Images in message list

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tanstaafl
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Re: Images in message list

Post by tanstaafl »

I got a email from TurboTax that also had a glyph (solid blue circle) in the subject. No side effects. It was Subject: =?UTF-8?B?8J+UtSBVc2VyIElEIGFuZCBFYXN5IFJlZnVuZCBFbmNsb3NlZC4=?=

I tried to follow the instructions in http://www.infocus.org/gmail-headers but Gmail Labs no longer has a insert image lab, and there doesn't seem to be a corresponding Gmail add-on. I followed the instructions to get a URL for an image to insert but could not figure out a way to insert it into the subject. Whenever I selected the Subject, entered some text and then tried to insert a link it inserted the link in the message body instead.

I eventually found https://productforums.google.com/forum/ ... iPTGbQPsiI (8/29/13) which says "The lab is no longer available because "Inserting Images" is now incorporated into Compose. Previously, with the lab, you clicked a picture icon in the toolbar and uploaded your photo from your hard disk. Now you click the camera icon in the toolbar and upload the photo from your hard disk". However, when I selected the Subject, and then used the camera icon it inserted the image in the message body. Ditto when I tried the same thing for emoji.

I found http://www.emailmarketingtipps.de/2015/ ... eat-sheet/ which had tables of copy-and-pastable unicode characters with the corresponding images. It also had a link to another table at http://www.emailmarketingtipps.de/2015/ ... eat-sheet/ which had more interesting images. I sent a message from gmail webmail to my main account that had three snowflakes in the Subject. Worked fine, no side effects. Note that they really aren't images, they're glyphs from unicode characters.

https://www.canva.com/create/email-headers/# talks about email headers but I think they're really describing templates for the message body.

I found https://stackoverflow.com/questions/280 ... il-subject which talked about inserting a animated icon in the subject. They're called goomoji . I tried an example and that was displayed okay in Gmail webmail but just as [?] in Thunderbird. Looking at the source I see :

X-Goomoji-Subject: =?UTF-8?B?876Urg==?=
Message-ID: <CAJeKxk1eZC-ExLKHyMzQ2XNZZioyD7w_T52THQmQ1HCGhBYQpA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: [?]

I then tried sending it from my gmail account in Thunderbird. It displayed a blob, rather than the desired icon. Looking at the source the subject was correct:

Subject: =?UTF-8?B?876Urg==?=

I'll play with this again later on but so far it appears that all that people are doing is inserting unicode characters in the Subject that are correctly displayed as a icon rather than as a letter. I don't think they are inserting real images.
bmaring
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Joined: March 11th, 2018, 6:32 am

Re: Images in message list

Post by bmaring »

Thanks for you extensive effort. Are other mail reader apps experiencing the same? The frequency of occurrence is clearly increasing. I am getting more than a half-dozen every day. Do you have any ideas for eliminating?
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tanstaafl
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Re: Images in message list

Post by tanstaafl »

I also tested using "em client", a popular non-Microsoft email client. Some of the glyphs in the Subject were shown as a empty square while others were shown correctly. But it had no side effects like you mentioned.

I don't know of a way to hide them as I have tools -> options -> display -> formatting set to use iso-8859-1 (western) and even when I set view -> text encoding to western it automatically switches it to UTF-8. I assume that is because of the UTF-8 escape sequence in the subject. Its also unaffected by the view -> message body as settings (which makes sense).

You could manually edit the subject in the message using the HeaderToollsLite add-on but that is a poor solution, you'd prefer something automated. The FiltaQuilla add-on adds a lot of features to the message filters but it doesn't seem to support deleting part of the Subject header (or replacing the entire Subject). The closest appears to be "Prepend/Suffix to Subject:" which it warns "sets the value of the subject in the message database, not in the message itself. Under a variety of circumstances, such as requesting “reindexing” of a folder, the subject will be rewritten from the message, and the changes added by the filter will be lost."

You could try using a message filter if the subject contains =?UTF-8 to prepend characters such as \n\r to make the unicode text on a different line (and hopefully not displayed) or prepending enough characters that you exceed the 78 character limit

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2015/05/how-gm ... ith-emoji/ discusses blocking the goomoji. One person created an Adblock filter for: mail.google.com/mail/e/ . One problem with trying to hide this stuff using an add blocker in Thunderbird is it appears they no longer develop versions for Thunderbird. You'd have to go to the Firefox add-ons web page, and look in their list of old versions for one that might work with Thunderbird. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/androi ... ons/1.13.8 from July 18, 2017 is the newest version of uBlock Origin for Thunderbird for example. You might experiment with creating a rule to block text that changes the encoding to unicode. I'm not certain exactly what snippet to test for, perhaps =?UTF-8 See https://dmorgan.info/posts/encoded-word-syntax/

https://ncona.com/2011/06/using-utf-8-c ... l-subject/ talks about "moving all incoming emails that have “UTF-8” in the header to a spam folder. It’s quite the brute force approach, but it seems to be working."
bmaring
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Joined: March 11th, 2018, 6:32 am

Re: Images in message list

Post by bmaring »

I will keep experimenting, but for the time being, I have set filter for each sender. I the companies want me to view their content, they will need to stop using icon UTF-8 characters.

