Thunderbird drives me nuts with its inability to set a line length.
(I turned off the HTML long ago which was incapable of correct line feeds).
gVim can set line length, but I can't figure out how yet as this should work but it doesn't "do anything" unless you're typing already on the line.
 :set textwidth=80
The good news is this doesn't truncate words when it works but it
doesn't really work because you have to be _editing_ the line to work.
What I do now every time I send a message that has to look nice from Thunderbird is write it up in Thunderbird first. Then I cut it out of the Thunderbird message (which usually has quoted context that I leave alone).
Then I paste that new content into Windows gVim.
And then I manually adjust each line's line length to look good.
Then I paste it back into the brain dead Thunderbird.
Then it looks the way I want (which is simply 80 character line lengths).
Obviously this sucks.
There must be a better way (and no, HTML styles is NOT that better way).
In Linux you can use the ":!fmt" command to format to 80 characters.
It too will truncate at a space (and not in the middle of a word).
But Windows doesn't have the capability (as far as I know), unless, of course, I go back 30 years to install CYGWIN or the like (which is crazy).
I can also use WSL if I install it but really all I'm asking for is one of two basic switches, one in Thunderbird which almost certainly doesn't exist, the other in gVim which probably exists - but I don't know how to use it.
Is there a setting to make Thunderbird line lengths 80 characters?
Is there a way to essentially !fmt Windows gVim to 80 characters?
Is there a setting to make Thunderbird line lengths 80 characters?
Is there a way to essentially !fmt Windows gVim to 80 characters?
Thunderbird drives me nuts with its inability to set a line length.
(I turned off the HTML long ago which was incapable of correct line feeds).
gVim can set line length, but I can't figure out how yet as this should
work but it doesn't "do anything" unless you're typing already on the line.
:set textwidth=80
The good news is this doesn't truncate words when it works but it
doesn't really work because you have to be _editing_ the line to work.
What I do now every time I send a message that has to look nice from Thunderbird is write it up in Thunderbird first. Then I cut it out of the Thunderbird message (which usually has quoted context that I leave alone).
Then I paste that new content into Windows gVim.
And then I manually adjust each line's line length to look good.
Then I paste it back into the brain dead Thunderbird.
Then it looks the way I want (which is simply 80 character line lengths).
Obviously this sucks.
There must be a better way (and no, HTML styles is NOT that better way).
In Linux you can use the ":!fmt" command to format to 80 characters.
It too will truncate at a space (and not in the middle of a word).
But Windows doesn't have the capability (as far as I know), unless, of course, I go back 30 years to install CYGWIN or the like (which is crazy).
I can also use WSL if I install it but really all I'm asking for is one of two basic switches, one in Thunderbird which almost certainly doesn't
exist, the other in gVim which probably exists - but I don't know how to
use it.
Is there a setting to make Thunderbird line lengths 80 characters?
Is there a way to essentially !fmt Windows gVim to 80 characters?
gVim can set line length, but I can't figure out how yet as this should
work but it doesn't "do anything" unless you're typing already on the line.
:set textwidth=80
The good news is this doesn't truncate words when it works but it
doesn't really work because you have to be _editing_ the line to
work.
3. You can of course rewrap previously typed lines, with the gq
command. Again, the rewrap inserts hard returns.
It's probably best to set a line length (textwidth in vim) and then set
a wrapmargin from that line length, i.e.
:set textwidth=80
:set wrapmargin=8
So you have a textwidth of 80 characters, but the text starts wrapping
at column 72.
You probably want to be able to reformat a section while you're composing/editing. Use
:set fo=tcrq
Now you can select a section by Ctrl-V and moving the cursor down over
as many lines of text as you want and then use 'gq' (without quotes) to reformat the selected lines within the given textwidth and wrapmargin.
I *start* in vim, because it's a real editor unlike the Thunderbird's built-in composer, and then I copy-and-paste the text into Thunderbird's compose window. (I often do it via an intermediate copy from Notepad, so close vim, open the textfile in Notepad and copy-and-paste from Notepad
to Thunderbird.)
Some way, mine is set to 72 characters, but I don't know where.
Thunderbird drives me nuts with its inability to set a line length.
(I turned off the HTML long ago which was incapable of correct line
feeds).
gVim can set line length, but I can't figure out how yet as this
should work but it doesn't "do anything" unless you're typing already
on the line. :set textwidth=80
The good news is this doesn't truncate words when it works but it
doesn't really work because you have to be _editing_ the line to
work.
What I do now every time I send a message that has to look nice from
Thunderbird is write it up in Thunderbird first. Then I cut it out
of the Thunderbird message (which usually has quoted context that I
leave alone).
