diff --git a/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit.cpp b/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit.cpp
index d403ba73d1..70ae2bcbbc 100644
--- a/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit.cpp
+++ b/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit.cpp
@@ -88,8 +88,7 @@ QTextEditPrivate::QTextEditPrivate()
     : control(nullptr),
       autoFormatting(QTextEdit::AutoNone), tabChangesFocus(false),
       lineWrap(QTextEdit::WidgetWidth), lineWrapColumnOrWidth(0),
-      wordWrap(QTextOption::WrapAtWordBoundaryOrAnywhere), clickCausedFocus(0),
-      textFormat(Qt::AutoText)
+      wordWrap(QTextOption::WrapAtWordBoundaryOrAnywhere), clickCausedFocus(0)
 {
     ignoreAutomaticScrollbarAdjustment = false;
     preferRichText = false;
@@ -2652,10 +2651,7 @@ bool QTextEdit::find(const QRegularExpression &exp, QTextDocument::FindFlags opt
 */
 void QTextEdit::setText(const QString &text)
 {
-    Q_D(QTextEdit);
-    Qt::TextFormat format = d->textFormat;
-    if (d->textFormat == Qt::AutoText)
-        format = Qt::mightBeRichText(text) ? Qt::RichText : Qt::PlainText;
+    Qt::TextFormat format = Qt::mightBeRichText(text) ? Qt::RichText : Qt::PlainText;
 #ifndef QT_NO_TEXTHTMLPARSER
     if (format == Qt::RichText)
         setHtml(text);
diff --git a/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit_p.h b/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit_p.h
index 1200b7470e..14b5f733df 100644
--- a/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit_p.h
+++ b/src/widgets/widgets/qtextedit_p.h
@@ -94,9 +94,6 @@ public:
     uint inDrag : 1;
     uint clickCausedFocus : 1;
 
-    // Qt3 COMPAT only, for setText
-    Qt::TextFormat textFormat;
-
     QString anchorToScrollToWhenVisible;
 
     QString placeholderText;