{"id":55261,"date":"2013-12-30T16:30:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-30T14:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=55261"},"modified":"2025-07-02T00:57:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T07:57:45","slug":"how-to-use-gmails-old-compose-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/how-to-use-gmails-old-compose-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"How to: use Gmail’s old ‘Compose’ screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new popout ‘Compose’\u00a0screen in Gmail<\/strong> has come in for some criticism, especially since it’s now the only option available to write your emails. But, as\u00a0expected, there’s already a solution\u00a0for those who use Google Chrome and Opera: an extension called\u00a0Old Compose<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What is Old Compose?<\/h3>\n

Old Compose is an extension for Google Chrome and Opera<\/strong> which reverts to the old Gmail interface for writing emails. Since it’s an extension, it only works on the PC where\u00a0it’s installed.<\/p>\n

How to Use Old Compose<\/h3>\n

1. Download the CRX\u00a0file for Old Compose<\/h4>\n

You can\u00a0download the extension here<\/a> in CRX <\/strong>format.<\/p>\n

2. Open\u00a0the Chrome Extensions screen<\/h4>\n

Click on the Chrome menu\u00a0(the ‘lines’ icon)\u00a0and go to Tools > Extensions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

3. Drag the CRX\u00a0file to the\u00a0Chrome\u00a0window<\/h4>\n

Open the folder which contains\u00a0the CRX file and drag it to the Chrome Extensions screen. The browser will ask you to confirm the installation. One click and you’re done!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For Opera, the process is pretty similar. Make sure that you enable the installation of Chrome extensions, as we explain in this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Reload\u00a0Gmail in your browser<\/h4>\n

To apply the changes, reload Gmail in your browser. Now, when you click Compose, the\u00a0interface for writing emails will be the same as before!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How Old Compose works<\/h3>\n

We’ve analyzed the source code of Old Compose, and as it turns out, the extension changes the identity of your browser so that it appears as an old one, which forces Gmail to show the old ‘Compose’ screen.<\/p>\n

More specifically, the identity of the Old Compose simulated browser is Mozilla\/4.0 (Windows NT 8.0, Windows NT 6.0), which uses the old Internet Explorer 8. You can get the same effect by using User-Agent Switcher for Chrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A convenient extension<\/h3>\n

I actually like the new “Compose”\u00a0screen, but if you prefer the old one, the Old Compose extension is perfect for you. It’s\u00a0not in the Chrome Store yet, but another\u00a0good\u00a0alternative is Fix Gmail Compose<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you want to remove Old Compose,<\/strong> either because it’s\u00a0not working, or because you don’t trust an extension that hasn’t yet been approved by Google, go back to Tools > Extensions and click on the trash icon next to Old Compose.<\/p>\n

Which\u00a0do you prefer? The old screen or the new one?<\/h3>\n

Original article<\/a> written by Fabrizio Ferri-Benedetti<\/a> on Softonic ES<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new popout ‘Compose’\u00a0screen in Gmail has come in for some criticism, especially since it’s now the only option available to write your emails. But, as\u00a0expected, there’s already a solution\u00a0for those who use Google Chrome and Opera: an extension called\u00a0Old Compose. What is Old Compose? Old Compose is an extension for Google Chrome and Opera … Continue reading “How to: use Gmail’s old ‘Compose’ screen”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2044,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2441],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-55261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2044"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331596,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55261\/revisions\/331596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55261"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=55261"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=55261"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=55261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}