diff --git a/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp b/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp
index 3f72b3fc..846a779f 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp
@@ -119,11 +119,11 @@ void rwSettings(bool writing)
     SETTING_RW(prefs.showResultsAsTable, 
 	       "/Recoll/prefs/showResultsAsTable", Bool, false);
     SETTING_RW(prefs.maxhltextmbs, "/Recoll/prefs/preview/maxhltextmbs", Int, 3);
-    // This used to be plainPre in the file, but there is no gui control for 
-    // this and the initial default was wrong (true). So switched to plainPre1
-    // so that we can start again.
+
+    // The default is true because I find it more often useful to keep
+    // indentation than to fold lines. Mileage may vary. 
     SETTING_RW(prefs.previewPlainPre, 
-	       "/Recoll/prefs/preview/plainPre1", Bool, false);
+	       "/Recoll/prefs/preview/plainPre", Bool, true);
     SETTING_RW(prefs.qtermcolor, "/Recoll/prefs/qtermcolor", String, "blue");
     if (!writing && prefs.qtermcolor == "")
 	prefs.qtermcolor = "blue";
diff --git a/src/qtgui/uiprefs.ui b/src/qtgui/uiprefs.ui
index 5633cd3e..d5463812 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/uiprefs.ui
+++ b/src/qtgui/uiprefs.ui
@@ -274,6 +274,19 @@
              </property>
             </widget>
            </item>
+           <item>
+            <widget class="QCheckBox" name="previewPlainPreCB">
+             <property name="text">
+              <string>Use &lt;PRE&gt; tags instead of &lt;BR&gt;to display plain text as html.</string>
+             </property>
+               <property name="toolTip">
+                <string>Lines in PRE text are not folded. Using BR loses indentation.</string>
+               </property>
+             <property name="checked">
+              <bool>false</bool>
+             </property>
+            </widget>
+           </item>
           </layout>
          </item>
         </layout>
diff --git a/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp b/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp
index c736bed1..dc1df591 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ void UIPrefsDialog::setFromPrefs()
 
     keepSortCB->setChecked(prefs.keepSort);
     previewHtmlCB->setChecked(prefs.previewHtml);
+    previewPlainPreCB->setChecked(prefs.previewPlainPre);
     // Query terms color
     qtermColorLE->setText(prefs.qtermcolor);
     
@@ -203,6 +204,7 @@ void UIPrefsDialog::accept()
     prefs.useDesktopOpen = useDesktopOpenCB->isChecked();
     prefs.keepSort = keepSortCB->isChecked();
     prefs.previewHtml = previewHtmlCB->isChecked();
+    prefs.previewPlainPre = previewPlainPreCB->isChecked();
 
     prefs.syntAbsLen = syntlenSB->value();
     prefs.syntAbsCtx = syntctxSB->value();