Initiating Thunderbird compose-mail from Firefox

Carl G. Ponder

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Feb 28, 2006, 4:24:04 PM2/28/06

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When I'm reading an HTML-encoded message in Thunderbird and click on an HTML link,
a tab comes up in my Firefox browser with the link. This is just the way I like it.

What about the other way around? When I clink on a "mailto:" link in my Firefox
browser, how can I have it open a Thunderbird "compose mail" window? Back when I
was using mozilla & mozilla-mail as a single integrated application, I remember
it used to work this way.

Is there some preference I have to set in Firefox? Is there a command-line invocation
flag to open a Thunderbird compose-mail window, as opposed to opening the Thunderbird
read-mail window?

I'm running RedHat Linux and Thunderbird/Firefox 1.5.

Thanos

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Feb 28, 2006, 5:17:09 PM2/28/06

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Carl G. Ponder wrote:
>
> Is there some preference I have to set in Firefox? Is there a
> command-line invocation flag to open a Thunderbird compose-mail
> window, as opposed to opening the Thunderbird read-mail window?
>
> I'm running RedHat Linux and Thunderbird/Firefox 1.5.

There should be a way in RedHat Linux to set the preferred application
for e-mail. Using Ubuntu Linux here and there is a tool named "Preferred
Applications" in GNOME where you can set TB as your default mail client.
Works here just fine. Hope this helps...

Dan

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Feb 28, 2006, 5:25:59 PM2/28/06

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I think this is a known drawback with TH/FF...at least on the Windows
platform. If you go to the Mozilla Forums, there are lots of posts on
it. See:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=2104058#2104058

Andrew DeFaria

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Feb 28, 2006, 5:46:07 PM2/28/06

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Hmmm... When I click on a mailto link in FF a TB compose window pops up....

--
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one-armed jugglers, the ego and the id - Gordon Lightfoot

Dan

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Feb 28, 2006, 5:58:03 PM2/28/06

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That's great Andrew. I just tried it again and what comes up is the TB
Main window, not the Compose window. Are you on Windows or some other
OS? Apparently, many people have this problem. If I use OE for a while
and click a mailto in FF, it will work when I switch back to TB. But it
won't work the next time I boot up, only for that session.

Graham Coward

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Feb 28, 2006, 6:02:10 PM2/28/06

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Me too!

--
Please reply to group or
reply "off-group" by removing the two "z"s from my e-mail address.

Graham Coward
Melbourne, Australia
=====================
Coward Family History Web Site
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~coward/

Ken Wagner

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Feb 28, 2006, 7:03:27 PM2/28/06

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A "known drawback"?! I can't speak for Linux, but it's not a "known
drawback" for Windows... I click any mailto link and TB brings up the
compose message window.

The "problem" (if you can accurately call it that) for most people is
that the default mail program isn't set to be TB. For those of us using
Windows, we sometimes have to tell both TB and Windows what the defaults
are so that everyone plays nice together.

Virginia

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Feb 28, 2006, 7:38:02 PM2/28/06

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>> I think this is a known drawback with TH/FF...at least on the Windows
>> platform. If you go to the Mozilla Forums, there are lots of posts on
>> it. See:
>> http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=2104058#2104058
>
>
> A "known drawback"?! I can't speak for Linux, but it's not a "known
> drawback" for Windows... I click any mailto link and TB brings up the
> compose message window.
>
> The "problem" (if you can accurately call it that) for most people is
> that the default mail program isn't set to be TB. For those of us using
> Windows, we sometimes have to tell both TB and Windows what the defaults
> are so that everyone plays nice together.
>

To get this to work properly (in Windows) I had to fool around with my
MailTo protocol.

Virginia

Dan

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Feb 28, 2006, 7:39:19 PM2/28/06

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Ken, all I can tell you is that it doesn't work for me and many other people according to forum posts. Here is what a Mozilla moderator posted on 2/21/06:

{The bug is that there's no way of doing this without dirty, ugly hacks. I've looked at this before, and it doesn't seem like MAPI can handle files. IE can do it because it most likely bypasses MAPI entirely, since it's completely integrated with everything.

There was talk about sending the whole page as HTML (by passing it all as raw text content) and inserting a <base> tag to load remote images. I have no idea how well this would work. My initial thoughts are "not well".}

So I'm really glad it works for you and others, but it really does seem to be a known issue for many. I've made TB my default within TB and within Windows using Set Program Access And Default and within IE. Are there any other places to set it? TB does come up when I click a mailto link from FF, just not the compose window.

gwtc

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Feb 28, 2006, 7:54:09 PM2/28/06

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Virginia wrote:

Thats one option that should work. The other is to hack the registry,
but only if you know what you're doing. You could cause more problems.

