1120157 - Cannot Remove Default Action for Attachment

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Preferences, defect)

Description

[David E. Ross]

Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1 (x64)
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.3.0

My two preferred viewers for JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg) files are Photo Editor and GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).  I got Photo Editor from <http://www.brothersoft.com/microsoft-photo-editor-128651.html> and installed it.  I got GIMP from <http://www.gimp.org/downloads/>.  

When I try to setup Photo Editor and GIMP in Thunderbird for incoming attachments with "Always Ask", there is already a Photo Editor as the default.  However, that is NOT the Photo Editor I installed.  Instead, it is Windows Photo Viewer, which I cannot uninstall.  (I have tried to uninstall it, but Windows prevents me from doing so.)  As a result, when I receive a plain-text E-mail message with an attached photo (often a photo of my grandson or granddaughter), my attempt to open the photo occurs in Photo Viewer, which does not have an option to save, rotate, crop, or otherwise handle the image (capabilities that exist with the real Photo Editor).  

I can get Photo Viewer (labeled "Photo Editor") with either the real Photo Editor or GIMP as possible actions.  But I cannot get both the real Photo Editor and GIMP as possible actions.  Apparently, Thunderbird limits me to only two applications per MIME-type, and I cannot get rid of Photo Viewer as the default application.  

Note that I do not have this problem with Windows itself.  I set the real Photo Editor as the default when double-clicking on a JPEG file, and it indeed opens the file.  I do not get Photo Viewer.  This is only a Thunderbird problem.  I suspect it is a problem for incoming messages with other MIME-types.  

I have saved an E-mail message that has a photo of my grandson.  I prefer not to attach it as an EML message to this bug report as I do not have permission from his mother to make the photo public.  If I receive an E-mail message with a photo of a different subject (not my granddaughter), I will then attached it to this bug report.  

Not finding a workaround for this problem, I marked the Severity as Major.

Comment 1

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Not sure I understood correctly. But you should be able to set which you want under Prefereces | Attachments | Incoming ?

Comment 2

[David E. Ross]

Here is my configuration:  
Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1 (x64)
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.3.0
NoGlass 0.10 theme
Thunderbird Extensions	Version
CompactHeader	2.0.9
MagicSLR	4.0.1
Mail Redirect	0.8.5
NoGlass theme	0.10
PopMailListRecipients	0.3
Reply to All as CC	1.4
Rise of the Tools	1.0.1.0
Send Filter	1.0.6
Signature Switch	1.6.12
Smiley Fixer	1.4
Theme Font & Size Changer	34.2
Toggle Word Wrap	1.9
Toolbar Buttons	1.0.2

NOTE:  I saw this same problem running in safe mode.  

Here is what I tried more than once and am repeating as I write this:  

1.  On the Thunderbird menu bar, I selected [Tools > Options].  

2.  On the Options window, I selected [Attachments > Incoming].  

3.  Selecting JPEG Image for Content Type, I selected Delete Action for Action.  

4.  I terminated Thunderbird and then relaunched it, confirming that JPEG Image no longer appears in [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming].    

5.  I opened a plain-text message with a JPEG attachment.  

6.  I selected "Open the attached file" (a tooltip that appears when my cursor is over the attachment name) at the bottom of the message window.  A dialogue popup appeared with the "Open with" radio button preselected and "Microsoft Photo Editor (Default)" already in the selection list.  No other application appeared int he selection list.  

7.  Selecting the OK button on the dialogue popup, the attached photo was displayed with Windows Photo Viewer.  

8.  At [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming], I confirmed that JPEG Image was still not listed under Content Type.  

9.  I terminated Windows Photo Viewer.  

10.  I again selected "Open the attached file" at the bottom of the message window.  When the dialogue popup appeared, I selected Other from the selection list.  

11.  Navigating to the Photo Editor executable PHOTOED.EXE, I was able to display the photo with Photo Editor, which I then terminated.  

12.  At [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming], I then saw JPEG Image as a Content Type.  Both "Microsoft Photo Editor (Default)" and "Microsoft Photo Editor" appeared in the selection list under Application.  The former displayed the photo with Windows Photo Viewer, and the latter displayed the photo with Photo Editor.  

13.  I again selected "Open the attached file" at the bottom of the message window.  When the dialogue popup appeared, I selected Other from the selection list.  

14.  Navigating to the GIMP executable gimp-2.8.exe, I was able to display the photo with GIMP, which I then terminated.  

15.  At [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming], both "Microsoft Photo Editor (Default)" and "GNU Image Manipulation Program" (GIMP) appeared in the selection list under Action for the JPEG Image Content Type.  "Microsoft Photo Editor" without "Default" disappeared.  

16.  Further attempts to view the attached photo showed that Windows Photo Viewer and GIMP were the applications that would display the photo.  

