Reply header settings

This article was written for Thunderbird but also applies to Mozilla Suite / SeaMonkey (though some menu sequences may differ).

When you reply to an e-mail message or a news post, Thunderbird can add a header like:

On 01-01-2007 11:00 AM, Alf Aardvark wrote:

You can use preference settings to customize this header in some limited ways. There are also several extensions that provide more customization.

Preferences

Four preferences specify the text elements that make up the reply header, and two others affect how the header is formatted. Its recommended you use the Config editor (Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> General) to see and modify these settings. However, it doesn't let you enter a line break. If you need one directly edit user.js instead, adding \n as needed.

mailnews.reply_header_type

A code number that specifies the sequence of elements in the reply header. Each element is specified by a separate preference

Value	Elements	Example
0	mailnews.reply_header_originalmessage	-------- Original Message --------
1	authorwrote colon	Alf Aardvark wrote:
2 (default)	ondate separator authorwrote colon	On 01-01-2007 11:00 AM, Alf Aardvark wrote:
3	authorwrote separator ondate colon	Alf Aardvark wrote, on 01-01-2007 11:00 AM:

mailnews.reply_header_authorwrote

Default: %s wrote

Thunderbird replaces the %s with the author's name or e-mail address.

mailnews.reply_header_colon

Default: : (colon)

You can add more text here, before the colon or replacing the colon.

mailnews.reply_header_separator

Default: , (comma space)

You can add more text here, before the comma or replacing the comma.

mailnews.reply_header_ondate

Default: On %s

Thunderbird replaces the %s with the date and time.

mailnews.reply_header_locale

Default: empty

Optionally specify a locale for formatting the date and time—for example: en-US

mailnews.reply_header_originalmessage

Default: -------- Original Message --------

Changes the reply header to the text you specify if mailnews.reply_header_type is set to 0.

Extensions

The Change quote and reply format extension modifies the reply header, letting you insert a header with this format:

---- Original message -----
From: somebody@email_provider.com
To: you@email_provider.com
Subject: something
Date: 09/07/2007

It has options to add a CC field and strip off any inline attachments.

The Reset Quote Header extension lets you use Quote header templates to specify the format of the reply header. Unzip the extension with an archive program such as WinZip and extract the quoteHdr.txt (plain text messages) and quoteHdrHTML.txt (HTML messages) files. Edit them as desired, press the options button for the extension and browse to the location of the template file(s).

It currently supports tokens for the Author, Recipients, CC's, Sent Date, and Subject. It also lets you specify the number of To: lines in the compose message window or remove the headers when forwarding inline.

See also

• Modify Thunderbird settings
• Quote bars
• Quote only selected text when replying
• Reply above quoted message

External links

• RtoRe extension replaces the "Re: R: R: R: ..." created by prior replies using Outlook with "Re: ...".
• Bug 107884: discussion about adding a user interface for these settings
• Bug 140337: requesting the ability to include the email address of the author
• Bug 224811: mailnews.reply_header_originalmessage preference has no effect
• Bug 438375: default reply header should include timestamp (fixed)