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Cannot open attachments to email before sending

  • 11 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 244 views
  • Last reply by shochberg

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Since installing 91.2.0 (32-bit) update --

Attachments to outgoing emails are now at the bottom of the page. When I click on an attachment to open it (when writing the email) to check to make sure it is correct, a new blank email opens with that attachment attached, but the attachment itself does not open.

This is not helpful. I always check to make sure I have actually attached the correct item, but now I cannot do that.

Since installing 91.2.0 (32-bit) update -- Attachments to outgoing emails are now at the bottom of the page. When I click on an attachment to open it (when writing the email) to check to make sure it is correct, a new blank email opens with that attachment attached, but the attachment itself does not open. This is not helpful. I always check to make sure I have actually attached the correct item, but now I cannot do that.

Chosen solution

Hi Guys,

I solved this problem, for me my Thunderbird was reading the .pdf as a html file In composition which I think is a bug.

Under Preferences and Under Files & Attachments - select Firefox HTML Document and either delete or change action to use adobe acrobat reader and it should solve the problem.

Note: Some people might have Chrome HTML Document or Safari HTML Document etc. Instead of Firefox HTML Document, so just do the same for whatever HTML Document you have.

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All Replies (11)

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On my setup, double-clicking or right-clicking, Open, an attachment, opens the file in the associated app. Do you have default apps set in the Action column for the files, in the Preferences/General/Files & Attachments section?

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Thanks. It looks like it works correctly for jpegs, so perhaps just a .pdf issue. They worked fine before the update, and I did not change any settings, but the default is now set as Preview in Thunderbird. (see attacched)

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I think if pdfs are set to open with TB, it opens in a tab under the composition window. The previous system of opening in an app like Adobe Reader can be achieved by clicking the Action drop-down (see picture).

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Unfortunately, that does not fix the problem. It still just opens a new message when I click on the pdf attachment. This looks like a bug.

The update also reduced the font size of incoming emails, and I can't figure out how to put them back the way they were.

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It works here with pdf attachments, although the first time a pdf is opened, the opening app has to be set, even though it's already set in Preferences, as in my picture.

Do you mean the font size in messages or the font in the Threads Pane (message list)?

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>>>It works here with pdf attachments, although the first time a pdf is opened, the opening app has to be set, even though it's already set in Preferences, as in my picture

Where do you set the opening app, in addition to Preferences?

>>>Do you mean the font size in messages or the font in the Threads Pane (message list)?

In the body of an incoming message

Thanks.

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If the Action is deleted from Preferences, TB restarted, the next time you try to open a pdf attachment you should see a window asking what to do.

Message display fonts are set in Preferences/General/Language & Appearance/Fonts & Colors, Advanced... with Fonts for: Latin and repeat with Fonts for: Other Writing Systems. Uncheck 'Allow messages to use other fonts'.

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>>>If the Action is deleted from Preferences, TB restarted, the next time you try to open a pdf attachment you should see a window asking what to do.

Thank you, but no, it still does the same thing. Clicking on the attachment at the bottom of the "write" screen still causes a new message window to open with that attachment attached. I confirmed that the Preferences showed "always ask" for pdf (after I had deleted it completely). Same problem.

Then I opened a pdf from an existing message and it asked me how to open it, I chose Adobe reader and clicked to make it default. It opened the document and changed the preference.

But the issue still occurs on writing new messages.

Thank you, but this just doesn't work. Is there somewhere I should report a bug?

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You can report it to Bugzilla, but you won't get much of a response unless you provide clear 'steps to reproduce', preferably in a new profile with no add-ons, in normal and safe mode.

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Chosen Solution

Hi Guys,

I solved this problem, for me my Thunderbird was reading the .pdf as a html file In composition which I think is a bug.

Under Preferences and Under Files & Attachments - select Firefox HTML Document and either delete or change action to use adobe acrobat reader and it should solve the problem.

Note: Some people might have Chrome HTML Document or Safari HTML Document etc. Instead of Firefox HTML Document, so just do the same for whatever HTML Document you have.

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Brendan,

Thanks! This worked.

But on mine, changing the action doesn't stick. It reverts to the default and never saves the change.

So I deleted the action entirely. Then, the next time I opened a .pdf attachment in the compose window, Thunderbird asked me what to use to open it. I chose Adobe Reader (which I had to browse to in Program Files x86/Adobe) and then it became the default.

Definitely a bug in Thunderbird. Thanks for figuring it out.

Scott