Thanks again for your help.

Blayne
morat
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Joined: February 3rd, 2009, 6:29 pm

Re: Images in message list

Post by morat »

Consumer Reports
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14795087
http://imgbox.com/xaTVb0RC

Why are the emoji images in the subject field so big in Linux?

Here is a screenshot with the same subject in Windows.

Online MIME Headers Decoder
http://dogmamix.com/MimeHeadersDecoder/

Unicode code converter
http://r12a.github.io/apps/conversion/

Unicode characters
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode ... /index.htm
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode ... /index.htm
http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode ... /index.htm
Laurent Bigonville wrote:Apparently ubuntu is not shipping the EmojiOneMozilla.ttf font in their package and this is causing emoji to be oversized.

I've been personally able to reproduce the same issue with thunderbird in debian. The thunderbird package is not shipping the EmojiOneMozilla.ttf font.
If I delete the <installation folder>\fonts\EmojiOneMozilla.ttf file, then the emoji images change to normal characters in Windows.

Oversized "characters" when Noto Color Emoji font is used on a page
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1416018

For reading only as Bugzilla is not a forum.
Last edited by morat on August 21st, 2018, 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Images in message list

Post by tanstaafl »

I just tried deleting <installation folder>\fonts and it had no effect. I verified afterwards that Thunderbird program subdirectory wasn't somehow resurrected. Perhaps that workaround depends upon what range the Unicode character uses. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/109 ... javascript for a discussion of several different ranges that are being used. I found https://github.com/nizaroni/emoji-strip which uses a emoji-regex package "to match all emoji symbols (including textual representations of emoji) as per the Unicode Standard." Makes me wonder if that could be modified to use with FiltaZilla. Another possibility might be to use the SpamZero script mentioned in https://webapps.stackexchange.com/quest ... t-in-gmail as a base.

It's getting worse nowadays as even Mozilla is using those colored icons in the Subject. I just got one where it was announcing interactive examples on MDN that used it.
morat
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Re: Images in message list

Post by morat »

Here is how to create a list of all fonts except the emoji fonts in the system clipboard.

Code: Select all

var fontEnumerator = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/gfx/fontenumerator;1"].
  getService(Components.interfaces.nsIFontEnumerator);
var allFonts = fontEnumerator.EnumerateAllFonts({});
var emojiFreeFonts = [];
for (var i = 0; i < allFonts.length; i++) {
  if (!/emoji/i.test(allFonts[i])) emojiFreeFonts.push(allFonts[i]);
}
var clipboardHelper = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/widget/clipboardhelper;1"].
  getService(Components.interfaces.nsIClipboardHelper);
clipboardHelper.copyString(emojiFreeFonts.join(", "));
You can evaluate the code in the error console.

If I set the font.system.whitelist preference to the list, then the emoji images change to normal characters in Windows.

Similar thread: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... &t=3033601
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tanstaafl
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Re: Images in message list

Post by tanstaafl »

Interesting.

tools -> developer tools -> error console appears to actually be the web console described in https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... eb_Console . I copied and pasted the code in the bottom line, pressed return, and was able to paste the output in a text editor.

I couldn't find font.system.whitelist using the config editor. I added a string with that name, and set it (pasted it) to the list of fonts. It had no effect. I restarted Thunderbird and it changed all of the colored unicode icons in subjects to monochrome unicode icons. It did not change them to normal characters. Slightly less annoying though without the colors. Apparently yet another difference between windows 7 and 10.

I have 52.6.0, 45.8.0 and nightly all configured to use the same profile. 45.8.0 shows colored icons while 52.6.0 and 61.0a1 show monochrome icons.

The list of fonts is below. It included the Segoe UI font mentioned in the bug report.

