Bug 505896

Summary: kmails adds newline to each line when replying to html message, resulting in huge wasted space
Product: [Applications] kmail2 Reporter: Alexandre Bonneau <alexandre.bonneau>
Component: composerAssignee: kdepim bugs <pim-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: normal CC: arnaudvillemain, ferry.toth
Priority: NOR    
Version First Reported In: 6.3.3   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Debian testing   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Alexandre Bonneau 2025-06-21 07:28:47 UTC 
SUMMARY
When replying to an html message, kmail mangle the previous formatted responses by adding the '>' characters on each line (it would be great to have an option to do not touch that for html threads, but that's for another bug report).
Now, if you answer to an html email, and each time you answer to the mail thread, kmail add a newline for each line in the previous mail, multiplying it's line by two each time.
You can imagine how big (and how many wasted space) the mail become after only a few back and forth.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Answer to an html mail, using the rich text format
2. Continue answering into the same thread

OBSERVED RESULT
Each time kmail adds a newline to each line of the mail

EXPECTED RESULT
Do not add the extra lines, just use the content of the previous emails as is

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 6.12.30-amd64
KDE Plasma Version: 4:6.3.5-1

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This bug is not new, and is at least 10+ years old.
Comment 1 Ferry 2025-08-13 13:30:13 UTC 
Yes this is not new. I have the same in 5.24.5, I don't know when this exactly happened first, but it certainly is a regression, and also made me switching back to Evolution (for now).

Are there only 2 of us who receive html mails and want to reply in the same format? Hard to believe.

But messing up the reply of a html e-mail makes us look unprofessional and replying as text is very nerdy.
Comment 2 surcouf 2025-09-17 13:50:15 UTC 
Hello,
i face the same issue using KMail Version 5.22.3 (22.12.3) on a debian bookworm machine.
Comment 3 Ferry 2025-11-05 09:39:34 UTC 
This appears to be a duplicate of #462895

After updating to latest Kubuntu (25.10) the problem persists. I now have:

Kontact: 6.5.1 (25.08.1)
KDE Frameworks: 6.17.0
Qt: 6.9.2 gebruiken en gebouwd tegen 6.9.2
Ubuntu 25.10 (Wayland)
Build ABI: x86_64-little_endian-lp64
Kernel: linux 6.17.0-6-generic