ms said:
Karen, I clicked on the link, got a Thunderbird Composition window. Then I pasted the
URL (sort of) into Firefox, can't go to it. If necessary, will subscribe to that
group, is there another way?
I do not know the answer for Thunderbird.
I'll describe how my client ($Agent) offers things up. I'm not trying to
be an anti-topic payware promotor (at all): it's that options in this area
similar to what $Agent provides are what I would hope for in other clients.
It ($Agent 1.9x) has prefs dialog like this:
How to interpret a name@domain URL:
[ ] Prompt for action
[ ] Assume the URL is an email address
[ ] Assume the URL is a message-id
[ ] Make an educated guess
Search for Message URLs in:
[ ] Current Group [ ] Folders
[ ] Subscribed groups [ ] News Server
[ ] All groups [ ] Prompt before going online
That second set of prefs, it offers the option that one can have the client
look on server for the referenced MID, and get the message even when located
in a group to which one is not subscribed.
The main prefs, if Prompt for Action is the setting, it has a helpful dialog
pop up after a click, letting one choose whether its a mailto link or a MID,
or letting Agent guess from context.
I have my own settings for "Assume MID." I use the direct launch all the
time, especially when tracing back a message in a thread, re-retrieval
from server, via exposing headers of a message to utilize the references:
line.
Okay, so to get to the question. I installed Thunderbird today, and
I could not find out how to set things up in a similar manner. It acted
restricted to automatically assumption of mailto link, opening its
composition window on click of a MID.
Thunderbird's graphical options dialog is very barebones, saw nothing
related there.
So, is setting up the prefs related to interpreting and launching MIDs done
via about:config / prefs.js somewhere? If so, where?
Or does it require a third-party extension?
I installed one extension: MessageID-Finder. This provides a context menu
entry for xxx@yyy items: "Find Message by ID." The submenu choices include
local search, search on news server, search Google.
That is better than nothing. But it is a lot of clicks when I am used to
being able to direct click. So I'm still wondering about configuration of
Thunderbird's inherent interpretation and behavior for the xxx@yyy items.
Also the MessageID-Finder did not resolve another issue for me. When I
expose headers in Thunderbird in order to backtrack a thread, retrieve
an earlier message by clicking on its MID in the references: field, well,
this isn't possible. It's just plaintext, not hot links. What do Thunderbird
users need to do, in order to retrieve a message that is in the references:
field?
Testing Thunderbird today, I also checked for how it would do if someone
presented a MID in this form:
<
This happened to not work for me with Thunderbird. I avoid having (same choice w mailto
a registered protocol on my system. This since
I don't like for software to load up suddenly when I've unintentionally
clicked a mailto
r link on the web.
I suppose most Thunderbird users can, however, launch a MID if it appears
in the message body with the string preceding. I have some memory
that for MSOE users too, this is the form that is usable. I suppose that
I should tune my habits, and try to make sure to use the prefix when I
post a MID for others to reference, for fuller compatibility with various
clients.
But, again, what if I wanted to take up use of Thunderbird myself? I'm
hoping an experienced user can describe the options in this area....
(I'm not up to spending the next 40 hours scouring docs instead of just
stopping and asking directions on this subject. Though I did give it well
over two hours already. Then I ran back home to my long familiar territory,
the news client I'm used to. )
