404946 - Dragging attachments into Windows Explorer doesn't work if attachment not entirely downloaded

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: OS Integration, defect)

Description

[Francesco Casella]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.9) Gecko/20071025 Firefox/2.0.0.9
Build Identifier: version 2.0.0.9 (20071031)

I often try to save attachments by dragging the icon from the message window into a Windows Explorer window. If the attachment is large, I have to hold the mouse button pressed until the attachment is completely downloaded from the server, otherwise I get a file sharing violation error from the OS. 
Worse than that, if I repeat this operation N times, each time the download starts from the beginning, and I always get the sharing violation error. This is extremely annoying if I'm connected over a slow link.
Everything works fine if I right-click on the attachment and select Save As., so it should not too difficult to fix.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Have a message with a large attachment ready on an IMAP server
2. Quickly drag and drop the attachment in a Windows XP Explorer window

Actual Results:  
Sharing violation error from the OS.

Expected Results:  
The attachment should be downloaded and eventually put in the directory corresponding to the Explorer window.

Comment 1

[Daniel Watts]

Confirming this. 
In windows the error message is:

"Cannot move FILENAME: It is being used by another person or program.
Close any programs that might be using the file and try again."

Attachments handling in Thunderbird is pretty abysmall overall with it downloading attachments multiple times for various actions. 

Myself, I'd like to see this bug fixed with an option to not download attachments (> X kb) AT ALL until an action is taken with them (open or save). Note the 'download for offline use' limit does NOT solve this problem.

Daniel

Comment 2

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

This bug was originally reported against TB2.0

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.4pre) Gecko/20091006 Shredder/3.0pre

This seems to be "worksforme" for me on TB3.0pre (as above), but then I'm not IMAP expert. Please can someone with more knowledge confirm "worksforme"?

- on googlemail.com imap account (setting this up was nightmare, Bug 490234 and others)
- dropped 13MB attachment to desktop before downloading was finished
- windows popup dialogue occured "Moving file attachment.pdf to Desktop"
- it stayed there forever, and it all looked stalled both in the popup and in TB (User experience of all this is very fragile and non-informative), but
- in the end, after downloading finished, file ended up sound and proper on desktop

Comment 3

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Daniel and Francesco (Reporter), do you still see this bug with recent nightly version of TB3?
(http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-comm-1.9.1/)

Comment 4

[Francesco Casella]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Daniel and Francesco (Reporter), do you still see this bug with recent nightly
> version of TB3?
> (http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-comm-1.9.1/)

I definitely still see it in version 2.0.0.23 (20090812)

I'd be glad to check with the nighly build, but I'm not sure whether installing it would disrupt my working 2.0.0.23 version, which is something I can't afford right now. Do you have suggestions for me how to install the nightly build without affecting my existing installation?

Comment 5

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Back up your existing profile to be on the safe side.
http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile#backup
Note backing up your profile will not necessarily prevent loss of IMAP mails.

Always make sure you know what you're doing with any of the steps below
No guarantees, but this is my setup and it works.

Here's how to install with separate profile for the nightly
1) install nightly to separate folder (like C:\programs\Shredder3pre\)
programs folder might be different in your localisation
make sure NOT to use your tb2 folder

2) Create new profile from profile manager
(steps below; for more details, see http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile#new)

a) windows > run:
C:\programs\Shredder3pre\thunderbird.exe -p
b) write down name of your existing default profile of TB2 (e.g. "default")
c) click on create profile, choose new name for profile, e.g. "shredder3pre", do wizard

3) modify your startup links to use specific profiles
a) create link to tb3 test installation:
C:\programs\Shredder3pre\thunderbird.exe -p shredder3pre -safe-mode -no-remote
-p shredder3pre to start with your new profile (where shredder3pre is the name of the new profile you created in 2c)
-safe-mode to start without addons
-no-remote to enable running both tb2 and tb3 simultaneously

b) change all existing TB2 links to something like this
C:\programs\mozilla thunderbird\thunderbird.exe -p default -no-remote
(path to your existing tb 2, start with existing tb2 profile as noted in 2a, e.g. called "default" )

4) If you want to keep tb2 as default mail client:
When tb3pre requests to become default mail client, deny this and check "don't ask me again". Alternatively, later you can do this in tb3 test install
- uncheck options > advanced > general > [ ] Always check to see if Shredder is the default mail client
- if tb3 accidentally became default client, tb2 will ask you at next startup and you say yes for tb2 to be default client.

5) Caveat when setting up your POP3 mail accounts!!
After creating your account, you'll want to make sure to do this:
Tools > Account Settings > YourPOP3Account@YourServer > Server Settings
a) check "leave messages on server" (is checked by default; if checked, this ensures you can download messages both in tb2 and tb3 as they are kept on mail provider's server)
b) UNcheck "for at most 14 days" (if checked, your mails will be deleted from server after 14 days)

6) Caveat with IMAP accounts:
I don't know if there's anything important to observe here, but be aware that even with your separate test install of tb3, due to the nature of IMAP, you will be working on your original mails on the imap server, so if you delete messages in tb3, they'll be gone in tb2 also as they are deleted on IMAP server.

Ideally, do not use your private or business imap account for testing purposes.
Set up a separate IMAP email account with your provider for testing purposes.

7) Be happy when everything works and that you don't need to do this every day!

Comment 6

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to comment #5)

No guarantees !!! [...]

> Here's how to install with separate profile for the nightly
> 1) install nightly to separate folder (like C:\programs\Shredder3pre\)
> programs folder might be different in your localisation
> make sure NOT to use your tb2 folder

Caveat, you must UNcheck "Start Shredder now" in the last step of setup.
Actually, I'm not sure if just installing Shredder already touches your existing profile. Maybe we should swap step 1) and 2): use existing thunderbird2.exe -p to create new profile, and AFTER that install the nightly.
I'm not 100% sure.
 
> 2) Create new profile from profile manager
> (steps below; for more details, see
> http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/profile#new)
> [...]
> 3) modify your startup links to use specific profiles
> a) create link to tb3 test installation:
> C:\programs\Shredder3pre\thunderbird.exe -p shredder3pre -safe-mode -no-remote

3b) Also, in the same way as in 3a) should carefully change all links that tb3/Shredder might have create on your desktop, quick launch bar etc., to ensure they all use the new profile. Watch out that you don't change tb2 links to the new profile.

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Francesco, Daniel, do you still see this problem when using version 6 or newer?

if you no longer see problem on newer release, please change resolution to WORKSFORME.
if you do see the problem on newer release, please update the bug with details.

Comment 8

[Francesco Casella]

The problem doesn't show up with latest versions of Thunderbird