That being said, check the entries of:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\mailto\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail\Mozilla
Thunderbird\protocols\mailto\shell\open\command

and make sure that they all point to Thunderbird. You can get the
exact location by right clicking on the TB icon, and select
Properties, and copy whatever is in Target. Then paste that into the
above areas, and add a space then a dash then the word compose, for
example:

"c:\program files\mozilla thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -compose

.exe -compose

Andrew DeFaria

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Feb 28, 2006, 8:14:15 PM2/28/06

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Dan wrote:
> That's great Andrew. I just tried it again and what comes up is the
> TB Main window, not the Compose window. Are you on Windows or some
> other OS?

I've successfully used this on Windows XP and Linux.

> Apparently, many people have this problem. If I use OE for a while
> and click a mailto in FF, it will work when I switch back to TB. But
> it won't work the next time I boot up, only for that session.

I guess that's my secret! Never use OE or Outhooked!
--
Don't make no sense that common sense don't make no sense no more. -
John Prine

Andrew DeFaria

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Feb 28, 2006, 8:16:37 PM2/28/06

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Ken Wagner wrote:
>> I think this is a known drawback with TH/FF...at least on the Windows
>> platform. If you go to the Mozilla Forums, there are lots of posts
>> on it. See:
>> http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=2104058#2104058
> A "known drawback"?! I can't speak for Linux, but it's not a "known
> drawback" for Windows... I click any mailto link and TB brings up
> the compose message window.

I can speak for Linux! Worked great there too. Click on mailto, get a TB
compose window.

> The "problem" (if you can accurately call it that) for most people is
> that the default mail program isn't set to be TB. For those of us
> using Windows, we sometimes have to tell both TB and Windows what the
> defaults are so that everyone plays nice together.

Again, when you only use non-MS mailers you tend to have less
problems... ;-)

(Oh I've stated OE and Outlook on occasion. Actually I seem to know more
about them than people who use them regularly as I'm often helping them
configure their mailers. But I never allow them to become the default)
--
Sex: In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact. -
Marlene Dietrich

Ken Wagner

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Feb 28, 2006, 8:25:09 PM2/28/06

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I'm sorry - maybe I'm confused. The text you quoted above from the
Mozilla moderator doesn't appear to be talking about clicking a link in
FF and having TB come up with a compose window. We're not trying to have
MAPI handle files. Instead, it appears that he/she's talking about
sending an entire web page via an e-mail message ("sending the whole
page as HTML" above).

For Windows users, the vast majority of folks in here that have had this
problem needed to do one of the following two things and the problem was
solved:
1. Tell TB that it was the default mail program via Tools -> Options ->
General -> "Make Thunderbird the default application for:"
2. Tell Windows that TB is the default mail program via Control Panel ->
Add/Remove Programs -> Set Program Access and Defaults -> Custom

Andrew DeFaria

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Feb 28, 2006, 8:30:46 PM2/28/06

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Dan wrote:

So I'm really glad it works for you and others, but it really does seem to be a known issue for many. I've made TB my default within TB and within Windows using Set Program Access And Default and within IE. Are there any other places to set it? TB does come up when I click a mailto link from FF, just not the compose window.

I believe that gwtc is giving you the correct advice. The trick or ugly hacks as you call them (not tricks or ugly at all rather competing programs have mangled your registry entries) is in the registry and getting the settings set right. From gwtc's post you need to check your registry for the following keys:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\mailto\shell\open\command
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols\mailto\shell\open\command

The registry is not that mysterious or dangerous so long as reasonable precautions are take place. In any event here are my settings. You can copy and paste them into a file, give it a .reg extension then simply double click it. You'll need to adjust where you installed Thunderbird as I install mine in the non-default location of C:\Program Files\Thunderbird (Never much liked "Mozilla Thunderbird").

REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto] @="URL:MailTo Protocol" "URL Protocol"="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\DefaultIcon] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe,0" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe-compose %1" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto] @="URL:MailTo Protocol" "URL Protocol"="" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\DefaultIcon] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe,0" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell\open] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe-compose %1" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird] @="Mozilla Thunderbird" "DLLPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\mozMapi32.dll" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\.eml] @="Microsoft Internet Mail Message" "Content Type"="message/rfc822" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\DefaultIcon] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe,0" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\InstallInfo] "HideIconsCommand"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\uninstall\\UninstallThunderbird.exe\" /ua \"1.5 (en-US)\" /hs" "IconsVisible"=dword:00000000 "ReinstallCommand"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\thunderbird.exe\" -silent -nosplash -setDefaultMail" "ShowIconsCommand"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\uninstall\\UninstallThunderbird.exe\" /ua \"1.5 (en-US)\" /ss mail" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols\mailto] @="URL:MailTo Protocol" "URL Protocol"="" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols\mailto\DefaultIcon] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe,0" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols\mailto\shell] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols\mailto\shell\open] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\protocols\mailto\shell\open\command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe -compose %1" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\open] [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\open\command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe -mail" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\properties] @="" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\Mozilla Thunderbird\shell\properties\command] @="C:\\Program Files\\Thunderbird\\Thunderbird.exe -options"
--
So you're a feminist...Isn't that cute.

Dan

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Feb 28, 2006, 8:48:02 PM2/28/06

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Thanks gwtc, I checked those 3 registry keys and the top two were set to
"mail" instead of "compose". I changed them and now everything seems to
work well. The bottom key was "compose %1", so I left it alone.

I've not ever fooled around with registry keys before, so it was a
little intimidating to do so. :-[

Don Nickell

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Feb 28, 2006, 10:42:12 PM2/28/06

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FWIW: I'm running Win98SE and get the compoze window.

gwtc

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Mar 1, 2006, 3:00:14 AM3/1/06

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Dan wrote:

the registry isn't all that complicated. My recommendation is to
browse through them and see what goes on. The best place is to look
under Software. Here you will find lots of info about all the
programs on your machine.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software

These are the only areas that you need to know about. There are
others, but these are a good start.

Ron Hunter

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Mar 1, 2006, 5:57:04 AM3/1/06

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Andrew DeFaria wrote:
> Dan wrote:
>> That's great Andrew. I just tried it again and what comes up is the
>> TB Main window, not the Compose window. Are you on Windows or some
>> other OS?
> I've successfully used this on Windows XP and Linux.
>> Apparently, many people have this problem. If I use OE for a while
>> and click a mailto in FF, it will work when I switch back to TB. But
>> it won't work the next time I boot up, only for that session.
> I guess that's my secret! Never use OE or Outhooked!

I would say it is likely that OE or Outlook are stealing the default
email application setting. Sounds like something MS would do....

Dan

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Mar 1, 2006, 9:34:49 AM3/1/06

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Sounds like a good recommendation gwtc. I looked as I searched for the
3 keys, and saw tons of stuff in there. I'll definitely look around
some more. Can you recommend another editor or something else to look
at the registry with that may perhaps be more safe than regedit? I'd
sure hate to inadvertently screw things up.

gwtc

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Mar 1, 2006, 11:07:42 AM3/1/06

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Dan wrote:

No, all I know is regedit. Just browsing around in the registry can't
hurt things.

Oh, wait a minute. I just remembered something. This site lists some
tweeks you can manually do to windows, and which registry keys and so
on: http://www.winguides.com/. When I discovered this years ago, I
learn a lot from them.

Irwin Greenwald

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Mar 1, 2006, 6:15:40 PM3/1/06

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Dan wrote:

> That's great Andrew. I just tried it again and what comes up is the TB
> Main window, not the Compose window. Are you on Windows or some other
> OS? Apparently, many people have this problem. If I use OE for a while
> and click a mailto in FF, it will work when I switch back to TB. But it
> won't work the next time I boot up, only for that session.

With both TB and FF closed.

Windows Explorer>>Tools>>Folder Options>>File Types

Scroll down to URL... URL:MailTo Protocol
Click the "Advanced" button; Click on the "open" entry, then Edit
Make sure the Application points to TB and ends with " -compose %1",
without the quotes , but *with* the space. Also make sure the "Use DDE"
box is checked. Then OK your way out.

Reboot your system.

Does mailto work correctly now?

