287877 - Allow mailto links to open mail app specified by user, not OS default app

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Settings UI, enhancement)

Description

[Rishi Chopra]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050317 Firefox/1.0.2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050317 Firefox/1.0.2

'mailto:' links are currently handled by the OS.  A user should be able to
change the default 'mailto:' behaviour without changing the default association
for the OS.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.  Try to change the mailto: association without changing the associtation for
the OS.
2.
3.

Actual Results:  
Changing the 'mailto:' association requires changing the association for the OS.

Expected Results:  
Handling of 'mailto:' within Firefox should be independent of the OS.  This
would be helpful for users (like me) who use Firefox and Thunderbird for their
'personal' email and browsing on an IT-administered computer at work.

Comment 1

[:Gijs (he/him)]

Have you tried setting the preference 'network.protocol-handler.app.mailto' in
about:config to the path and executable of your desired mail application? Please
try that first. If this fixes the problem for you (ie, it works as expected)
then please comment again so this bug can be closed.

Comment 2

[Rishi Chopra]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Have you tried setting the preference 'network.protocol-handler.app.mailto' in
> about:config to the path and executable of your desired mail application? Please
> try that first. If this fixes the problem for you (ie, it works as expected)
> then please comment again so this bug can be closed.

I tried adding the 'network.protocol-handler.app.mailto' preference but to no
avail; I also made sure the 'network.protocol-handler.external.mailto'
preference was set to 'true'.

Comment 3

[nanook65n]

the suggestion gives insufficient information or information for Win 2k users is
different. How does one get to the referenced configuration? is this a registry
setting?

am not sure if this is same bug as i'm experiencing but sounds close enough.
as happens i use netscape 7 for mail program and FireFox as browser. However
mailto feature in web pages causes outlook to attempt start, since not installed
or configured that fails. and information must be copied and pasted before mail
can be sent. the expected behavior would be for it to either start the
appropriate application OR to prompt for configuration info if FireFox has
insufficient information to do that.  It would be nice if this could be
specified in the options window.
problem exists for versions 1.01 and 1.03  [e-mail] 

Comment 4

[John]

"am not sure if this is same bug as i'm experiencing but sounds close enough.
as happens i use netscape 7 for mail program and FireFox as browser. However
mailto feature in web pages causes outlook to attempt start, since not installed
or configured that fails. and information must be copied and pasted before mail
can be sent. the expected behavior would be for it to either start the
appropriate application OR to prompt for configuration info if FireFox has
insufficient information to do that.  It would be nice if this could be
specified in the options window.
problem exists for versions 1.01 and 1.03  [e-mail]"

I have the same problem. Netscape is my default mailer (confirmed in IE). If I
click on Read Mail, it brings up netscape but mailto brings up Word as default
Outlook editor (I do have outlook but do not use it).

Comment 5

[Andrew Gillespie]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-ZA; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050603
Firefox/1.0+

I agree with Rishi:
> mailto Behaviour Should Not Be Handled By OS

I could not find "network.protocol-handler.app.mailto" under about:config in
Deer Park.

I have found that setting my default app to Mozilla mail in WinXP changes
everthing but the mailto: association in the OS. So if I go tools-read mail it
will open mozilla mail but if I click on a mailto: then it opened Outlook
Express until I went to Folder Options in the control panel and changed the
mailto: assocition under file types to Mozilla mail. However I did not have to
do this with Mozilla browser. It ignored the OS and opened Mozilla Mail. I do
not have Thunderbird installed so I don't know what effect that would have.

Most windoze users don't know how to change file type associations, its hidden
deep in the OS settings. My guess is M$ make WinXP do this as a marketing ploy:
if users change to some other non-M$ mail program and they can't make mailto:
links work then they might go back to OE. I suggest you do everthing possible to
counter this. Don't hand the ball to the opposing team.

Comment 6

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 7

[Rishi Chopra]

Still a bug I think...

Comment 8

[u63580]

The pref no longer seems to exist in 1.5beta2.  So I guess this is a valid
request, at least to be put forward to be WONTFIXed!  I will alter the summary a
little to make it clearer, and as I can't find a dupe I'll confirm it.  I
suspect this is all/all, but I'm not 100%.

Comment 9

[u63580]

Oh yes, I guess it's a prefs bug.

Comment 10

[Bob DeMattia]

I will chime in....  my mailto: links are not working (under Windows/XP). When
I click on them, xyzzy, nothing happens.

Outlook is my OS default email client (per corporate edict).  I've found
the multiple related bugs to mailto link not working in the Bugzilla database, and tried all the suggestions, but nothing seems to fix this.

It's pretty disappointing that this issue, with so many related reports in this database and elsewhere on the web, has gotten so little attention.  

Why is it so far to get a simple thing like a mailto: link to work correctly, without having to muck around with about:config and registry entries and deeply
embedded OS items?