238567 - Thunderbird Cannot Steal Back 'mailto' Handling From Outlook

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 245532

(Thunderbird :: Preferences, defect)

Description

[Rishi Chopra]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

This forum link explains the problem:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=60706&highlight=

A user should be able to switch back and forth between applications (Outlook 200
and Thunderbird 0.5), something that TB 0.5 currently doesn't support.  If the
app had some way of knowing whether another email program had seized default
control, there wouldn't be any issue.

TB prompt on startup and asks whether to be the default mail handler for the
system.  After saying "yes", the checkbox under the 'tools->options->general'
tab is checked, and does not uncheck itself (as it should) in order to play nice
with other programs and prompt on startup.  Once the checkbox is checked, it
stays checked and the program will not prompt again on startup (there should be
a way of getting TB to ask every time, especially if another program has stolen
the "default" status).

If the checkbox is checked when the application is started, TB will not ask
about being the default handler; this is precisely the problem.  I should be
able to switch back and forth between Outlook and Thunderbird without any
problems.  If I start TB, say "yes", and then start Outlook, I'm also prompted
with a "Should Outlook be the default mail handler for the system" message (to
which I respond "yes").  The problem comes when I next try and start TB; since
the checkbox is still checked (even though I've specifed Outlook to be the
default mail handler) the program won't ask whether it should regain control. 
Despite invoking TB with the checkbox checked, TB won't have control of mailto
links; to have TB regain control, I have to uncheck the box, close the app, and
then restart the app.

Since I'm sharing the computer with another user and Win2k does not respect
preferences accross accounts (see <a
href="http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=77354138.0403171349.737fae22%40posting.google.com&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fsafe%3Dimages%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26as_uauthors%3Drchopra%2540cal.berkeley.edu%2520OR%2520rchopra%2540uclink4.berkeley.edu%2520OR%2520rchopra%2540uclink.berkeley.edu%2520OR%2520rchopra%2540ocf.berkeley.edu%2520OR%2520ruc1%2540pge.com%2520OR%2520idfubar%2540yahoo.com%2520OR%2520oneclearlight%2540yahoo.com%2520OR%2520dezmfnutz%2540yahoo.com%26lr%3D%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den">this</a>
link) this feature really needs to work.  

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Open TB, uncheck the 'tools->options->general->set TB as the default mail
handler' option.  Close TB.
2.  Open TB and select "yes" when prompted to make TB the default mail handler.
3.  Open Outlook 2000 and select "yes" when prompted to make Outlook the default
mail handler (if Outlook does not prompt, see the link below):
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&frame=right&th=b20ca7249fcdc19a&seekm=77354138.0403161800.73357f57%40posting.google.com
4.  Open TB.  TB will not ask to regain default mail handler status.  TB will
also not handle any 'mailto' links opened through the browser.

Actual Results:  
TB will not ask to regain default mail handler status.  TB will also not handle
any 'mailto' links opened through the browser.

Expected Results:  
If another application has stolen focus, then TB should ask to regain default
mail handler status.  TB should also handle any 'mailto' links opened through
the browser if selected for default mail handler status.

Comment 1

[Antony Mawer]

I can confirm this... even though Thunderbird thought it was the default mail
application (and appeared on the XP start menu as the default mail client), when
I clicked a mailto: link then Outlook opened. Unticking the 'Check as
default...' box, closing Thunderbird and then reopening it caused the "Do you
wish to set thunderbird as your default" prompt to appear, after which clicking
Yes correctly restored Thunderbird to being the default handler for mailto: links.

Comment 2

[Andrew Hill]

Put me down for another confirmation, reproduced exactly as above.
Mozilla Thunderbird 0.5 (20040207)

Comment 3

[Rishi Chopra]

I have confirmed this bug for Thunderbird 0.6 as well.

Comment 4

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

From the dupe, Scott wrote in bug 245532 comment 5:
> I believe this is working correctly on the branch.
> Still needs to land on the trunk. 

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 245532 ***