this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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Thunderbird flatpak isn't opening attachements (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 5 months ago by Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works to c/thunderbird@lemmy.world
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Hi everyone!

I love Thunderbird and I'm really happy with it.

It's the flatpak version and, sadly, it doesn't allow me to open attachments. When I click on the file, it brings me to a screen where it proposes to use the system handler to open the file and then nothing happens.

Apparently, this is a common issue related to flatpak and its permissions, so I tried to circumvent it by trying to open documents inside Thunderbird (as I remember Thunderbird being able to open PDFs) but it didn't work as it's only telling me that Firefox is already running.

Does anyone know a workaround as for now it forces me to save documents before being able to open them?

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[–] boredsquirrel 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes that is strange.

You want to use its PDF reader?

[–] Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Thunderbird works for opening PDF as it can read them on it’s own, but it doesn’t work with xlsx or other documents.

[–] boredsquirrel 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yeah for sure, thats the pdf.js also available in Firefox.

Why do you specifically want this in TB?

Firefox Flatpak worked normally via the portal for opening the PDF. I think Thunderbird defaults to sending a file as an attachment to a new empty mail.

[–] Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Well I don’t think I’m clear enough in what I’m expressing, sorry 😅

Everything works fine with PDF sent as attachments because Thunderbird can open them itself without using a system handler.

For word documents or excel sheets, it doesn’t work because Thunderbird can’t open them itself so it has to use the system handler (system default).

If I ask Thunderbird to open PDF with the system handler, the result is the same and nothing happens.

[–] boredsquirrel 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So what is the issue? If you want to save PDFs they are not saved? And this is the same when clicking on unsupported documents?

Go to the about:config, its at the bottom of the first settings page.

Enable portals for files and maybe apps.

[–] Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The issue is that I always have to download a document and open Only Office myself instead of just clicking on the attachment and having Only Office opening itself.

Ain’t the end of the world, but it’s annoying.

[–] boredsquirrel 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hm, what happens if you try to open Onlyoffice with that.

Yes, portals on Linux are in very early stages, like there is no share portal which is pretty horrible compared to Android.

But the TB download will be in its internal storage which the OnlyOffice Flatpak cannot access. So a portal is needed, have a look at the advanced settings, as said, first settings page at the bottom.

Search for portal.

[–] Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Well I can't find anything related to these portals..I guess I'm just gonna give up and save files before opening them manually. At least until they update the Thunderbird flatpak so that it can open other programs by itself.

[–] boredsquirrel 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Report the issue on their bugzilla, you have all the infos.

If you dont report it, maybe they dont find it.

You can try the Thunderbird Nightly also via Flatpak and see what they are headed towards. I think they are messing a bit too much with the UI tbh.

You can find the repo in my flatpak repo list

[–] Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago

Yeah that’s what I’ll do. I’ll report it, even if I had already seen posts of people who are reported it.

Thanks for your input 👍