Closed Bug 242959 Opened 20 years ago Closed 19 years ago

Thunderbird should open .eml files from command line

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, enhancement)

enhancement
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

VERIFIED FIXED

People

(Reporter: elreydetodo, Assigned: Bienvenu)

References

(Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

(Keywords: fixed1.8.1)

Attachments

(2 files, 1 obsolete file)

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8a) Gecko/20040502 Firefox/0.8.0+
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8a) Gecko/20040502 Firefox/0.8.0+

Thunderbird supports saving and opening .eml files through the Thunderbird
interface, but it should also support opening files externally.  If Thunderbird
is my default mail client, .eml files (and maybe .msg too) should be associated
with and open in Thunderbird.  I would like to be able to double-click on a .eml
file in explorer and have the file open in Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Save an email as a .eml file
2. Find the file in explorer
3. Double-click on the file

Actual Results:  
The file opens in Outlook Express, if at all.

Expected Results:  
The file should open in Thunderbird, just like if I had opened it from the menu.
see Bug 11076 and Bug 26201
it is sad that when opening an eml file I cant have thunderbird open up 
automatically!
I believe this is a duplicate of Bug 26201 (cf. this bug with Bug 26201
duplicates Bug 201882 and Bug 240681).
(In reply to comment #3)

No, if I open a eml file with Mozilla's MailNews component, I get get the
message displayed correctly (ok, in a browser window instead of a mail window,
but that's acceptable), but if I do the same with Thunderbird nothing happens.
(build 20040626 German)

In MailNews the window issue is to be corrected and the file type must be
registered, in Thunderbird it has to get working at all. 
When registering the file type it should be better handled as Firefox with .htm
and .url.
(In reply to comment #4)
> if I open a eml file with Mozilla's MailNews component, I get [...] the
> message displayed correctly (ok, in a browser window instead of a mail window,
> but that's acceptable)

Yes, but you had to set up that file association yourself (and, if I recall 
correctly, you need a  "file://%1"  specifier in the command line); Mozilla 
doesn't do it automatically, which is bug 26201.

> but if I do the same with Thunderbird nothing happens.

Right you are, and that's this bug.  Confirming, and updating summary for 
clarity.

Need another bug about TB registering for the .EML extension.
Severity: normal → enhancement
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
OS: Windows XP → All
Hardware: PC → All
Summary: Thunderbird shold support opening .eml files (saved message) → Thunderbird should open .eml files from command line
Blocks: 261559
Blocks: 269826
No longer depends on: 269826
Request for blocking 1.1. Take a look at my comment in Bug261559.
Flags: blocking-aviary1.1?
Flags: blocking-aviary1.1? → blocking-aviary1.1-
this patch requires the fix for bug 241212 to work correctly. Scott, what do
you think of this approach?
Assignee: mscott → bienvenu
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Attachment #184014 - Flags: superreview?(mscott)
Comment on attachment 184014 [details] [diff] [review]
this implements opening .eml files from the command line

1) You might be able to move your file includes into the MOZ_XUL_APP ifdef
right below them since the new command line code is inside a xul_app ifdef

2) Does outlook or OE pass a flag in? You can check in your windows registry to
see if they do something like:
thunderbird.exe -file test.eml

3) we should make sure the file extension is .eml before trying to open it.
Attachment #184014 - Flags: superreview?(mscott) → superreview+
carrying forward review
Attachment #184014 - Attachment is obsolete: true
Attachment #184686 - Flags: superreview+
Attachment #184686 - Flags: approval-aviary1.1a2?
Comment on attachment 184686 [details] [diff] [review]
fix addressing comments

a=chofmann
Attachment #184686 - Flags: approval-aviary1.1a2? → approval-aviary1.1a2+
Status: ASSIGNED → RESOLVED
Closed: 19 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
*** Bug 295286 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Verified Fixed with TB 1.0+0603.  Thanks, David!
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
With TB 1.0+0603 I could open an eml file using Nautilus, in gnome, but I
couldn't do this by the command line.

Exactly what command line should be used?
Novell Groupwise saves email messages as "Mime.822", so I'd suggest checking for
.822 exntensions as well. Something like:
+    if (StringEndsWith(arg, NS_LITERAL_STRING(".eml")) || StringEndsWith(arg,
NS_LITERAL_STRING(".822")))
Paul, if you save a message with groupwise, and change the extension to .eml,
can you open it with a recent thunderbird build? Or if you don't have a recent
tbird trunk build, can you attach a msg saved with groupwise so I can try it
myself? Before I relax the restriction, I want to make sure it works.
Is it possible to enable the Reply, Reply All, and Forward functions for .eml
files opened outside of Thunderbird? (Thunderbird supports replying/forwarding
whilst the main client is not "visible"). Outlook Express supports
replying/forwarding of .eml files.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Save an email as a .eml file
2. Find the file in explorer
3. Double-click on the file

Actual Results:  
The file opens in Thunderbird but the Reply, Reply All, and Forward buttons are
"greyed out".

Expected Results:  
The file should open in Thunderbird with the option to reply or forward.
Eventually, it will be possible. I have to do some work for that to work.
Still not fixed in the german version (*.eml files do not open at all!) It's
pretty stupid IMO if TB lets the user save emails in a format that it can't open
afterwards... Please fix this bug ASAP, thanks!
*** Bug 303673 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
(In reply to comment #18)
> Still not fixed in the german version (*.eml files do not open at all!) It's
> pretty stupid IMO if TB lets the user save emails in a format that it can't open
> afterwards... Please fix this bug ASAP, thanks!

I have the same problem with the german version.
Just tested the latest english version from
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-trunk/

The problem is still not fixed. If Thunderbird is opened, it only gets on top
but does not open the file. If it is closed, nothing happens (only the process
thunderbird.exe appears for a moment in task manager but then terminates).
*** Bug 304513 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
For upgrading 1.0.x to 1.5, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=314085
(In reply to comment #9)
> Created an attachment (id=184686) [edit]
> fix addressing comments

The attachment fixes opening of "*.eml" files but not "*.EML" files. The bug should be reopened. (I dont know how to do that...)
Jens Tautenhahn: open a new bug about that... and CC me on it.
please cc me as well - the fix is trivial, if the problem is simply the case of the .eml extension.
Attached patch proposed fixSplinter Review
do a case-insensitive compare...
Attachment #235121 - Flags: superreview?(mscott)
Attachment #235121 - Flags: superreview?(mscott) → superreview+
Jens, I've just landed attachment 235121 [details] [diff] [review] on the trunk - if you want to try a nightly build with that change and let me know if it fixes the problem for you, then I can land the patch on the 1.8.1 branch.
David: that sure fixes it for me.
I've landed the .EML fix on the 1.8.1 branch.
Keywords: fixed1.8.1
*** Bug 356949 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 356949 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
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