Open Bug 108455 Opened 24 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Mozilla mail doesn't open URLs in system default browser

Categories

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, enhancement)

Product:
SeaMonkey
Component:
MailNews: Message Display
Type:
enhancement
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

People

(Reporter: matthew.king, Unassigned)

References

Details

Attachments

(1 obsolete file)

Clicking on a URL sent in an email (and, I suppose, news messages) opens the link in mozilla. I cannot see an option to change this anywhere. While mozilla is a nice web browser but I would prefer, especially as it will be running on a number of thin clients, to open it in galeon. I expect the best way to do this would be to have an option asking whether to open URLs internally or to send them to the system (ie. gnome, kde, windows or whatever), where the default URL handler can be changed to whatever the user (or system administrator) chooses.
Whiteboard: DUPEME
This is the converse of bug 11459, "need option for mailto: to launch external mail app or open a webmail url".
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Summary: URLs open in mozilla only → need option for links in moz mail to open in a non-mozilla browser
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Target Milestone: --- → mozilla1.2
*** Bug 124152 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
OS: Linux → All
Whiteboard: DUPEME
*** Bug 129975 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Any chance this bug could be moved ahead? Should there be a different bug for Linux and Windows? It seems that implementing this in both OS's would involve different code. How about a quick workaround...can we make it possible to change the doc/html MIME type in the "Helper Applications" section? instead of having it as "handled internally" this could be changed just like any other helper app? I can't think of any adverse affects this would have from the user's point of view. Unless the user deletes this new helper app.
*** Bug 132394 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
This needs to be fixed on the Mac OS X version, also (and, I suspect, Mac OS 9 and earlier). Can we please put some effort into fixing this one? It's terribly annoying to be locked into Mozilla's email client when using Mozilla as my web browser (and the Mac OS X installer consists of dragging the folder from a disk image to the HD, so there's no way to install specific components). Please, PLEASE fix this!!
*** Bug 139587 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Summary: need option for links in moz mail to open in a non-mozilla browser → Mozilla mail doesn't open URLs in system default browser
It would also be nice to use the mail client without necessarily having to use the browser. Where I work, we don't want to use Outlook so we install Eudora on our windows desktops, but we're sick of Eudora, too. I would love to replace it with Mozilla but I won't happen if it also means introducing a new browser at the same time because of the training it would involve.
*** Bug 174288 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 177513 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I wanna use Phoenix as default browser, since it's very fast. But I also wanna use the Mozilla Mail Client, but whenever I click a link it opens mozilla and not phoenix :/ That's really annoying...
I notice that the milestone for this is mozilla1.2alpha. I've installed Mozilla 1.2 Beta. I don't see any options that would allow me to open links in Mozilla mail with a defined browser application. Did I miss the prefs.js setting or should the milestone be changed to something in the future?
The target milestone if for the developer and it doesn't mean that this is already working /fixed If this would working you would see a "fixed" instead of a assigned. pushing to the next Alpha ...
Target Milestone: mozilla1.2alpha → mozilla1.3alpha
*** Bug 180708 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Please make this an option. I use Mozilla at work, and I have my default mail client set to Outlook; when I click a mailto: link in Internet Explorer I want it to open in Outlook, but when I click an e-mail link I want it to stay in Mozilla, so the current behavior happens to suit me fine. Obviously different people have different needs, and I agree this bug should be fixed; a preference would be wonderful. :-)
*** Bug 182218 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 173236 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
futuring. what is really wanted here is stand alone mail. see http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/minotaur/index.html for details about that, and what's blocking it from happening on the trunk.
Target Milestone: mozilla1.3alpha → Future
I believe that the issues of whether the mail UA and browser are _distributed_ together and whether they are hard-wired to talk to each other are separable and orthogonal issues. I agree that both are important projects for their own reasons.
*** Bug 183964 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 183971 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Flags: blocking1.3a+
Flags: blocking1.3a+
Changing the 'blocked' field is the only way to users have to indicate something is important. We can't change the Priority field and we can't change the Severity field. This is a 'regression' in functionality, for the Win OS's. It may not be as severe on Linux or other OS's that don't have a standard way for users to store choices independent of programs, but on OS's that do, this is a fairly major and ugly bug. When MS ignored user choices, everyone thought that was despicable and typical MS behavior. They haven't done it for years, but now Mozilla is is behaving the same way. It's embarrassing and lets people know that Mozilla doesn't integrate well into Windows because Mozilla doesn't want to. Yes MS can play unfair, but even when they do open up the standards and play by them, who's fault is it that IE is more compatible with Windows when we don't avail ourselves of the few open standards that are available? This bug should not be 'normal', and having zero priority shows folks where Mozilla's real view of standards lies. If there isn't time to implement it, that's one issue, but saying it isn't important? That's salt in the wound.
