Gmail: Is it possible to change the size of the reply window in rich-text mode?

Question

When composing, my text area is usually large enough, but in replies I seem to have about 17-lines visible, and almost always have issues when scrolling to see what was typed before (either response or my own text).

Is there any way to resize the text area for the reply box when in (my preferred) rich-text mode?

In plain-text mode, the reply window can be resized (and is much larger initially, anyway):

Okay, I use a custom signature, and if I deleted that, I'd gain another 5 lines -- but being able to custom set the size of the rich-text reply window would be best.

Answer 1

It's not really possible, unless there is a script to do it. One thing that you can try, just to get some more lines inside the editor, is to Reply (or Compose) in a separate window. You can achieve that by holding Shift and clicking on Reply button (or Compose).

Answer 2

install this script: http://userstyles.org/styles/userjs/27916/Bigger%20Gmail%20compose%20box%20(tested%202010-05-04).user.js

from website: http://userstyles.org/styles/27916

Answer 3

You can resize the editor window by changing the iframe's height. The following steps are specific to Chrome, but you can probably do this with any browser. Also, this only works when replying, since when composing a new email, the editor window automatically resizes depending on the size of the browser window.

• right-click anywhere in the editor window and select "inspect element"

• find the iframe element in the DOM path at the bottom of the developer tools window

  

• set the iframe's height by adding something like "height: 100em" to the iframe's style

  

Answer 4

I remember the first version of Google Chrome allow you to resize any multi-line text input form. It still works on most pages except gmail.

I believe there was a firefox greasemonkey script that does this also, if it's absolutely necessary.

Answer 5

Gmail as of august 2013.

1. Reply to email.
2. Hold shift and press the normal reply button.
3. Hold shift and press the expand window button.

Now you have a fully popped out reply screen.

Answer 6

Workaround that makes the window larger, but you still don't control it. After getting a separate window for the reply, In the reply portion of the window, click on the ... ellipses to show the earlier emails in thread. The composition portion of the window will expand to show more information. As you type your reply, the earlier part of the thread will slowly shift down and out of the visible portion and more of your reply is visible.

Answer 7

In Chrome at least you can widen then To or CC field and the reply text grows with it. This doesn't help height, only width. And thanks for the new window tip, I'll use that.