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Cannot paste HTML into email since updating to latest Thunderbird 78.13.0 (64-bit)

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I have updated to the latest version on linux of Thunderbird -> 78.13.0 (64-bit). I have compose emails as HTML enabled.

When i reply to a HTML email i get the previous HTML correctly but if I go to Google Docs and copy a piece of formatted text such as a list or links in paragraphs using simple CTRL + C -> +V in Thunderbird then the formatting is all gone.

I have this problem only on Thunderbird as I tried on Libre Office Writer and the formatting is fine there so the problem is really not from the browser or Google Docs. Howerver, it works better if first i copy from Google Docs to Libre Office Writer and then to Thunderbird but still all the formatting is quite messed up as opposed to what I could do before.

Has anything changed in the latest version that would cause this problem?

I have updated to the latest version on linux of Thunderbird -> 78.13.0 (64-bit). I have compose emails as HTML enabled. When i reply to a HTML email i get the previous HTML correctly but if I go to Google Docs and copy a piece of formatted text such as a list or links in paragraphs using simple CTRL + C -> +V in Thunderbird then the formatting is all gone. I have this problem only on Thunderbird as I tried on Libre Office Writer and the formatting is fine there so the problem is really not from the browser or Google Docs. Howerver, it works better if first i copy from Google Docs to Libre Office Writer and then to Thunderbird but still all the formatting is quite messed up as opposed to what I could do before. Has anything changed in the latest version that would cause this problem?

All Replies (4)

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It has never been widely successful or recommended to paste from word processors with Ctrl+V. Use Paste Without Formatting, Ctrl+Shift+V.

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hi @sfhowes,

thank you for the reply. I have had no problems so far but also the + SHIFT shortcut is making no difference, instead it is actually making it worse. Ie if I paste to Writer and then use CTRL + SHIFT + V completely strips any formatting.

If I copy from Google Docs -> Writer -> Thunderbird it retains some formatting if I just use CTRL + V

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Have you tried using Safari or Firefox. I really think the issue will be what the browser places on the system clipboard, and nothing to do with Thunderbird or google docs.

I can not take issue with the formatting of what I copy in Windows using either chrome of Firefox however, fonts, size and colour all appear to copy correctly. What sort of formatting are you saying is messed up?

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hi Matt

Interesting that with Firefox i do not have the same problem. No such thing as official version of Safari for Linux but on Firefox copying the html from Google Docs and pasting it into Thunderbird works fine as opposed to Chrome. I use Chrome mainly so had not thought of checking Firefox

To answer your last question about the formatting that goes broken, links and lists are stripped out if you create a Google Doc containing them and then copy and paste them from Chrome ( Version 93.0.4577.63 (Official Build) (64-bit) ).

I guess I will have to live with this and use Firefox but it is not a behaviour that I saw before.