No, I believe that's what "votes" are for - so that normal users can indicate what bugs are more/less important to them. If a bug doesn't have a lot of votes then it's probably a good indication that it's not all that important to a lot of people. That doesn't mean it's not important to YOU, but it's probably a better indicator of the collective will of the user community than is a single user deciding to change the "blocked" flag. I say this as one of the people who've submitted this bug. :-)
mozilla@tlinx.org : Would you please stop with discussions in bug reports. (I told you that already in your duped bug report) It's no regression since this FEATURE were never implemented in Mozilla. Attach a patch and get it reviewd or be quiet ! It's possible important for you but it's not blocking the 1.3a Release. This bug will not implemented in the near future since the target milestone is "future"
Severity: normal → enhancement
Slight problem with that theory -- the votes only come from people who have enough interest in the product to register on the site and vote (yes I voted!). The vastly larger majority of people who just 'experiement with mozilla' on a trial basis see that it is broken and uninstall it. You never see the number of people turned off by broken compatibility that just say 'screw it'. Developers don't think like users and a casual user who is experimenting to see if mozilla will integrate into their daily work flow will find that it does not and drop it from consideration. The only way to get some indication of that is measuring 'return customers'. What percentage of people who download mozilla come back and download the next? How many people are interested enough to download a new release within a week of it coming out? How many non-developers do you think would register here? I can assure you that if my parents or g'f were to use mozilla and something wasn't right, they wouldn't even tell me -- let alone register to report a bug and vote for something. They'd just back to whatever they used before -- because it worked and didn't have all these new compatibility problems. I constantly want to improve my g'f's computer...she *really* doesn't care about performance. I can't understand how one wouldn't...but for her...its a computer. Computers are slow. Speed it up and its 'oh, that's nice', or 'oh, I didn't notice any difference'...sigh...But have a program not come up or have a different program than she's chosen -- then it's broken. "I want it back the old way." But if you give me a little time, I can fix it...nope. Sorry. Too much effort lifting a finger may be too much effort! But register, report and vote for bugs? Not gonna happen. -l
I agree with "Law" on most of his comments. This bug is preventing my grandma from having Mozilla on her computer. She wants IE6 for Windows, but wants Moz Mail for the nice multiple pop account support. Secondly, to "Travis", 12 votes is a lot of votes for one bug, and I've seen a lot of bugs around here. Many that I have submitted (and have been fixed) had far less votes, but for some reason the developer's decided to fix those. Again, 12 votes is a hefty amount. And you have the consider that a bug like this is something that new users experience as soon as they install Moz on Windows. So they will uninstall Moz right away and never get a chance to learn about Bugzilla. This is not a bug that users notice a year later. Lastly, I agree with Matti that discussions should not be allowed in Bugs. But I don't think this has amounted to "discussion" level yet. He's just trying to prove why he thinks this bug is important, as I am doing. And if the users (who have no idea what submitted a "patch" means) don't say anything then certain bugs may sit on the back-burner for longer. But this post will be my last, and I've said everything I need to say. Law: Try not to **** off the developers. It is an important bug...but not blocking any release.
It would be great if this could be fixed, I am getting a lot of complaints from users regarding this. It is now getting to a point where we have to consider moving away from the Mozilla mail client. And that is something I would not want to happen. And yes I have voted - is there anyway to view the bugs that have a large number of votes?
Lasse: Bug 163993 may be of interest to you. Or, just go to the Query page and search for bugs with "Votes" ... "Greater Than" ... ## (where ## is some number that you define). PS It doesn't do much good to post a question without adding yourself to the CC list ;). Had I not added you just now, you would not have received any of the responses.
*** Bug 187972 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Hello! I'm adding fuel to the fire on this bug. It's quite simple, this behavior is not a minor thing to just dismiss, many people who like mozilla mail but prefer a different browser would want this to work. I don't want mozilla the browser opening to handle my internet shortcuts, I want IE. If microsoft forced IE to open all outlook shortcuts (and it doesn't -- it opens the default browser) there would be many people crying foul, antitrust, "GO GET 'EM BOYS!". Imagine the slashdot crowd commenting on this.., or the MS crowd (if one exists) This is broken functionality, and it's enough for me to stop using mozilla and go seek an alternative client that will behave as I expect it to. (which might mean switching back to OE/outlook) BTW: I'm using 1.2.1 stable, Windows 2000 sp3, IE is 6.0.2800.1106 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.2.1) Gecko/20021130
this is really: "I want stand alone mail", and should be marked as a dup of that bug. if you have mozilla (browser + mailnews), this would always launch the browser.
two classes of mailnews users: 1) those that want to use mozilla-the-browser 2) those that want to use another (IE, phoenix) those that want to use mozilla the browser are fine as is. those that want to use another browser, would use stand alone mail. (http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/minotaur/index.html)
well there aren't any minotaur builds...
Seth, it's not as black and white as you seem to think. What about those that use mozilla from time to time while using another browser as their default? I've always been in that category, and still am. If mozilla wants to shut those people out, so be it..
