How to restore Basic HTML View on Gmail
Google's email service Gmail provided you with two different view modes for quite some time. The default view mode that is currently using quite an assortment of technologies, colors, and other features, and the Basic HTML View mode which has been designed primarily for speed and fast access.
What made Basic HTML View attractive was that you could access it on low performance machines without issues, while the standard view mode would normally take longer to load.
It is the default view mode for unsupported web browsers. According to Google, only Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari are supported browsers. There are however other browsers, like the newest version of Opera, which are also taken directly to the standard view version on the website.
Anyway, up until now, Gmail users had the option to switch between Basic HTML View and Standard View using a small link displayed on the site.
It appears that this link has been removed by Google, or at least moved to a location where I cannot find it anymore.
This in turn can be a problem for users who prefer to access the Basic HTML View version of Gmail, and no the new fancier version.
What's interesting in this regard is that it is still possible to make the switch, but only if you know the direct link that does that for you. There are two links that are of importance here:
- http://mail.google.com/mail?nocheckbrowser This link bypasses the browser check when you open the Gmail website, so that the standard version of the interface is displayed to you regardless of whether your browser is deemed compatible or not.
- https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html&zy=h This link will open the Basic HTML View interface automatically on Gmail, again regardless of browser that you are using. If you follow it, a notification is displayed at the top allowing you to set basic HTML as the default view mode on Gmail.
If you want to work in Basic HTML View all the time, it is suggested to set it as your default view mode as it will be loaded automatically from that moment on even if you access the default Gmail website directly and do not use the special link posted above.
Why did Google remove the link from the Gmail interface? It is not clear, and there has been no announcement in this regard. It can be a simple oversight, or, it may be that Google plans to do what Yahoo did some time ago: Create a unified inbox experience and get rid of all older versions of the inbox completely.
For now though, the option to use the basic mode is still there, albeit hidden from most users. (thanks Alan)
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You said that Outlook isn’t your main email client, so which is your main one?
I think its thunderbird
It is Mozilla Thunderbird.
Awesome! This actually solved my problem… what a stupid bug.
If this is the same bug that I’ve encountered, there may be another fix: (1) hover over open Outlook item in Taskbar, cursor up to hover over Outlook window item, and right-click; (2) this should give you Restore / Move / Size / Minimize / Maximize — choose Move or Size; (3) use your cursor keys, going arbitrarily N/S/E/W, to try to move or size the Outlook window back into view. Basically, the app behaves as though it were open in a 0x0 window, or at a location that’s offscreen, and this will frequently work to resize and/or move the window. Don’t forget to close while resized/moved, so that Outlook remembers the size/position for next time.
THANK YOU Claude!!! I could get the main window to launch but could not get any other message window to show on the desktop. You are my hero!!!!
Solved my issue! 6 years later and this is still problem…
Fantastic. Thank you. Size did the trick.
This solved my Outlook problem, too. Thank you. :)
Thank you so much, this started happening to me today and was causing big problems. You are a life saver, I hope I can help you in some way some day.
You are a god – thank you!
thanks a lot…. work like charm.. :-)
Yah…thanks Claude. I’ve been having the same problem and tried all the suggestions…your solution was the answer. It had resized itself to a 0/0 box. Cheers
Excellent post. This had me baffled even trying to accurately describe the problem. This fixed it for me.
Thank you
Thanks a lot for the article. Don’t know why it happenend, don’t know how it got fixed, but it was really annoying and now it works :-)
Thanks a lot. I was facing this issue from past 3 week. I tried everything but no resolution. The issue was happening intermittently and mainly when I was changing the display of screen ( as i use 2 monitors). The only option i had was to do system restore. But thanks to you.
I’ve been tried to sole this problem for 12hours. Your comment about changing the display of screen helped me a lot!! Thanks!!
Thank you…don’t know why this happened but your instructions helped me fix it. Running Windows 10 and office pro 2007
Great tip! Thanks!
Worked for me, too – thank you!!!
It’s Worked for me, too
thank you very much!
I had a similar issue with Outlook 2013 on Windows 10 and this helped me to fix it. Thank you very much!
Thank you so much. Solved!
Considering you published this in 2012, incredible not been debugged by Microsoft.
Thank you again. M
This problem was faced by only one user logging to TS 2008 r2 using outlook 2010.The issue was resolved.
Thanks.
Great tip. Thank you!!!! If it helps, I had to use the Control Key and the arrow keys at the same time to bring my window back into view. Worked like a charm.
Thank you, this worked !!!!
Man, you are a fucking god. Thanks a lot, what an annoying bug!!
Awesome, this post solved the issue. Many thanks!