Then I paste that new content into Windows gVim. And then I manually
adjust each line's line length to look good.
Then I paste it back into the brain dead Thunderbird. Then it looks
the way I want (which is simply 80 character line lengths).
Obviously this sucks. There must be a better way (and no, HTML styles
is NOT that better way).
In Linux you can use the ":!fmt" command to format to 80 characters.
It too will truncate at a space (and not in the middle of a word).
But Windows doesn't have the capability (as far as I know), unless,
of course, I go back 30 years to install CYGWIN or the like (which is
crazy).
I can also use WSL if I install it but really all I'm asking for is
one of two basic switches, one in Thunderbird which almost certainly
doesn't exist, the other in gVim which probably exists - but I don't
know how to use it.
Is there a setting to make Thunderbird line lengths 80 characters? Is
there a way to essentially !fmt Windows gVim to 80 characters?
On Sun, 11 Feb 2024 12:56:32 -0800, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote
3. You can of course rewrap previously typed lines, with the gq
command. Again, the rewrap inserts hard returns.
I can't get "gq" to work. It says "Not an editing command :gq". Can
you explain how it would work in a typical gvim session?
1. I compose a lengthy diatribe in gvim without line length worries.
2. I've pasted extra stuff into that treatise, with other line lengths.
3. Now I want to format the whole mess into nice neat lines using
:set textwidth=80
:set wrapmargin=8
What exactly do I do because everything I've just tried doesn't do it.
I can't get "gq" to work. It says "Not an editing command :gq".
Oliver, I use SeaMonkey Suite, which is based (a long time ago) on
Mozilla Suite which is were both Firefox and Thunderbird branched from
(a long time ago) .....
However on my SeaMonkey Suite, if I wanted to change the line length,
I'd go to Edit -> Preferences -> Mail & Newsgroups -> Composition ....
and, on that page, I can set the 'Wrap plain text messages at XXX
characters'
I think (but don't quote me) in Thunderbird the Preferences screen
appears on the 'Options' drop-down menu.
I can't get "gq" to work. It says "Not an editing command :gq".
Can you explain how it would work in a typical gvim session?
1. I compose a lengthy diatribe in gvim without line length worries.
2. I've pasted extra stuff into that treatise, with other line lengths.
3. Now I want to format the whole mess into nice neat lines using
:set textwidth=80
:set wrapmargin=8
What exactly do I do because everything I've just tried doesn't do it.
as far as I know it's the only way --
one must into Settings > General > Config Editor and set
mailnews.wraplength.
The command is gq
On Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:46:33 -0800, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote
as far as I know it's the only way --
one must into Settings�> General > Config Editor and set
mailnews.wraplength.
Mine is set to 72 and it doesn't do shit so there must
be more to it than just that for sending email that
you want to be really formatted to 80 characters
(with intelligent breaks at spaces and punctuation).
If you want to know what any setting of mine is, just ask
as I would love for Thunderbird's editor NOT to be sending
long lines when I don't want it to be sending them.
Thunderbird Hamburger > Settings > Search for "Config editor". mailnews.wraplength = 72
On Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:46:33 -0800, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote
as far as I know it's the only way -- one must into Settings�> General
Config Editor and set mailnews.wraplength.
Mine is set to 72 and it doesn't do shit so there must
be more to it than just that for sending email that you want to be
really formatted to 80 characters (with intelligent breaks at spaces and punctuation).
If you want to know what any setting of mine is, just ask
as I would love for Thunderbird's editor NOT to be sending
long lines when I don't want it to be sending them.
Thunderbird Hamburger > Settings > Search for "Config editor". mailnews.wraplength = 72
Thunderbird Hamburger > Settings > Search for "Config editor".
mailnews.wraplength = 72
mailnews.display.disable_format_flowed_support true plain_text.wrap_long_lines true
mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed false
Thunderbird Hamburger > Settings > Search for "Config editor".
mailnews.wraplength = 72
Try also setting "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed" to false, that seems
to work, sort of.
On Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:46:33 -0800, Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote
as far as I know it's the only way -- one must into Settings�> General
Config Editor and set mailnews.wraplength.
Mine is set to 72 and it doesn't do shit so there must
be more to it than just that for sending email that you want to be
really formatted to 80 characters (with intelligent breaks at spaces and punctuation).
If you want to know what any setting of mine is, just ask
as I would love for Thunderbird's editor NOT to be sending
long lines when I don't want it to be sending them.
Thunderbird Hamburger > Settings > Search for "Config editor". mailnews.wraplength = 72
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