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Thunderbird Dark Theme Not Applying to Message Pane / Opened Email

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  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu Queue

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I'm having an issue where I'm noticing that Thunderbird is not applying a dark theme to messages that I receive. Most messages show up with a white background. I've tried adjusting the colors under composition, which doesn't do anything for the inbox emails. The only thing that makes a difference is if I change General>Fonts & Colors>Colors>and change the override to "Always", the inbox messages do turn dark as intended, but at the same time it applies a high contrast theme to the client, which is not what I'm looking for (undoubtedly better than nothing). I've tried using Dark Reader, but whenever I click on an email, it flashes white before it turns dark. Any help is appreciated!

I'm having an issue where I'm noticing that Thunderbird is not applying a dark theme to messages that I receive. Most messages show up with a white background. I've tried adjusting the colors under composition, which doesn't do anything for the inbox emails. The only thing that makes a difference is if I change General>Fonts & Colors>Colors>and change the override to "Always", the inbox messages do turn dark as intended, but at the same time it applies a high contrast theme to the client, which is not what I'm looking for (undoubtedly better than nothing). I've tried using Dark Reader, but whenever I click on an email, it flashes white before it turns dark. Any help is appreciated!
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All Replies (2)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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If people send you emails that contain formatting this means they contain html css code which dictates what you see. This has nothing to do with the theme you use. It's how they created/designed the email. It means you are choosing to view emails in HTML.

Only plain text emails lack formatting and therefore are usually a simple black text on white background or vis versa depending upon your theme and any other settings you have selected.

One option: choose to view everything as Plain Text or Simple HTML.

  • View > Message Body as > Plain Text or Simple HTML.

However, if you want to override the formatting which all your senders have set up in the emails they send to you then do the following.

I'm assuming you are using the thunderbird 'Dark' theme.

  • Settings > General
  • scroll to 'Language & Appearance' section
  • Click on 'Colours'
  • Set 'Text' colour as white
  • Set 'Background' colour as Black
  • Do not select/uncheck 'Use system colours'
  • 'Override the colours.....' Select 'Always'
  • click on 'OK'
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Thanks for your response!

Yes, I am using the dark theme. From my experience using Outlook and Google web mail, I've seen that dark themes can be applied to these types of emails, even if the sender has html code to dictate what you see. But I understand the limitation there.

I've done what you said with changing the color to black and changing the override to always, as I had mentioned briefly in my original post, but I wasn't happy with the high contrast highlights it puts all over the clients when I have it enabled.

I hope that in the future they will add native support for the dark theme to override the html css.

Thanks again!