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Apparently Google wants to break Gmail again: They switched off the old editor today for everyone and made their new editor (see this help page) mandatory which does top-posting and allows no fixed text font.

How can I get the old plain text editor back? I found no config option for that.

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  • Not possible; there is no way to get it back. Commented Aug 15, 2013 at 14:39
  • The Retro Compose extension for Google Chrome can bring it back
    – cwd
    Commented Sep 20, 2013 at 14:57

2 Answers 2

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It cannot be disabled, but there is a great new extension (currently just for Chrome, more on the way apparently) that gives you the old compose UI experience back. It can be found here:

oldcompse.com

...or link to the Chrome webstore if you don't want to be coerced into tweeting/facebooking about it

I just tried it, and it seriously works :-)

Attached image is an example of something I just wrote....

Gmail compose experience with new extensional installed under Chrome

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  1. Click on the arrow icon in the lower-right corner of the Compose window;
    enter image description here

  2. Choose Plain text mode form the menu.
    enter image description here


As for switching back permanently to the old compose, it won’t be possible anymore:

Now that that option is available, we're saying farewell to the old compose and switching everyone to the new compose over the next few days.

Source.

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  • That's not the old editor. Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 12:46
  • You want the old editor or the plain text editor?
    – Alex
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 12:47
  • The old plain text editor. That switch is needed for every mail and it still does top-posting. Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 12:48
  • No, it isn’t, once you choose it, it will switch to plain text for every email you compose until you switch it back to rich text.
    – Alex
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 12:49
  • 1
    Not exactly their fault; the add-on author(s) should update their app to make it work with the new Gmail compose system.
    – Alex
    Commented Aug 14, 2013 at 12:56

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