Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Opening .txt in file editor, not Firefox

  • 3 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

Dettol
Dettol
more options

Hi!

Firefox 91.0.2 on Windows 10.

In the options I have set .txt files to open in Notepad++ (see screenshot). However, this does not work. Clicking a hyperlink to a .txt file still opens it in Firefox.

How can I fix this?

Here is a link to a .txt file for testing: https://www.learningcontainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/sample-text-file.txt


Possible solutions I found were all on older versions of Firefox and I couldn't get them to work.

Thanks :)

Hi! Firefox 91.0.2 on Windows 10. In the options I have set .txt files to open in Notepad++ (see screenshot). However, this does not work. Clicking a hyperlink to a .txt file still opens it in Firefox. How can I fix this? Here is a link to a .txt file for testing: https://www.learningcontainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/sample-text-file.txt Possible solutions I found were all on older versions of Firefox and I couldn't get them to work. Thanks :)
Attached screenshots

All Replies (4)

Dettol
Dettol Question owner
more options

Perhaps I should have explained my purpose for this, in case it helps, or for possible workarounds.

I have a local website which uses .txt files for saving notes. (They are opened and processed further with Javascript). Firefox on Android opens the txt files in an external editor, where I can easily edit them and save them. But on Windows 10 I have some trouble doing this.

Modified by Dettol

Terry
Terry
more options

I have "always ask" but the file opens in Firefox. Mozilla did something similar with local pdf files but there is a remedy. I can't find one for text files other than downloading the file and opening it with your editor. There may be a bug report, otherwise you can file one. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

If the server sends the text file as text/plain then Firefox will open this file in a tab. You can possibly prefix the link with the view-source: protocol.

You can find these prefs on the about:config page to set what external viewer/editor to use.

  • view_source.editor.args
  • view_source.editor.external
  • view_source.editor.path
Dettol
Dettol Question owner
more options

cor-el said
If the server sends the text file as text/plain then Firefox will open this file in a tab.

Thanks for your reply.

That's what happens. I wonder why this is not configurable like with other file types.


I was able to add "view-source:" to the links but this did not seem to work. (Nor does the entire protocol seem to work. If I use the test link on http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/links3.shtml nothing happens.)

Still you solved most of my problems. Using the about:config settings I am now able to open the txt file in Firefox, then use the "View Source" (Ctrl+U) option to open the txt with Notepad++.

That's a few more clicks than I'd prefer, but for now it's a decent workaround.

Still hoping for a direct solution, though.

Modified by Dettol