How to Associate Correct Application with File Type

[Samir]

I am running Thunderbird 31.7.0 on Xubuntu 14.04. Most times (but not every time) I try to open a PowerPoint (.pptx) attachment, I get a dialog box asking "What should Thunderbird do with this file?" The "Open with" default option is always gedit. How do I get TB to open the file with LibreOffice Impress which I have installed on my machine? A similar thing happens with .docx files.

I believe this is a Thunderbird issue because if I save the file and try to launch it (via double-clicking it in my file manager, Thunar), the correct application opens.

If I open the Preferences within Thunderbird and go to "Attachments", and then click on the "Incoming" tab, I see a Content Type entry that starts with "ASC file (text/plain; charset=utf-8: .asc, .brf, ...". The associated Action says "Always ask". There are no other entries and there doesn't appear to be ways to add others.

FWIW, here are the contents of my ~/.local/share/applications/mimeaps.list file:
[Default Applications]
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation=libreoffice-impress.desktop

[Added Associations]

Thanks
Samir

[Dave Royal]

Samir <spyt...@gmail.com> Wrote in message:

> I am running Thunderbird 31.7.0 on Xubuntu 14.04. Most times (but not every time) I try to open a PowerPoint (.pptx) attachment, I get a dialog box asking "What should Thunderbird do with this file?" The "Open with" default option is always gedit. How do I get TB to open the file with LibreOffice Impress which I have installed on my machine? A similar thing happens with .docx files.
>
> I believe this is a Thunderbird issue because if I save the file and try to launch it (via double-clicking it in my file manager, Thunar), the correct application opens.
>

Can you select 'Open in other aplication' and then 'Set as
default' in the next box? That usually WFM in xfce.
--
(Remove any numerics from my email address.)

[Samir]

On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 4:11:55 AM UTC-4, Dave Royal wrote:
> Samir <s...@gmail.com> Wrote in message:

Hi Dave. When I choose "Open with..." and then select "Other", I get a file manager window called "Choose Helper Application". Where can I find the application to associate with the file? For example, in Windows, you can usually find them in the "C:\Program Files" directory. In Mac OS X, you can find your apps in the Applications folder. Where would I find applications such as Adobe Acrobat or Libre Office Impress?

[Tanstaafl]

This has 'bugged' me for a long time.

Why does Thunderbird require you to individually define an application
for every file type?

There should be an option - and it should be the DEFAULT - to just use
the native OS's file association for all file types Thunderbird may
encounter as attachments.

So, I just opened a bug for this:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1182049

Please feel free to vote for it...

On 7/8/2015 2:49 PM, Samir <spyt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am running Thunderbird 31.7.0 on Xubuntu 14.04. Most times (but not every time) I try to open a PowerPoint (.pptx) attachment, I get a dialog box asking "What should Thunderbird do with this file?" The "Open with" default option is always gedit. How do I get TB to open the file with LibreOffice Impress which I have installed on my machine? A similar thing happens with .docx files.
>
> I believe this is a Thunderbird issue because if I save the file and try to launch it (via double-clicking it in my file manager, Thunar), the correct application opens.
>

[Dave Royal]

I got the same dialogue as you.
Choose 'other' 'file system' usr/bin/loimpress
And select 'Do this automatically from now on"

Does that work? Not obvious, I agree.

[Samir]

That did the trick! Once I did that, I also checked the box that said something like "Do this automatically from now on with this file type." I found the location of Evince (which I believe is the PDF document viewer) in the same directory and that works now! In addition, when I go to the Attachments tab within Preferences, I now have entries for Microsoft PowerPoint, which opens Impress, as well as for Microsoft Excel, which opens Calc. Finally!