HOWTO: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
Some people have problems using mailto links with Thunderbird. To fix the "choose user profile" problem, follow this howto.
Method 1:
THUNDERBIRD: Open with firefox an URL contained in an email
1.) Open Nautilus and type this in the address bar: ~/.thunderbird (if that doesn't work, try ~/.mozilla-thunderbird)
2.) Go your profile directory (with a random-generated name, like this Xbcgev.default). To be sure you're in the correct directory check if a file named prefs.js exists.
3.) File > Create Document > Empty Document highlight it and press F2 to rename the document user.js (If it already exists skip this passage).
4.) Open user.js and write this line (if the file already exists append the line at the end): user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.http", "/usr/bin/firefox");
/usr/bin/firefox is obviously the path to execute firefox
5.) That's all
FIREFOX: open thunderbird when clicking on a "mailto:" link
1.) 1.) Open Nautilus and type this in the address bar: ~/.mozilla/firefox (if that doesn't work, try ~/.mozilla-thunderbird)
2.) Go your profile directory (with a random-generated name, like this Xbcgev.default). To be sure you're in the correct directory check if a file named prefs.js exists.
3.) File > Create Document > Empty Document highlight it and press F2 to rename the document user.js (If it already exists skip this passage).
4.) Open user.js and write this line (if the file already exists append the line at the end): user_pref("network.protocol-handler.app.mailto","/usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird");
/usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird is the path to execute thunderbird
5.) That's all
Method 2: (might be dangerous)
(please back your original TB copy up--some people have had problems with this hack):
1.) Type: about:config into the firefox address bar (press ctrl + T for a new tab)
2.) Right click and choose: New>String
3.) In "new string value" box type: network.protocol-handler.app.mailto click OK
4.) In "enter string value" box enter: /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird click OK
5.) Open a terminal and use this command: sudo cp /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird.bak (this is our backup in case anything goes haywire)
6.) Now use the following command: sudo gedit /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird
7.) Press Ctrl + R. In the Search For box, type: Mozilla-Thunderbird. In the Replace with box type: mozilla-thunderbird. Press Alt + M, then Alt + A, then Alt + C, then Ctrl + S, then Alt + F4.
7.) Reset Firefox and try the mailto link (it should work while TB is on or off)
Note: This is a dirty dirty hack--PM me if you have a more failsafe method, and I'll edit it in :)
Note 2: If you have problems w/ the script, post here, so I know what is going wrong.
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
It does not seem to work for me? Hmmm....
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
So you get everything done, and it still doesn't work? What happens? The one thing I would try is re-selecting the entire script, and making sure you didn't accidentally miss part of it--then re-copy it into the file w/ gedit. (maybe just try the entire process one more time to be sure)
I tried these steps on my laptop, and it worked just the same... I installed Warty during X-mas and immediately upgraded to Hoary. I think I'm using the firefox backport.
You might try the extension instead of the about:config.
Let us know what works, and how it goes.
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
Worked perfectly for me, thank you!
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
I rebuilt the script again with gedit, and had no luck. I switch to emacs and it worked fine. Go figure.
Mike
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Basinger
I rebuilt the script again with gedit, and had no luck. I switch to emacs and it worked fine. Go figure.
Very strange indeed?? The only thing I can really think of is that maybe there needs to be an extra space down at the bottom of the page (I think that some languages and scripts complain when a file ends with no blank space), but I don't know if bash is one of them.
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
I just thought that the thunderbird scripts are braindead buggy!
I changed the following:
edit /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird
and replace every occurence of Mozilla-Thunderbird with mozilla-thunderbird
then it works much better, no need to create a separate script.
I have the following in about:config
network.protocol-handler.app.mailto user-set string /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird
Yes, that's all!
Why I did that? Because some bugzilla entries gave me the idea that the script is wrong:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=259305
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=244060
Now how do we get that correction back into ubuntu, debian and even perhaps mozilla?
At least it's posted here, so ubuntu rules more :-)
Georges
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
Works in Mozilla too. 8-)
Re: Howto: Firefox mailto w/ Thunderbird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Georges
edit /usr/bin/mozilla-thunderbird
and replace every occurence of Mozilla-Thunderbird with mozilla-thunderbird
Good work! Thanks for sharing--I'll adjust the howto!