v1.18.2: reply separator is hidden, why?

MS1Corp

Our users never see the reply separator. Looking at earlier posts in the forum, it seems that the separator is hidden by CSS.

We don't want this hidden, we want the users to see the command, "reply above the line".

Why is this hidden?
What is the purpose of being able to specify a custom separator if it is never seen?
How do we "un-hide it"?

Thanks in advance

KevinTheJedi

MS1Corp

It’s not meant for the user to see as it’d be ugly. The system can still see it when they reply. Its purpose is so the system can strip the previous quoted replies, etc. If the users use a normal email client their reply is always added on top by default so they never have to see it or know about it.

Cheers.

MS1Corp

Thanks for the reply.

We think (?) that our use case would benefit from the reply separator being visible.

Here's why (use case expanded):

User sends email to support requesting action
Agent sends email (canned response) to User requesting details (software version, steps to replicate)
- - Thanks for reaching out to support. To proceed we need additional info
- - 1. What version of the software are you running?
- - 2. What screen were you on when you noticed the problem?
The User is answering the questions inline within the reply, rather than at the top.
- - Thanks for reaching out to support. To proceed we need additional info
- - 1. What version of the software are you running?
  - - - - 5.4.020
- - 2. What screen were you on when you noticed the problem?
  - - - - Compute Estimate Screen

There is no cue in the agent's email to nudge the user towards a "reply above the line" so they are answering inline. We receive a "blank" response email from the user, then we have to call or email to re-request the info.

KevinTheJedi

MS1Corp

Sounds like the best bet for you is to disable Strip Quoted Reply (Admin Panel > Emails > Settings) since your users typically do inline-replying. If you want to make the Reply Separator visible then you must modify the code. When modifying the codebase you are always on your own as you are deviating from core. The code is open source and publicly available on Github. Github has a great search tool and even a code tree/glossary that aids in navigating the code. You will proceed at your own risk. Good luck!

Cheers.

MS1Corp

Ok, we decided not to turn off "strip quoted reply" and to simply add some text in the message to the User that asks the User to reply above the line.

Is this the expected result when stripping quoted reply? You can see from this screenshot that we got a little more than we expected (we expected nothing below the User's message).

KevinTheJedi

MS1Corp

Yes, just simply depends on where the user’s mail client decides to put it. Some clients behave slightly different.

Cheers.