Closed Bug 330297 Opened 18 years ago Closed 17 years ago

Add an option to ask before opening downloaded attachments

Categories

(Camino Graveyard :: Downloading, defect)

Product:
Camino Graveyard
Component:
Downloading
Platform:
PowerPC
macOS
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
VERIFIED WONTFIX
Milestone:
Camino1.6

People

(Reporter: jgeorgeson, Unassigned)

References

Details

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060214 Camino/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060214 Camino/1.0

The current option is to either open all downloaded files or none. I would like an option to have Camino ask me if I want to open a downloaded file. I simple dialog asking "Would you like to open this file with the default application or just save it? <Open> <Save>".

Reproducible: Always
WONTFIX per irc.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 18 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
To explain a bit more... Adding this UI is needless for 80% of our users.

(verified)
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
*** Bug 342822 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 360562 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 360562 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I had an idea the other day that might work to placate the vocal minority who seems to want this.

We default to the Desktop as a download folder, IIRC, but what if we allowed (somehow -- not sure how) people to specify *no* download folder at all? This would force ("allow") them to choose a download location every time.

Is that a feasible idea? If so, since we wouldn't actually be adding much (any?) UI, is it worth thinking about doing?
Bad things happen when you try to hack that, iirc.

Let's let old bugs stay dead.
I don't see how that suggestion would do anything for this feature request though, it would instead ask me where to save every file. I want an option to specify, per download, whether or not to open it or save it. The result would be that when I click on a link to a file that is not handled by the browser or any of its extensions/plugins, I will be presented with a dialog window with two buttons: Open and Save. The Open button would download the file to a temp location, and then open it with the default application, when the user quits Camino the file is deleted. The Save button would save the file to the "Save downloaded files to" preference (like the Desktop). 
Reopening per the Camino meet-up. We're going to support this as a hidden pref as it's one of our top requests.
Status: VERIFIED → UNCONFIRMED
Resolution: WONTFIX → ---
Target Milestone: --- → Camino1.6
Assignee: mikepinkerton → nobody
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
QA Contact: downloading
Except what we're really going to support is the option to have the browser ask you where to save the file every time, instead of defaulting to the downloads folder. It isn't clear at all from comment 0 that this is what was asked for here. Bug 360562 has a much clearer description. Tweaking the summary to reflect that.
Summary: Add an option to ask before opening downloaded attachments → Always ask for save location when downloading files
(In reply to comment #8)
> I want an option to
> specify, per download, whether or not to open it or save it. The result would
> be that when I click on a link to a file that is not handled by the browser or
> any of its extensions/plugins, I will be presented with a dialog window with
> two buttons: Open and Save. The Open button would download the file to a temp
> location, and then open it with the default application, when the user quits
> Camino the file is deleted. The Save button would save the file to the "Save
> downloaded files to" preference (like the Desktop). 

It seems to me like that's exactly what this bug was originally filed for, and it's why I didn't agree with the duping of bug 360562 to this bug, but if we're going to morph this into "hidden UI for choosing the location of downloaded files every time" then Justin, you should file a new bug with the above request (since it's clearly different from this).

cl


I should have paid more attention to the bugs being marked as duplicates, as they have obscured what I was asking for. I'm not sure how it was so confusing. Bug 342822 is a duplicate, bug 360562 is not. The new summary does not reflect my request. The explanation I gave in comment 8 is what I want. Do I really have to submit a new bug to accommodate for the misunderstanding? How about restoring my initial summary, and making bug 360562 the one that is going to get the hidden UI pref, since that's what you're actual talking about implementing?

I'm going to roll back the summary change and re-open bug 360562 instead.

We should still discuss *this* bug and whether or not we want its behaviour, but my inclination is that we don't. Saving files to a temp folder is not a standard Mac OS behaviour, and it has the potential to let users screw themselves by thinking they're downloading things (i.e., to a permanent location) when they really aren't. The extra step of "Yes, dammit, I want to open this file when it is downloaded" is something that has always bothered me on Windows. 

Also, isn't this adequately covered by "When downloads finish: Open downloaded files" already? Any content handled by a plugin will open in the browser; you can opt-click to save it (though it won't auto-open once it's downloaded). Any content not handled by the browser will be opened; you can toggle that pref to have it saved and *not* opened. Where you save it is up to you. If you wish to save all your downloads to /tmp that's your own problem :-p

cl
Summary: Always ask for save location when downloading files → Add an option to ask before opening downloaded attachments
I don't think this is any less of a WONTFIX now than it was in 2006, particularly since it's not the thing that was decided upon at the meet-up.
(In reply to comment #13)
> I'm going to roll back the summary change and re-open bug 360562 instead.

thanks
 
> We should still discuss *this* bug and whether or not we want its behaviour,
> but my inclination is that we don't. Saving files to a temp folder is not a
> standard Mac OS behaviour, and it has the potential to let users screw
> themselves by thinking they're downloading things (i.e., to a permanent
> location) when they really aren't.

I've never heard anybody complain about this behavior under Firefox (on all platforms) or IE.

> The extra step of "Yes, dammit, I want to
> open this file when it is downloaded" is something that has always bothered me
> on Windows. 

That's why I asked to make it a configurable option, so you won't ever be bothered by it unless you intentionally ask to be.

> Also, isn't this adequately covered by "When downloads finish: Open downloaded
> files" already? Any content handled by a plugin will open in the browser; you
> can opt-click to save it (though it won't auto-open once it's downloaded). Any
> content not handled by the browser will be opened; you can toggle that pref to
> have it saved and *not* opened. Where you save it is up to you. If you wish to
> save all your downloads to /tmp that's your own problem :-p

I specifically mention that in comment 0, the behavior is all or nothing. I want to be able to specify at the time the download starts, whether or not I want to open the file or just save it. I don't want every file be automatically opened, just the ones I want to open and not keep.

To be honest, I personally hate in-browser handling of non-embeded content. If the web page just has a simple anchor/href to the file that needs a plugin (it's not another web page) so it won't load until you click the link, I'd rather have the content handled by the standalone application that provides the plugin (quicktime, preview, etc).

I really don't see the potential harm to a casual user in a hidden pref, only accessible from about:config, which I'm absolutely fine with. Only people who go looking for it will enable it, and it will provide the ability for more people to use their preferred workflow, leaving one less reason to use firefox instead of camino.
Returning to WONTFIX, as this is not at all a common request, and thus doesn't warrant a pref (hidden or not).
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 18 years ago → 17 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
I think the decision not to support this feature needs to be revised in light of the recent Safari carpet-bombing "exploit" described here:

http://www.dhanjani.com/archives/2008/05/safari_carpet_bomb.html

I ran a quick test against Camino and confirmed that Camino is susceptible to this. I made a three-frame HTML page, with each frame calling a PHP script that would trigger a file download and Camino happily downloaded the contents of each frame without prompting me, resulting in three downloaded files. I could as easily have written the HTML page in PHP to create an arbitrary number of frames that would cause thousands of files to be downloaded.

I believe that Apple is taking steps to resolve this in some future release of Safari. A hidden preference for this feature is pretty backwards since it is not at all user-friendly.

Asking about downloading and asking about opening downloads after they are complete are not the same thing, so this is the wrong bug for your concern.
Sorry, I meant to post this comment for bug 360562 instead. Will post there instead.
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