Another thought: try fooling the email client into thinking something is a quote. Some use pretty simplistic ways of determining this, e.g. > character prefix. Of course this will only work on certain clients, those that are configured with that quote detection method *and* have quote collapsing options, heh.

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (February 09, 2010, 12:36 AM)

Just tried this on gmail. No go. But thanks, anyway.  :)

Gmail collapses quotes by default. Thunderbird can do quote collapsing too I believe. Outlook as well, if I recall correctly. Though the specific configs and ways of triggering it may be different in each case. ;)
- Oshyan

-JavaJones (February 10, 2010, 03:43 PM)

Hi, and thanks for your answer.
What I really want is something where I can control the expand collapse feature, not just have conversation replies collapse.
I'm really looking for the exact feature used here - select something like the Spoiler button, write your text, and...

For example, "Directions to the Party"

If you don't need the directions, don't hit the button, and the email appears much more neat and organized than in a regular email with a map you don't need and directions you already know. This way, the recipients can find the info they do need much faster. Does that make better sense?

About scripts:
I'm sure the scripts suggested to me will work on my end, I just need a little time and patience to learn how to use them.
But, I wonder how they will come out on the recipient's end. Like getting a red X in an email where a photo was meant to be.
This is difficult, as when I used this feature in Lotus Notes at work, everyone else in the company ran Lotus Notes, too.
We all had the same I/T guys, platforms, programs and servers and all Notes features worked perfectly for all of us, all the time.
But outside of work, people use so many clients with so many different features written in all these different codes, etc.
I can't imagine it working without actually running a script on the recipient's computer.
I'm afraid that this would bring up a warning message, which would have the user say, "No, do not run this script".
Especially since most people I know, myself included, don't even know what script the message is referring to. The script names are too cryptic.
These are all just guesses, though.

Thanks again for your reply, I think I'll check out Thunderbird as you suggested. If that doesn't work, I'm going to just keep on hunting!

Wow. Thanks all, for your suggestions. You got me on the right track.

I can't do the string idea as I have 2 power supplies & I'm forever unplugging from the back of the pc in one room, then plugging another one in, in another room. So it sounds like there would be a good amount of attaching/reattaching.

But I'm scrapbooking your replies, including that great link to all of those different models, until April or May, when I have the time and money to fix this.

Thanks again, this is great info for me to have.