[Users] [Bug 4070] New: Outlook HTML e-mails are converted to text by claws upon replying - badly

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

Bug ID: 4070
Summary: Outlook HTML e-mails are converted to text by claws
upon replying - badly
Classification: Unclassified
Product: Claws Mail
Version: 3.16.0
Hardware: PC
OS: Linux
Status: NEW
Severity: normal
Priority: P3
Component: UI/Message View
Assignee: ***@lists.claws-mail.org
Reporter: ***@free.fr

Created attachment 1900
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https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=1900&action=edit
HTML mail from Outlook

MS Outlooks likes to send HTML-only e-mails. Its HTML is a little strange and
each line is in a <p> section.
This isn't handled well by Claws. When Claws displays HTML as text, but more
importantly when it quotes an HTML e-mail in a reply, its conversion will add
extra newlines, making the text harder to read: there will be an empty line
between each line of the original e-mail.

I'm attaching an example HTML file generated by Outlook. This HTML file is
rendered "incorrectly" (as described above) by Claws, Links, Lynx and W3M, but
rendered correctly by Firefox. Attaching example outputs of Claws and Firefox
to show the difference. This is particularly painful when Claws quotes an
e-mail by prepending >.

The "fix" that I'm carrying locally is attached in a patch. It works for me but
may not be the most correct solution.

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

--- Comment #1 from Arthur HUILLET <***@free.fr> ---
Created attachment 1901
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https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=1901&action=edit
"correct" output by firefox

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

--- Comment #2 from Arthur HUILLET <***@free.fr> ---
Created attachment 1902
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https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=1902&action=edit
"incorrect" output by Claws and many others

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

--- Comment #3 from Arthur HUILLET <***@free.fr> ---
Created attachment 1903
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https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=1903&action=edit
My workaround patch

[Dave Howorth]

On Mon, 13 Aug 2018 08:15:26 +0000

Post by n***@thewildbeast.co.uk
https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070
Bug ID: 4070
Summary: Outlook HTML e-mails are converted to text by
claws upon replying - badly
Classification: Unclassified
Product: Claws Mail
Version: 3.16.0
Hardware: PC
OS: Linux
Status: NEW
Severity: normal
Priority: P3
Component: UI/Message View
Created attachment 1900
-->
https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=1900&action=edit
HTML mail from Outlook
MS Outlooks likes to send HTML-only e-mails. Its HTML is a little
strange and each line is in a <p> section.
This isn't handled well by Claws. When Claws displays HTML as text,
but more importantly when it quotes an HTML e-mail in a reply, its
there will be an empty line between each line of the original e-mail.
I'm attaching an example HTML file generated by Outlook. This HTML
file is rendered "incorrectly" (as described above) by Claws, Links,
Lynx and W3M, but rendered correctly by Firefox. Attaching example
outputs of Claws and Firefox to show the difference. This is
particularly painful when Claws quotes an e-mail by prepending >.
The "fix" that I'm carrying locally is attached in a patch. It works
for me but may not be the most correct solution.

Sorry, you're saying that MS Outlook sends email as broken HTML, that
claws and many other mailers deal with it correctly, and you suggest
that claws should now be deliberately broken to display what you regard
as a 'prettier' rendition of the broken mail that MS Outlook sent?

Shouldn't you instead be complaining to MS about them sending broken
emails and asking them to fix that?

[Wilhelm Boltz]

Am Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:20:48 +0100

Post by Dave Howorth
On Mon, 13 Aug 2018 08:15:26 +0000

Post by n***@thewildbeast.co.uk
https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070
[...]
I'm attaching an example HTML file generated by Outlook. This HTML
file is rendered "incorrectly" (as described above) by Claws, Links,
Lynx and W3M, but rendered correctly by Firefox. Attaching example
outputs of Claws and Firefox to show the difference. This is
particularly painful when Claws quotes an e-mail by prepending >.
The "fix" that I'm carrying locally is attached in a patch. It works
for me but may not be the most correct solution.

Sorry, you're saying that MS Outlook sends email as broken HTML, that
claws and many other mailers deal with it correctly, and you suggest
that claws should now be deliberately broken to display what you
regard as a 'prettier' rendition of the broken mail that MS Outlook
sent?
Shouldn't you instead be complaining to MS about them sending broken
emails and asking them to fix that?

+1

[Jerry]

Post by Wilhelm Boltz
Am Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:20:48 +0100

Post by Dave Howorth
On Mon, 13 Aug 2018 08:15:26 +0000

Post by n***@thewildbeast.co.uk
https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070
[...]
I'm attaching an example HTML file generated by Outlook. This HTML
file is rendered "incorrectly" (as described above) by Claws, Links,
Lynx and W3M, but rendered correctly by Firefox. Attaching example
outputs of Claws and Firefox to show the difference. This is
particularly painful when Claws quotes an e-mail by prepending >.
The "fix" that I'm carrying locally is attached in a patch. It works
for me but may not be the most correct solution.

Sorry, you're saying that MS Outlook sends email as broken HTML, that
claws and many other mailers deal with it correctly, and you suggest
that claws should now be deliberately broken to display what you
regard as a 'prettier' rendition of the broken mail that MS Outlook
sent?
Shouldn't you instead be complaining to MS about them sending broken
emails and asking them to fix that?

+1

MS Outlook has a "character limit" that can be set to achieve optimal line
length. This works fine for "text only" messages only.

Using Microsoft Outlook 16.0, I have composed and sent several messages of
various lengths in HTML format. They all display perfectly in claws-mail.

What settings are you using in claws-mail anyway? What version of Outlook are
we talking about here?

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

--- Comment #4 from Arthur HUILLET <***@free.fr> ---
I have been using my patch for a few months now and observed no problem. Would
you please merge it?

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

--- Comment #5 from wwp <***@claws-mail.org> ---
I'm still unsatisfied how CM shows text out of HTML, adding extraneous newlines
between paragraphs. Your patch is fixing some (newlines were added at every
single line) but not all, and until I (or somebody else) can afford spending
more time on this topic, I'd prefer holding the patch on for a while.

[n***@thewildbeast.co.uk]

https://www.thewildbeast.co.uk/claws-mail/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=4070

--- Comment #6 from Arthur HUILLET <***@free.fr> ---
Do you have examples of incorrect output that my patch isn't fixing? I can take
a look, but I haven't noticed any problem that my patch isn't fixing.

Either way, my current patch is a net improvement, and you can always revert it
later if a more complete fix comes in. As it is upstream, replies to
Outlook-sent e-mails look super crappy. This ought to be fixed for more than
just me.