Thunderbird Calendar: Allow Former Plain-Text Editor in Event Description Field

[Loggy7]

Short Version

In TB Calendar's Event Description field, I'd love it if the former plain-text editor could be resurrected via a new toggle/checkbox option in Settings (or in Config Editor), so we're not forced to use the new rich-text editor.

Long Version

I use Calendar Events a lot, especially the free-form Description box where I enter lots of notes and to-do's.

In TB 78.x, the big Description area/box/field was a plain-text editor. It worked *flawlessly*. (I'm on MacOS 11.7.x, btw.)

But when I upgraded to TB 91.x (and now 102.x) , it became a rich-text editor.

I don't mind that in itself, but the rich-text editor has a handful of bugs that make it difficult to copy-paste and edit the data in that Description box reliably. Very frustrating. I talk more about these bugs in this Mozilla Connect thread here.

It would be great if the former plain-text editor could still be an option, via a new toggle/checkbox control in Settings (or an entry in Config Editor). Since all the old plain-text-editor code must still exist (currently deactivated), presumably reactivating it as a user option shouldn't be a large development chore (I hope!), and would hopefully continue providing bug-free UI/editing for those of us on MacOS who don't need rich-text features.

Thank you for considering my humble feature request.

[MNixon]

Any Devs listening?

Hi @cal-user, @Loggy7 , @atown,

Concerning the use of "Provider for Google Calendar". I'm happy for you and everyone that will use it and be happy.

But, it is a workaround, to fix something that was fine before they changed it.

I remember the days when it was the best solution to get Lightning Calendar to work with Google Calendar in Thunderbird.

And I also remember the days when the wonderful Devs were able to get Lightning Calendar to work with Google Calendar without the addon.

It was warm and welcome change!
It worked fine for YEARS with no issues!

Now came the new version of Calendar that is borked, loses events and the event editor is crap. And it sure looks like upstream doesn't care.

I can't help asking...
Why do I need to install an addon to fix something that worked fine for years?

I'm very sad to sound so sour.

Forgive me,

MNixon.

[hornetster]

I am using Google Calendars (multiples..) in Thunderbird, but according to Thunderbird, I don't have any Addons/Extensions installed...?

I assume I must have, as I believe it isn't builtin (or is it these days?)

Help?

[Loggy7]

@atownThanks for directing me to the specific add-on. I looked it over, but apparently a lot of people there (their discussion forum and add-on reviews) are reporting syncing problems/failure when using an Android phone. Darn, I use Android (and don't use Google Calendar).

I really hope the Mozilla devs get working on this TB Calendar bug soon. Just trying to fix the rich-text editor isn't enough (there are too many bugs). Instead, switching back to plain-text (or allowing users to opt back to plain-text) is far superior of a solution since we've all experienced how perfectly it worked all these years until rich-text was launched and editing became a disaster.

[Loggy7]

@hornetster  Calendar has been built-in to TB for the last few years. Before that it was an add-on.

Everyone: Please be sure to click the thumbs-up/Kudos button in my original post up top. The more people do that, the more visibility this unfortunate bug will get and increased likelihood the devs will fix/revert it.

[C-HelpH]

Also I'd like to request an option e.g. in settings, to deactivate HTML / Rich-Text in Calendar-Events (Description field).
Either <br> or other HTML-tags are annoying and much less useful than e.g. markup my Description-texts in MarkDown-Style!!

Also deletion of BLANK signs at the end of a Calendar Entry is not only unnecessary, but not explainable with common sense, is it?
The old type Calender Entrys could be handeled ... was just PERFECT!

[xyr11]

Still no plaintext editor in Thunderbird 128.4.2esr in Windows 11.