Seth: I don't see why this bug should be changed to "I want stand-alone mail". I don't think that's what the original reporter meant. I have many friends that I'd really like to switch to Mozilla Mail for the following reasons: 1) They have multiple POP accounts and IE does not handle this nicely like Moz does 2) They complain to me about their spam problems all the time, and Moz has Bayesian filtering now However, everyone knows that Mozilla just doesn't work with some sites out there, particularily the ones with ActiveX controls and the like, like many of the sites in the "MSN network". So, I'd like to install Mozilla on their computer and have IE as the default browser. But I don't want them to have stand-alone mail, because of the following reasons: 1) Some pages may work better on Mozilla browser, because it is more standards compliant 2) MS uses a broken Java VM, but Java's 1.3 or 1.4 JVM works great with Moz 3) I'd like to eventually wean them off IE, and perhaps I can show them some of the useful features, like type-ahead-find, and tabbed browsing, and they will like it better. The fact that Mozilla does not respect the default browser as determined by the OS is in my opinion, very stupid. It is ironic that MS Outlook and Office handle hyperlinks using the default HTML application, but Mozilla does not. Hmm, I notice that Mozilla asks the user on the first startup: "do you wish to make Mozilla the default browser?" I wonder what happens if they select "no"? Probably all the other applications will still use IE, and Mozilla Mail will use Mozilla Browser. Shouldn't this line be changed to: "do you wish to make Mozilla the default browser for every application except mozilla mail?". Maybe a bug should be filed for that (if one hasn't already been filed) Seth, you mentioned your comment back on comment #18, I don't know why you are still harping over this. Alas, I also made a similar rant on comment #26, sorry... And to all the developers, thanks a lot for your hard work, but please leave this bug as it is, do change to "we want standalone mail" and mark as dup.
oops, the last line on the above comment should say "DON'T", not "do"
[David Grant said:] Hmm, I notice that Mozilla asks the user on the first startup: "do you wish to make Mozilla the default browser?" I wonder what happens if they select "no"? Probably all the other applications will still use IE, and Mozilla Mail will use Mozilla Browser. That's true and that is why I think this is a bug - and it is a totally annoying bug to me. I selected "no" in the step you mentioned and in the preferences, you can see no file type (like jpg, html, etc.) is associated with mozilla. Protocols are not associated with mozilla either. But clicking a link in a mail does not open Opera as it should, it opens the navigator.
Blocks: 196052
*** Bug 199801 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
As with bug 11459, this bug is essentially solved (for Windows at least), except for the lack of a specific UI. In your prefs.js or user.js file, add these lines: user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.http", true); user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.https", true); Voila. Mozilla Mail will now open links in the system-defined browser (that is, the browser specified in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command in the Windows registry). NOTE: this will also cause the external browser to be launched from within the Mozilla browser, either by clicking an http link or entering an http URL into the address bar. If you *never* want the Mozilla browser, that shouldn't be a problem. If you sometimes want the Mozilla browser, this fix is not usable. I think this should work for MacOS X, as well -- the equivalent solution for the mailto: protocol does. Linux/Unix people who want to take advantage of this preference, see the discussions in bug 56478 and (Gnome users) bug 140635.
EXCELLENT!!!! For those of you that are now attempting to get this to work: I had a little trouble finding a user.js or prefs.js file anywhere on my system and getting it to work. But when I created a user.js file in: C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\defaults\pref And put these two lines in it: pref("network.protocol-handler.external.http", true); pref("network.protocol-handler.external.https", true); it works. (Note how it is pref(...) not user_pref(...)) The other didn't work for me on my mozilla 1.3... THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING THAT SOLUTION!
Since what build has this fix via the prefs.js file been around?
I tried the user.js fix, as modified by Peter Morch, under Mozilla 1.3 with Win200 SP3. The fix works fine for plain text mail messages (or "Simple HTML"), using my default browser when I click on links. However, when viewing HTML messages with images, all the images pop up in a new IE window in quick succession.
The user.js pref fix does make the Mozilla e-mail client open clicked hyperlinks in the system default browser. However, as I soon discovered, not only does it then make it impossible to use the Mozilla browser (as said earlier), but it makes it impossible to view HTML e-mails in the Mozilla e- mail client, since all linked images, stylesheets, etc., are opened, one by one, in the system default browser. I'm just saying that this is not really a "fix" of the bug (or so-called feature). I was forced to remove my prefs again to be able to continue using the Mozilla e-mail client for my HTML e-mails. Still waiting for a bugfix to allow me to open clicked hyperlinks from an e-mail in my system default browser. //Mans
Flags: blocking1.4b?
*** Bug 150986 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Flags: blocking1.4b? → blocking1.4b-
is this still happening with more recent software versions? (bug cleaning)
yes, it is. i am using the mozilla 1.4 rc1 client for reading mails, and when clicking a url in the mail window a mozilla browser window is opened instead of the default browser. i think this might get automatically fixed when mozilla browser and mail get seperated into thunderbird and firebird and rejoin as mozilla 1.5 (or whatever it will be then).
*** Bug 212866 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
FYI: complaints earlier in this thread about votes only being 12, now it's 43 votes. I've switched to Firebird/Thunderbird, Thunderbird mail handles default browser properly.
I also have switched to Firebird/Thunderbird because Thunderbird mail handles default browser properly.
Yup - me too!
Just a quick comment regarding using Firebird/Thunderbird: My workplace is using Mozilla as the standard browser and mailnews client. I want to use a different browser (Opera). The Thunderbird solution means I will have to take care of installing new versions, plugins etc myself - rather than having this handled by my IT support people. Also, when I am issued with a laptop for travels, it will have Mozilla preinstalled - so just adding Opera would be much simpler than installing and configuring Thunderbird, then Opera.
