Composer and signatures

New mail (Ctrl+N), Reply (Ctrl+R), Reply all (Ctrl+Shift+R) and Forward (Ctrl+Shift+F) open the composer. The composer never opens by itself.

Formatting#

The toolbar has a short list of email-safe fonts and sizes, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, ten named colours (or Automatic, which sends no colour so the recipient's dark mode still works), bulleted and numbered lists, indent, alignment, links (http, https and mailto), quotes and simple tables of up to 10 by 10 cells. Typing - , * or 1. at the start of a line starts a list. Undo and redo cover text and formatting together.

A formatted message goes out as plain text plus a generated HTML version, so every recipient can read it. A message with no formatting goes out as plain text only, exactly as typed. More in the toolbar holds Preview (the message as the recipient gets it) and Switch to plain text, which asks first; Ctrl+Z brings the formatting back.

Pasted HTML from a browser, Word or Outlook keeps only what the composer can hold; Ctrl+Shift+V pastes plain text. Settings > General > Compose sets whether new messages start formatted or as plain text, and their font, size and colour.

Web fonts, a free colour picker, highlight, headings, images in the body and HTML source editing are out of scope.

High importance and Low importance in the toolbar send the message with the standard Importance and X-Priority headers.

Recipients#

Addresses in To, Cc and Bcc become chips when you type a comma, a semicolon or Enter, or leave the field. A wrong address shows in the error style before you send, and a chip is removed with its x or Backspace. Cc and Bcc are links at the end of the To field.

After two characters, up to six suggestions show under the field: your contacts first, then groups (a group adds all its members), then addresses seen in your mail. Up and Down pick one, Enter or Tab take it, Esc closes the list.

Attachments#

Attach files from the dialog (Ctrl+Shift+A), drop them from File Explorer on the window, or copy them in Explorer and press Ctrl+V in the composer. A line above the attachments counts their size as sent ("Attachments 18.4 MB of 25 MB"); it turns amber from 80% and red over 25 MB, when Send is off.

Signatures#

Signatures are named and kept in one list in Settings > Signatures. A signature is formatted text with at most one small logo (PNG or JPEG, up to 200 KB), sent as an embedded part of the message.

Each account has two defaults, one for new messages and one for replies and forwards; either can be None. The default goes under your text, above any quoted text. The composer's Signature menu replaces it (Ctrl+Z puts the old one back), and choosing another From account swaps it while you have not changed it.

Drafts#

Drafts are saved on this computer two seconds after you stop typing, and at once when the composer closes. Saved drafts are also copied to the account's Drafts folder on the server, at most every 30 seconds while you type; each new copy replaces the previous one. Drafts in the navigation lists them. A draft saved on another device or in webmail opens read only, with Edit to continue it here.

Discard asks first when the draft has anything you wrote, and removes the server's copy too.

Sending#

Send closes the composer and the message waits in the Outbox for the undo-send delay (5 seconds by default; off, 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds in Settings > General), with Undo. A copy of exactly what was sent is saved to Sent.

A message that surely did not reach the server (no connection, or the server said "try later") stays in the Outbox and is tried again by itself, a few times. One the server refused is marked failed, with a plain sentence about why and the server's reply under Details, and offers Edit, Retry and Discard. If the connection broke during a send, the message may or may not have gone out: it is marked as such and never sent again by itself.

Before sending, a bar asks once when the subject is empty, or when your text mentions an attachment but nothing is attached.