Agency FB, Algerian, Arial, Arial Rounded MT, Bahnschrift, Baskerville Old Face, Bauhaus 93, Bell MT, Berlin Sans FB, Bernard MT, Blackadder ITC, Bodoni MT, Bodoni MT Poster, Book Antiqua, Bookman Old Style, Bradley Hand ITC, Britannic, Broadway, Brush Script MT, Calibri, Californian FB, Calisto MT, Cambria, Cambria Math, Candara, Castellar, Centaur, Century, Century Gothic, Century Schoolbook, Chiller, Colonna MT, Comic Sans MS, Consolas, Constantia, Cooper, Copperplate Gothic, Corbel, Courier New, Curlz MT, Ebrima, Edwardian Script ITC, Elephant, Engravers MT, Eras ITC, Felix Titling, Footlight MT, Forte, Franklin Gothic, Franklin Gothic Book, Freestyle Script, French Script MT, Gabriola, Gadugi, Garamond, Georgia, Gigi, Gill Sans MT, Gloucester MT, Goudy Old Style, Goudy Stout, Haettenschweiler, Harlow Solid, Harrington, High Tower Text, Impact, Imprint MT Shadow, Informal Roman, Javanese Text, Jokerman, Juice ITC, Kristen ITC, Kunstler Script, Leelawadee UI, Lucida Bright, Lucida Calligraphy, Lucida Console, Lucida Fax, Lucida Handwriting, Lucida Sans, Lucida Sans Typewriter, Lucida Sans Unicode, MS Gothic, MS PGothic, MS Reference Sans Serif, MS UI Gothic, MV Boli, Magneto, Maiandra GD, Malgun Gothic, Matura MT Script Capitals, Microsoft Himalaya, Microsoft JhengHei, Microsoft JhengHei UI, Microsoft New Tai Lue, Microsoft PhagsPa, Microsoft Sans Serif, Microsoft Tai Le, Microsoft YaHei, Microsoft YaHei UI, Microsoft Yi Baiti, MingLiU-ExtB, MingLiU_HKSCS-ExtB, Mistral, Modern No. 20, Mongolian Baiti, Monotype Corsiva, Myanmar Text, NSimSun, Niagara Engraved, Niagara Solid, Nirmala UI, OCR A, Old English Text MT, Onyx, PMingLiU-ExtB, Palace Script MT, Palatino Linotype, Papyrus, Parchment, Perpetua, Perpetua Titling MT, Playbill, Poor Richard, Pristina, Rage, Ravie, Rockwell, Script MT, Segoe Print, Segoe Script, Segoe UI, Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI Symbol, Showcard Gothic, SimSun, SimSun-ExtB, Sitka Banner, Sitka Display, Sitka Heading, Sitka Small, Sitka Subheading, Sitka Text, Snap ITC, Stencil, Sylfaen, Tahoma, Tempus Sans ITC, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Tw Cen MT, Verdana, Viner Hand ITC, Vivaldi, Vladimir Script, Wide Latin, Yu Gothic, Yu Gothic UI
morat
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Re: Images in message list

Post by morat »

I meant monochrome icons when I said normal characters. Here is a screenshot in Windows.

You can remove the "!" character in the code to create a list of emoji fonts in the system clipboard.

All emoji fonts:
EmojiOne Color, EmojiOne Mozilla
All fonts except emoji fonts:
Aharoni, Andalus, Angsana New, AngsanaUPC, Aparajita, Arabic Typesetting, Arial, Batang, BatangChe, Browallia New, BrowalliaUPC, Caladea, Calibri, Cambria, Cambria Math, Candara, Carlito, Comic Sans MS, Consolas, Constantia, Corbel, Cordia New, CordiaUPC, Courier New, DFKai-SB, DaunPenh, David, DejaVu Math TeX Gyre, DejaVu Sans, DejaVu Sans Mono, DejaVu Serif, DilleniaUPC, DokChampa, Dotum, DotumChe, Ebrima, Estrangelo Edessa, EucrosiaUPC, Euphemia, FangSong, FrankRuehl, Franklin Gothic, FreesiaUPC, Gabriola, Gautami, Gentium Basic, Gentium Book Basic, Georgia, Gisha, Gulim, GulimChe, Gungsuh, GungsuhChe, Impact, IrisUPC, Iskoola Pota, JasmineUPC, KaiTi, Kalinga, Kartika, Khmer UI, KodchiangUPC, Kokila, Lao UI, Latha, Leelawadee, Levenim MT, Liberation Mono, Liberation Sans, Liberation Serif, LilyUPC, Linux Biolinum G, Linux Libertine Display G, Linux Libertine G, Lucida Console, Lucida Sans Unicode, MS Gothic, MS Mincho, MS PGothic, MS PMincho, MS UI Gothic, MV Boli, Malgun Gothic, Mangal, Meiryo, Meiryo UI, Microsoft Himalaya, Microsoft JhengHei, Microsoft New Tai Lue, Microsoft PhagsPa, Microsoft Sans Serif, Microsoft Tai Le, Microsoft Uighur, Microsoft YaHei, Microsoft Yi Baiti, MingLiU, MingLiU-ExtB, MingLiU_HKSCS, MingLiU_HKSCS-ExtB, Miriam, Miriam Fixed, Mongolian Baiti, MoolBoran, NSimSun, Narkisim, Nyala, Open Sans, PMingLiU, PMingLiU-ExtB, PT Serif, Palatino Linotype, Plantagenet Cherokee, Raavi, Rod, Sakkal Majalla, Segoe Print, Segoe Script, Segoe UI, Segoe UI Symbol, Shonar Bangla, Shruti, SimHei, SimSun, SimSun-ExtB, Simplified Arabic, Simplified Arabic Fixed, Source Code Pro, Source Sans Pro, Sylfaen, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Traditional Arabic, Trebuchet MS, Tunga, Utsaah, Vani, Verdana, Vijaya, Vrinda
As a Windows 10 user, you may have additional emoji fonts as compared to a Windows 7 user.

The font.system.whitelist preference does not exist in Thunderbird 45.

Reference
http://dxr.mozilla.org/comm-esr45/searc ... .whitelist
http://dxr.mozilla.org/comm-esr52/searc ... .whitelist
Last edited by morat on August 21st, 2018, 8:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Images in message list

Post by tanstaafl »

bmarring:

See http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14796737 (implemented morat's suggestion of copying a missing <installation folder>\fonts\EmojiOneMozilla.ttf file to reduce the emoji icon size to normal)
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