Using Thunderbird should be easy. Install it, then copy over the mail files in the Mail directory of Mozilla to the Thunderbird Mail directory. Besides AFAIK, Thunderbird still doesn't fully support opening links in the default browser. So perhaps when this finally gets implemented 100% correctly, the code can be put into Mozilla mailnews as well, then you can just stay with Mailnews and use Opera.
Why I can't use Firebird : We plan to move from Netscape 4.75 to Mozilla 1.4.1 in few weeks for all 1600 PC in my company. As this is professionnal business, we can't take the risk to install a mail client which is not at least version 1.x, and thus we can't choose Mozilla Firebird. At the same time, because of intranet sites incompatibilities with Mozilla (by use of microsoft specific technologies :-( ), the default browser will be IE6. And as we use HTML and web links in mails, we need Mozilla Mail to use the OS default browser. Thus this bug is very annoying for us and if I don't find any solution, we'll have to choose another mail software, which would be a pity as Mozilla Mail is good. Unless if Mozilla Firebird 1.x comes soon but as it is 0.3 now, I don't think that 1.x will come within a few months.
Oups ! Please replace Firebird by Thunderbird !
Just noticed that this goes for chatzilla as well: All links are opened in Mozilla, no matter what the default-browser settings are.
*** Bug 227075 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Blocks: majorbugs
Can someone please get me off the list? jmille34@tampabay.rr.com. I don't appear to be in the CC list, but I still get the emails. I have switched to Thunderbird, and it works great. Thanks
I dont understand why mozilla cannot handle the mailto in the registry properly the problem: you are using internet explorer or another browser but you want to use mozilla mail once you click on an email windows looks into the registry if you put "path\mozilla.exe %1" into HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command, mozilla opens a navigator window first and only then the mail client So you end up with two open windows Using "path\mozilla.exe -mail %1" does not work any more as it used to in earlier versions (I think it ever did?)
*** Bug 251449 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Product: Browser → Seamonkey
Assignee: sspitzer → mail
Status: ASSIGNED → NEW
No longer blocks: majorbugs
Depends on: 11459
I wish to request: For those people who want clicking a ilnk in SeaMonkey Mail to open the DEFAULT browser, let there be an option, But: Let it not totally make impossible the current feature of opening the link in SeaMonkey Navigator. For me one of the biggest reasons to stick to SeaMonkey Suite and not shift to FF/TB is the seamless integration between the two (navigator and mail) components. I really dig seeing the same options "Open in a New Tab" "Open in a New Window" etc upon right-clicking a link in SeaMonkey Mail, which I see upon right-clicking a link in SeaMonkey Navigator. Adding self to CC.
Product: Core ?
(In reply to comment #61) > Product: Core ? Disregard. Sorry.
See xchat for a possible alternative method of handling URLs. The option of "Open in this application (Mozilla)" and "Open in default application (Firefox/Thunderbird)" in a right click menu should be possible. In fact, default action (left click) should be to open in default registered application and right click should present a menu of all applications capable of handling the particular URL type. The fall back position can be to open in self (Mozilla) or in native OS registered app. Either way, there needs to be some level of flexibility. BTW: This bug has to be one of the longest lasting BZ entries I've ever participated in. Almost 4 years in this bug and about 18 months in it's previous incarnations. I recall raising this issue back in 1998 with a response along the lines of "this will be addressed in the next release of Navigator."
(In reply to comment #63) > BTW: This bug has to be one of the longest lasting BZ entries I've ever > participated in. Almost 4 years in this bug and about 18 months in it's previous > incarnations. I recall raising this issue back in 1998 with a response along the > lines of "this will be addressed in the next release of Navigator." Please see http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=305602 where I have started a thread for "Forgotten Bugs". Your contributions are most welcome! (In fact, I'm a bit sad that noone has shown any enthu for this apart from me.)
Note, in Mac OS X, at least as of 10.4.2, you can only change the default browser via the Safari browser preferences. Uggly. I haven't tried it with Mozilla Mail, but Thunderbird *does* open whatever browser is set to sys default by the Safari web browser. (In reply to comment #39) > As with bug 11459, this bug is essentially solved (for Windows at least), > except for the lack of a specific UI. > > In your prefs.js or user.js file, add these lines: > > user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.http", true); > user_pref("network.protocol-handler.external.https", true); > > Voila. Mozilla Mail will now open links in the system-defined browser (that > is, the browser specified in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command > in the Windows registry). > > NOTE: this will also cause the external browser to be launched from within > the Mozilla browser, either by clicking an http link or entering an http URL > into the address bar. If you *never* want the Mozilla browser, that shouldn't > be a problem. If you sometimes want the Mozilla browser, this fix is not > usable. > > I think this should work for MacOS X, as well -- the equivalent solution for > the mailto: protocol does. Linux/Unix people who want to take advantage of > this preference, see the discussions in bug 56478 and (Gnome users) bug 140635.
Right click on the link in the email in Outlook and select view source; from here you can find the url, copy and paste it direct into Mozilla/ Firefox. Tedious but it works.
JS_DGashTableOperate in dynamic link Library js3250.dll This is the error message I get when I try to browse to a URL defined in Thuderbird email
Assignee: mail → nobody
QA Contact: esther → message-display
Target Milestone: Future → ---

