Copy/Paste original text without linebreaks in Gmail?

Question

Sometimes after I write an email I want to go back and copy/paste the text. In my sentbox after opening the email I get the text formatted to a width. In the reply it is also formatted to a specific width.

How do I get the text in a way so I can copy/paste it to a Word document as normal paragraphs instead of a Gmail formatted width email?

Answer 1

You can simply click Forward (or press F if you have Keyboard shortcuts enabled) and then the Plaint Text button from the toolbar.

Or if your text is already in Plain Text, then GMail by default breaks long lines in a specific width by adding end line character. In order to remove these breaks you have to do it manually from Word (unless you have any other text editors that have this as an option) like this:

1. Select one paragraph
2. Ctrl+H to Search and Replace
3. Put ^p in the Find field
4. Put a single space in the Replace With field
5. Click the Replace All button
6. Continue with the next paragraph

Answer 2

Have you tried "Show Original" from the message drop-down menu? That gives you a monospace font view of the entire e-mail message including headers.

Answer 3

This is my experience on my computer (IE7) and may not apply to your situation. A simple copy and paste. I don't even have to open the Email. I use my mouse to highlight text desired, right click copy, open a word document and paste.