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default layout of tables and images

  • 3 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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Dear reader, im using Thunderbird now for yearssssss and very happy with it !

But all the time when i insert a table I am setting the border thickness to 1. Everytime I insert an image into my email I am setting the border to 1.

This is so annoying...is there a way to set those border values (or in general the layout of a table or image) by default to 1 ?

Would love to hear that !

Bye, Ivo

Dear reader, im using Thunderbird now for yearssssss and very happy with it ! But all the time when i insert a table I am setting the border thickness to 1. Everytime I insert an image into my email I am setting the border to 1. This is so annoying...is there a way to set those border values (or in general the layout of a table or image) by default to 1 ? Would love to hear that ! Bye, Ivo

All Replies (3)

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I don't understand. The initial pane for setting a table defaults to a border setting of 1.

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well, when you paste a table from Excel into Thunderbird I dont have a border setting of 1.

Even when integrating an image the border is not set....

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ivo.bleylevens said

well, when you paste a table from Excel into Thunderbird I dont have a border setting of 1. Even when integrating an image the border is not set....

When you copy and paste a table from Excel (OR any MS product) it contains a load of ms html css code and you may find that not all of that code is accurately displayed in Thunderbird or indeed in any product that is not owned/created by Microsoft. This is expected because Microsoft have their own html css settings that are very specific to Microsoft products. MS Excel, like all MS Office products are very specialised and offer far more functionality than offered in just an email product.

This is the reason why emails have the abilitiy to add attachments. If you want the recipient to be able to see exactly what you see, then you add the excel file as an attachment and then the recipient can open that attachment using the appropriate software. Please note they may not have MS Excel and so might use a program like OpenOffice Calc which will try to it's best rendition of the code.

If you want to change the border: double click on the outline of table and you should see the 'Table properties' window allowing you to modify the settings.

If copy pasting a load of text from eg: MS Word then I suggest you strip the formatting: Edit > Paste without formatting

This has the added bonus of removing all the bloated css code that MS products like to stuff into an email. You can then apply any required formatting.

It is also worth noting that MS products use points for the size of fonts as Thunderbird uses pixels. eg: 12pt = 16px


Always remember, whatever you see in the email you are composing, it may not neccessarilly look the same on the recipient computer. The recipients computer may have different font or have settings to increase/decrease the fonts. eg: My settings remove all small fonts, medium setting on my computer may be greater than on yours. I may also choose to override and remove any colours or force tables to be centralised etc etc or even not display any formatting. So when composing an email it's worth baring this in mind. Thunderbird composing is designed to be suitable for all people using different OS and with different visual requirements.