17.  When I repeated steps 10 and 11, GIMP disappeared from the selection list on the dialogue popup.  At [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming], both "Microsoft Photo Editor (Default)" and "Microsoft Photo Editor" appeared in the selection list under Action for the JPEG Image Content Type but not GIMP.  

The issue is that Thunderbird sets a default Action for a given Content Type, and I cannot remove that default.  Since the list of Actions appears limited to two applications, I am left with an application in the list that I do not want to use.

Comment 3

[David E. Ross]

Attachment: E-mail message with attached JPEG file

Photo Editor has a size limit, beyond which it cannot open a JPEG file.  GIMP can handle much larger JPEG files.  The attached E-mail message in EML format has a JPEG attachment that I can open with both Photo Editor and GIMP.  

Note that I replaced all addresses with XXX.

Comment 4

[David E. Ross]

Starting in the Windows Control Panel, I selected [Default Programs > Set Your Default Programs > Windows Photo Viewer > Choose defaults for this program].  On the resulting Set Program Associations window, I saw that the default program for opening .jpe, .jpeg, and .jpg files is Photo Editor, not Photo Viewer.  The selection of Photo Viewer by Thunderbird as its default application for those files thus appears to be inherent in Thunderbird.

Comment 5

[Ronald Killmer]

My observation is Gecko for Windows platform runs a registry scan on first startup and adds media Apps to the MINEtype.rdf.  Cases like this one can get stuck with undesirable defaults which may not be system defaults.  For me, I was stuck with a listing for Real Player, even though I had removed it from the system (was an HP OEM install).  I had to blow away the rdf file since there was no attachments tab in Options 6 years ago.

Comment 6

[David E. Ross]

I have tried several strategies to find a work-around for this, all of which proved unsuccessful.  During those attempts, I discovered that Windows 7 acts as if my installed "real" Photo Editor is its default for opening JPEG files, not the Windows Photo Viewer (which Thunderbird treats as the default and labels "Photo Editor (Default)".  

I open Windows Control Panel and request [Default Programs > Associate a file type with a program or protocol].  If I then select .jpe, .jpeg, or .jpg and then the "Change program" button, Windows Photo Viewer does not appear under either Recommended Programs or Other Programs.  

To me, it is clear that this is definitely a Thunderbird problem and not a Windows problem.  If a tweak to the mimeTypes.rdf file is a work-around, I would appreciate some details on how to do that tweak.  A tweak was suggested in the alt.windows7.general newsgroup, but it did not work.

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

("no workaround" doesn't make a bug severity major. see https://wiki.mozilla.org/BMO/UserGuide/BugFields#bug_severity )

I wasn't able to reproduce this. :(

Is it still reproducible for you David?

Comment 8

[David E. Ross]

Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1 (x64)
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.8.0
NoGlass 0.12 theme
Protocols:  POP3 and SMTP

I just now tried this.  On the Thunderbird menu bar, I selected [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming].  I then selected an E-mail with a large .jpg file attached.  The default is labeled "Microsoft Photo Editor", but the application's title bar identifies it as Windows Photo Viewer.  I instead retried opening the .jpg file and requested GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program).  For GIMP, I had to browse to where it is installed because it is not in the list of alternative applications for JPEG Image.  

I then terminated Thunderbird and Photo Viewer.  Relaunching Thunderbird, I again selected [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming].  I selected JPEG Image under Content Type.  I then selected the pull-down list under Action and then selected Delete Action.  JPEG Image was removed.  I terminated Thunderbird, and then reopened the E-mail with the large .jpg file attached.  When I attempted to open the .jpg file, the JPEG Image was restored to the list under [Tools > Options > Attachments > Incoming] with Windows Photo Viewer as the default.  That entry for JPEG Image includes a number of extraneous alternative applications but not GIMP.  

I cannot find a way to add GIMP to the list of alternative applications for JPEG Image or to remove any of the other alternative applications.  GIMP does remain in the list only as long as it is the most recent application used for JPEG Image.  Are there preference variables I can edit to accomplish add GIMP permanently to the list of alternative applications and to delete extraneous applications (including Windows Photo Viewer)?  Or are there Windows registry changes required?  

Note:  I am using Thunderbird/52.8.0 because I discovered (by installing) that Thunderbird/60.0 is not compatible with the NoGlass theme and some of the extensions that I frequently use.

Comment 9

[David E. Ross]

Oops!! This is still a problem with Thunderbird 52.9.1.  I indicated version 52.8.0 in comment #8 because I failed to update my own detailed description of my Thunderbird configuration after I last updated Thunderbird.  

Note:  Thunderbird 60.0 is not compatible with several extensions that I consider important.  Unless a future version of Thunderbird is made compatible with those extensions, I might not update again.