Irwin

--
Irwin Greenwald - Mozilla Champion
*Technical messages sent to my email address will be ignored*

Etiquette - http://www.mozilla.org/community/etiquette.html
About Profiles -
http://users.adelphia.net/~irwingreenwald/About%20Profiles.html
OE Quotefix - http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/

Dan

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Mar 1, 2006, 7:37:47 PM3/1/06

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Irwin Greenwald wrote:
> Dan wrote:
>
>> That's great Andrew. I just tried it again and what comes up is the
>> TB Main window, not the Compose window. Are you on Windows or some
>> other OS? Apparently, many people have this problem. If I use OE
>> for a while and click a mailto in FF, it will work when I switch back
>> to TB. But it won't work the next time I boot up, only for that
>> session.
>
> With both TB and FF closed.
>
> Windows Explorer>>Tools>>Folder Options>>File Types
>
> Scroll down to URL... URL:MailTo Protocol
> Click the "Advanced" button; Click on the "open" entry, then Edit
> Make sure the Application points to TB and ends with " -compose %1",
> without the quotes , but *with* the space. Also make sure the "Use
> DDE" box is checked. Then OK your way out.
>
> Reboot your system.
>
> Does mailto work correctly now?
>
> Irwin
>
>

Thanks Irwin. When I scroll down to URL, there is no URL:MailTo
Protocol. There is one URL line with "Internet Shortcut" as the File
Type description. and "rundll32.exe shdocvw.dll,OpenURL %l" as the app
to perform the action for "open". I am at a loss as to how to proceed
from here.

I changed some MailTo registry data values from "mail" to "compose"
yesterday due to a recommendation from gwtc. That worked until I
rebooted this morning. It went back to "mail".

Irwin Greenwald

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Mar 1, 2006, 8:57:08 PM3/1/06

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Is there a "URL..." with URL:MailTo entry? If so, that is the one to
use (my bad in above instructions). If not, You can create the
URL:MailTo Protocol:

Windows Explorer>>Tools>>Folder Options>>File Types

Click on New
Enter "URL..." in box then click on Advanced and in "associated File
type" drop down, scroll down to URL:MailTo Protocol and select it. Then
click on OK. Click on the "Advanced" button and follow the instructions
I gave in my previous post.

Irwin Greenwald

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Mar 1, 2006, 9:02:40 PM3/1/06

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Followup set to mozilla.support.thunderbird.

Dan

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Mar 1, 2006, 9:52:52 PM3/1/06

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No, there is no URL:MailTo entry. There is only one URL, and it is
associated with "Internet Shortcut" (see above post).

When I tried to create the URL:MailTo Protocol, Windows told me I
already had a URL file extension and asked if I wanted to un-associate
it with "Internet Shortcut" and so forth. I'm afraid to do that; seems
like no link would open if I did that.

So, unsure how to proceed again.

gwtc

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Mar 1, 2006, 11:26:01 PM3/1/06

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Dan wrote:

I think you're getting a little confused here.

In the list is in alphabetical order. Sroll down the list until you
find the URL section. There should be several there. Do not look at
the File Type Details. Thats where you're looking at.

You should see:

URL: CallTo Protocol
URL:File Transfer Protocol
URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol
URL:LDAP Protocol

and many others.

You don't want to look the the one that says:

Internet Shortcut

and in the file details it says Extension -- URL, Opens with _whatever
you use_ and so one. This is not the one you want.

Irwin Greenwald

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Mar 2, 2006, 12:24:10 AM3/2/06

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You didn't do what I said "Enter "URL..." in box then "
*URL...*

Andrew DeFaria

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Mar 2, 2006, 3:54:42 AM3/2/06

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Just import the reg file I posted.
--
What has four legs and an arm? A happy pit bull.

Dan

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Mar 2, 2006, 10:33:26 AM3/2/06

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Yes, I was confused and didn't do exactly what you said to do. I
thought the "URL..." that the periods just meant "and so on"; I didn't
know you literally wanted me to put in "URL" and 3 periods. I'm sorry,
I've not done too much registry or file association changes before.

OK, I did put in "URL..." and did all that you said to do in the
previous posts by you and gwtc. It worked fine.....BUT, when I reboot,
it gets changed back from "compose %1" to "mail", and no longer works.
I checked the registry keys, and they are changed as well. How do I
keep them from changing?

Andrew DeFaria

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Mar 2, 2006, 11:15:23 AM3/2/06

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Don't know. Mine stay put.
--
I tried to backup my hard drive but I couldn't figure out how to put it
in reverse

Irwin Greenwald

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Mar 2, 2006, 2:53:08 PM3/2/06

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Follow-up set to to mozilla.support.thunderbird.

I have no further ideas. Did you try the reg file that Andrew posted?