How can I annotate reply emails without messing up numbered lists?
When I reply to an email, I like to add my comments in line, inbetween the lines and paragraphs of the received email. Thunderbird does a very nice job with this mostly.
However, when an email contains a numbered list of items, eg
> 1. this > 2. that > 3. the othere
And I then try to reply to item one in the list, I end up with the following:
> 1. this here is my comment > 1. that > 2. the othere
It seems as though Thunderbird needs to 'freeze' numbered lists in such cases -- Thunderbird should never automatically renumber items in cases of text that was received from another sender.
Is there any way I can make my email reply without the list item numbers being reset?
Wšykne wótegrona (4)
All lists (numbered/bulletted) are contiguous. When you press 'Return' key to got o new line the second is created and numbered accordingly.
When you create a space between list items for your comment, you are breaking the list. You are separating the first item from the rest of the list, therefore creating two lists separated by a paragraph/sentence, hence the numbering adapts to show the two lists.
This means that after adding your comment after the first item, you have to change the 'second list' (which I've made bold below) so that it starts with the number '2'. Thus appearing to be still in original numbering order. > 1. this here is my comment > 1. that > 2. the other
Position the cursor just before 'that'
- 'Format' > 'List Properties'
- List type: 'Numbered list'
- Number Style: 'Automatic'
- Start at: 2
- select 'change entire list'
- click on OK
Then proceed in same manner with next in list. add comment to second 'that' item Position the cursor just before 'other' item
- 'Format' > 'List Properties'
- List type: 'Numbered list'
- Number Style: 'Automatic'
- Start at: 3
- select 'change entire list'
- click on OK
Hmm, that's OK if one is responding to one or two items in a list, but it's very cumbersome if replying to long lists of comments. I think it's a bug, really, for a numbered list that was received from another sender to be renumbers when it's part of quoted text. If there's no built-in fix for this, I report it as a bug.
It is not a bug. It is not a Word Processing package which is entirely different. It is html.
When you click on 'Reply' all the html code that came with original email is copied exactly into your reply email and you have full editing rights to everything because it is now a part of your email.
If you choose to break up a list as described in my previous comment then the html code reflects this and you would have to modify the html code so it appears as you require.
However, there is another way which may server you better, so give it a try. Use 'Plain Text' instead of HTML. Hold down 'Shift' key and click on 'Reply' button This opens in 'Plain Text' mode, but just for that email. You should be able to edit as you prefer.
I think this might be the "least effort" option but I haven't tested it (TBird not on this machine): click at the end of a numbered item and press Shift+Enter twice instead of Enter. Shift+Enter inserts line breaks within the numbered item (or within the current paragraph). Then you should be able to type without breaking the list. You could use a different color or other indication that it's your comment rather than part of the original item.