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Today, when trying to reply to a message in Gmail, I was told that there is a new reply mode and then it was automatically enabled. I find it difficult to use, and it doesn't let you reply to the message in accordance with the netiquette I'm used to.

How do I opt-out of this brand new reply mode? It wasn't there yesterday.

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3
  • For further info see Google's Help page on Gmail's new compose and reply experience.
    – Andrew Lott
    Commented Aug 20, 2013 at 20:03
  • 2
    One step forward, two steps back - wish I could rollback too! In fact I wish I could rollback quite a few of the recent "improvements"!
    – MrWhite
    Commented Aug 20, 2013 at 23:07
  • @cnst Shift+clicking the Compose button also opens a full compose window in a new tab.
    – Simon
    Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 11:18

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
3

You can’t.

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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I use an old Gmail URL to get access to Gmail's retro UI; I use it all the time, actually.

I have the URL saved as a Bookmarklet for easy access:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/27pbkbpwk5yx/?f=1

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  • Please do not rollback.
    – phwd
    Commented Aug 27, 2013 at 15:43
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If you're willing to install a Google Chrome extension and share a link to it on Twitter or Facebook, there's "Old Compose".

From Lifehacker:

Finally, a fix for those of us who aren't fans of the redesigned Gmail compose window. The Old Compose extension brings back the old, familiar interface Google left behind.

Once installed (reboot Chrome after dragging the add-on to the extensions page), Old Compose works seamlessly in the background. That is, hit the compose button (the "c" keyboard shortcut) and the old message window you know and love is back. That means you'll get a wider compose area automatically (pop-out window still available), one-click access to add Cc and Bcc recipients, more formatting options at a glance, and so on.

Old Compose is free, but it requires you to share the link on Twitter or Facebook before you get the download. For some of us, getting the old Gmail back is more than worth it.

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2

In addition to Retro Compose (Chrome) and Old Compose (Chrome+Firefox), there is a third Chrome extension that is great too: Fix Compose for Gmail.

enter image description here

EDIT: As of 2014-01-23, Fix Compose for Gmail doesn't seem to work anymore. I switched to Retro Compose.

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  • 2
    Beware! The Retro Compose Chrome plugin contains undisclosed malicious activity. I've just looked at the code for that plugin and Amazon links are altered to add an affiliate id. The author has disguised this by using character codes, e.g. "\x61\x6D\x61\x7A\x6F\x6E\x2E\x63\x6F\x6D" which is "amazon.com". I've reported it to Google.
    – ᴇʟᴇvᴀтᴇ
    Commented Jul 2, 2014 at 10:06
  • @aetheria Thanks, interesting, I personally don't mind but yes that's good to know. You might also want to report it to Amazon as it's probably against their ToS as well.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Jul 2, 2014 at 16:58
  • I wouldn't have minded either if he had openly mentioned it rather than doing it surreptitiously.
    – ᴇʟᴇvᴀтᴇ
    Commented Jul 2, 2014 at 20:22
1

You can also use the Retro Compose extension from the Google Chrome Web Store

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1
  • 1
    Beware! The Retro Compose Chrome plugin contains undisclosed malicious activity. I've just looked at the code for that plugin and Amazon links are altered to add an affiliate id. The author has disguised this by using character codes, e.g. "\x61\x6D\x61\x7A\x6F\x6E\x2E\x63\x6F\x6D" which is "amazon.com". I've reported it to Google.
    – ᴇʟᴇvᴀтᴇ
    Commented Jul 2, 2014 at 10:06
-2

Short Answer: You can't.

Long Answer: There used to be an option to roll back, but even that is gone.

As far as I can tell, you're stuck with "progress". Sorry.

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1
  • Please remove this answer as the information is now deprecated as there exist Google Chrome and Firefox extensions to roll back.
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Commented Oct 6, 2013 at 18:16

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