SillyDog701

[frednow]

I don't know what it's even called, but it's the "So and so wrote on such and such date" thingamabob before the quoted email to which one is responding. Quote header? I dunno.

Anyway, I just started using Thunderbird 1.0.2 running on a Mac, OS 10.3.9, having come over from Netscape 7.0.1 running on a Mac, OS 9.2.2. And the "quote header," or whatever it's called, simply says "So and so wrote," no time or date. How do I get it to add the time and date of the original email to which I'm replying?

Also, back when I was using NS7.0.1 someone here told me how to make a custom thingamabob in which I could add a clever phrase like "On such and such time and date, so and so wrote with extreme intelligence:" Can I do that in Tbird?

Thanks in advance,
Fred

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/312.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/312

[akbash]

The reply header thingamabob format can be selected from a small list of predefined forms by setting the preference mailnews.reply_header_type to an integer

1: author
2: date separator author colon
3: author separator date colon

The format of each of the four components can be overridden by their own individual string preferences, listed here with their English defaults:

author: mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote "%s wrote"
separator: mailnews.reply_header_separator ", "
date: mailnews.reply_header_ondate "On %s"
colon: mailnews.reply_header_colon ":"

Where %s is replaced by data from the original message.

The program contains no UI for setting these preferences. Set them by using a text editing program on the file prefs.js in your Thunderbird user profile.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050513 Firefox/1.0+

[frednow]

Thanks for your reply, akbash.

Since there is no UI for this setting (and why isn't there, btw?) and because I'm a little green without one, can you or someone else give me a more dumbed down step by step recipe for doing this?

I'm sure your instructions are perfectly clear for someone accustomed to doing that kind of editing, but I immediately developed a blinding headache when contemplating your advice.

Thanks again,
Fred

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/312.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/312

[akbash]

I'm sure your instructions are perfectly clear for someone accustomed to doing that kind of editing, but I immediately developed a blinding headache when contemplating your advice.

You should see me when I'm being obtuse.

There's a file named [tt]prefs.js[/tt], probably in the directory [tt]~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<random name>[/tt] or maybe in [tt]~/Library/Application Support/Thunderbird/<ad infinitum>[/tt]. You'll find it. There's only one of them. Exit Thunderbird. Open that file using TextEdit from Go -> Applications. Take two aspirin. Right underneath the comment block that reads

/* Do not edit this file.
...
*/

add these four lines:

user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_type", 3);
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote", "%s, may his or her bunions be praised");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_ondate", "on the propitious day of %s");
user_pref("mailnews.reply_header_colon", " I harbour no ill will against for saying:");

Come back any time Thunderbird isn't running and add salt to taste.

As for why these things aren't part of the UI, you would be amazed at the configurability of all the Mozilla/Netscape products. They just didn't have time to make UI for it all. Settings like this one that aren't requested very often will probably never see daylight.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050513 Firefox/1.0+

[frednow]

Thanks very much, akbash. That did the trick.

Now, if only Thunderbird would implement signature control like Apple's Mail program, that is, offer a little pull down menu to select various signatures, or, most importantly, no signature.

In Tbird, the only way to turn the signature on and off is to use the preferences interface as a proxy, and if you need to switch between different signatures, it's an additional step to browse to the alternative.

Inelegant, to say the least.

I couldn't find anywhere on the Mozilla site to make an official suggestion. Is there any chance this kind of thing could be implemented?

Fred

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/312.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/312

[akbash]

I couldn't find anywhere on the Mozilla site to make an official suggestion.

The rather intimidating public bug database serves as a place to report bugs and drop off enhancement ideas. I believe you're thinking of bug 73567: Ability to select from multiple signatures. Someone first thought to make this request official four years ago. By all appearances it's a relatively popular one.

Now I have to repeat my usual preemptive admonishment about adding a comment in the bug report, declaring that you too would like to see it fixed. I assure you the developers hate that. Besides, someone has already done just that and a fine job of it too. What's missing from this system is a public interface for lashing the developers into actually getting to work on one's favorite bug. But I wouldn't count on them implementing that any time soon The tepid practical mechanism in place is to add your vote to the bug.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050513 Firefox/1.0+

[frednow]

The tepid practical mechanism in place is to add your vote to the bug.

That seemed the best way to go given the many comments already posted. But then I discovered I needed a Bugzilla account to vote, and maybe someday I will, but it seems like the point is sufficiently made, including more than one suggestion for exactly what I'd like to see: a dedicated icon for signatures, which activates a menu showing one's various signatures or the option for no signature. If the developers do it, they do it ... one more vote won't tip the scale.

Thanks again for the advice.

Fred

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4