Somewhat solved by this: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/seamonkey/addon/standalone-seamonkey-mail
If you pinned SeaMonkey to the taskbar of Windows 7/8/10/11 and want it to start as mail there: Close SeaMonkey, Shift-right-click the pinned icon, add "-mail", change Icon to "C:\Program Files\SeaMonkey\chrome\icons\default\messengerWindow.ico".
Don't be irritated that the icon does not change immediately, use cleanmgr.exe to clear the icon cache and logoff-logon or reboot.
Tested right now with SeaMonkey 2.53.11 alpha and SeaMonkey 2.57 alpha.
Personal: I HAD to switch the browser since SeaMonkey 2.53 starts to fail on many sites, and SeaMonkey 2.57 renders them fine but current ublock/noscript version don't work.

Wow! 22 Year old thread all of a sudden updated after 15 years!!! Thanks Joachim, that's just what I needed. I had long since retrained myself to right-click copy link locations and paste them in to Chrome / Edge but it was still something that bugged me a lot.

As an aside you can set which 'module' Seamonkey starts in by going to EDIT > PREFERENCES > APPEARANCE > WHEN SEAMONKEY STARTS UP, OPEN > MAIL & NEWS

Also, if you right click the desktop icon on Winblows, go to properties and Change Icon button you can choose a nice little envelope icon to drag to your taskbar.

Lastly I have often wondered about how the Seamonkey code base is developed how modular it is and how much work it would be to create a customized installer whereby you can select which 'modules' you want i.e. Browser, Mail Client, HTML Editor, Chat Client

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