why Thunderbird would want to implement, I have no idea? Thunderbird could very easily make two corrections: 1st, do not download it with the problem, and 2nd, change the instructions as to the HOW to correct it! In the meantime, until Thunderbird makes two corrections, created a NEW message, then clicked on Tools, then Options, and up pops Composition. Lo-and-behold, I unchecked 'When using paragraph format..., then had to work with finding the 'OK' button, and she works.

Grimosilla, I agree with you COMPLETELY - I've been using Thunderbird for over a decade, and it's the worst design change that has happened in all that time. (Second worst was what they did to search, but at least it was still physically possible to send emails with that one.) But the reason I've stopped bothering to refer to the new paragraph error as a "bug" or "problem" is because the guy that implemented it actually WANTED Thunderbird to be this way - he thought it was a good thing - a new feature. So I think we are unlikely to see it truly fixed. I don't know what universe that developer comes from, but I wish more people involved with Thunderbird were actual USERS of email, so they'd understand what makes sense.

I'd like to make one last point about this, in case Thunderbird Developers ever read this.

The current issue is *more* than a style choice. I use Thunderbird for work, for professional use. For this use, my emails MUST be in plain text, and the almost always have more than one paragraph. There is no conceivable way a typical user could possibly figure out what was changing their paragraphs when they hit enter or how to fix it, making Thunderbird immediately unusuable for professional work. This happened to me.

There may be some audience who loves having their paragraphs autoformatted, but maybe that audience is sophisticated enough to know about formatting options and TURN IT ON. It should definitely NOT be on by default.

Again, this is not a style choice - it is a functional *requirement* for a lot of users. Users who cannot hope to turn it off. If I wanted fancy personal email letters that look like webpages I'd use Apple Mail instead.

This is a trivial fix to make - someone who knows the Thunderbird code just has to decide it's worth making it. I will be the first to *donate money* to any developer hero who pulls this off. All he has to do to claim the reward is make the default setting be normal text.

Right on, jdiamond, and I was not aware of this: ... But the reason I've stopped bothering to refer to this as a "bug" or "problem" is because the guy that implemented it actually WANTED Thunderbird to be this way...!" Thanks, and NOW, let me point out that once I updated Windows 10, last week, I have had more UNNECESSARY problems!

BTW, are you, or anyone reading this comment, do you know anything about the CroomeBrowser? An independent PC Tech told me about it last month, and said it was the 'best!' Of course, since I have been using Thunderbird for so long, I hate to switch!

Right on, again, jdiamond, to this: "...There may be some audience who loves having their paragraphs autoformatted, but maybe that audience is sophisticated enough to know about formatting options and TURN IT ON. It should definitely NOT be on by default...!

Unfortunately the fix, doesn't completely fix the problem. When pasting text, sometimes paragraphs replace carriage returns. To demonstrate, write a comment on a blog using discus . Insert some carriage returns, then copy and paste it to an email.

This problem is an example of unintended consequences. The best thing to do at this point is remove the new feature, redesign it and check it so it works both ways. When it's done, make sure it comes up the old way, and provide a switch to turn the new feature on. Thousands of people depend on things working predictable ways, when arbitrary changes are made it can be very disruptive, as the firestorm about this reveals.

Yes, you've summarized things completely. You can't understate how big an issue this was - before I found this fix I almost had to give up on using Thunderbird after 15 years - I was trying every email client in existence.

This also shows a failure of their inner testers - the "filter group" that presumably checks things before they go public.

I'm not sure when this was implemented but if you press [SHIFT] + [ENTER]. You should be able to start on the very next line without any double spacing.

Cheers, mr148

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christ1 said

In most HTML editors, pressing the Enter key is understood to end one paragraph and start another. HTML paragraphs usually have one blank line in between them.

Of course, Thunderbird is not an HTML editor and I've never used one, so I wouldn't know. There is still a huge META issue here - this needs to be an advanced option you can turn on if you understand this stuff. Because if you don't understand this stuff, you have virtually no chance of figuring out how to turn it off. Are there people on the Thunderbird staff who do normal/conventional emailing and can catch design issues like this?

The key is there are certain fundamental basic functionalities that people absolutely require to work, and if you mess with them, it's a huge issue. A classic example that comes to mind is when MS Office came out with a version where they hid the options to load a file or print it. (It was moved to a separate menu). Fortunately, they put it back.

mr148 said

I'm not sure when this was implemented but if you press [SHIFT] + [ENTER]. You should be able to start on the very next line without any double spacing. Cheers, mr148

Thanks mr148 - that's really useful to know. Now if they just reverse it, so pressing SHIFT+Enter creates a space, but normal enter is just enter. :)