160246 - Microsoft Office attachments will only Save to Disk

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(MailNews Core :: Attachments, defect)

Description

[Andrew Treloar]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.1a) Gecko/20020610
BuildID:    2002061014

The first time I received an email with a Word or Excel attachment (with the
correct MIME type) and I double clicked on it, I was asked to choose an
application to open it with, and also whether I wanted Mozilla to always ask for
this sort of file. I unchecked the 'Always Ask' checkbox.

Now, when I receive an email with a Word or Excel attachment and I double click
on it, I only get the 'save to disk' option. I never get asked if I want to open
it with an application, nor does it automatically open with the application I
first set. 

I have attempted to override the appropriate preference
(user_pref("browser.helperApps.neverAsk.openFile") in prefs.js with my own
settings in user.js, but to no avail.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start with a clean profile
2. Read an email with an attached Office document
3. Double click on the attachment, choose an application to open the attachment
and uncheck the 'Always Ask' checkbox.
4. Read the attached document after it opens in the selected applicaiton
4. Select a different email with an attached Office document and double click
the attachment

Actual Results:  I only get the 'Save to Disk' option

Expected Results:  Opened the attachment in the specified application

Comment 1

[Daniel Wang]

probably you have unwittingly uncheck the "ask next time" box some
time before.

go to Preference \ Navigator \ Helper Applications \ Opening Files
click [reset]

Comment 2

[Alfonso Martinez]

Please try the Reset button under Prefs->Navigator->Helper application

Comment 3

[Andrew Treloar]

My thanks to those who have suggested the workaround of using the reset button
to return the Helper Applications preferences to their default state.
Unfortunately, this does not address the substantive issue. This is, why can I
not set a particular application (i.e. Word) to always open .doc files (as I
could in Netscape Communicator and as I can in other email programs)? The dialog
makes it clear that this is an option, but it doesn't work!

Comment 4

[Greg K.]

Andrew, it may depend on the MIME type set on the attachment. Try viewing the
source of the e-mail message, and look for it. Is it application/msword or
something else, like application/octet-stream?

As long as it's application/msword, it WorksForMe using FizzillaCFM/2002081416.

Comment 5

[Daniel Wang]

no response from reporter -> WFM

Comment 6

[Andrew Treloar]

Let me try to clarify what I was originally saying. Consider the following scenario:
1. Someone sends me a Word file (either application/ms-word or
application/vnd.ms-word).
2. I double-click on the attachment to open it
3. Mozilla pops up the dialog asking me whether I want to save it to disk or
open it with an application.
4. I choose Word as the application
5. I click OK
6. Word opens the document.

So far, so good. But from this point on, one of two things will happen:
a. if I left the check-box ticked that says 'Always ask before opening this kind
of file', then every time I try to open a Word file from Mozilla, I will have to
go through this dialog
b. if I untick the check-box (which I would infer means 'use my previous choice
from now on') I *always* get the save-to-disk dialog. I *never* get the
behaviour (which Netscape 4.X had) that Word will automatically open the file
when I double click.

Neither of these behaviours is what I want, neither is consistent with what
Netscape did, and neither match the wording of the dialog box.

Comment 7

[Greg K.]

Andrew, can you reproduce this problem using another Mozilla user profile?

Comment 8

[Greg K.]

No response from reporter for 3 months. Resolving WFM.