Attaching Network Files to Thunderbird Email

A little problem that has vexed me for a while is attaching files from my file server to emails drafted on my desktop (or any other client device, for that matter). Even when I'd opened the network location in Nautilus, I couldn't see the shortcut in the Attach Files dialog in Thunderbird. It wasn't a huge issue, just one of those little niggles that got put on my to-do list a while back.

Actually, attaching network files to emails turns out to be an easy thing to achieve if you look for the files in the right place! Unlike permanent mounted directories (those that mount at boot), ad hoc navigation of network folders mounts the location in a virtual file system: to be specific, in Nautilus, it mounts the directory in the Gnome Virtual File System. So, assuming that you have mounted the directory in Nautilus, all you need to do is navigate to the home/[username]/.gvfs directory from Thunderbird's Attach File dialog and you should find your files right where you left them!

Sources & References:

• Wikipedia: GVFS
• bugzilla: Bug 378425 - Cannot attach files from smb://

News from the Front

My DELL Inspiron 1501 has gone to a new home. I confess that in some ways I'm sorry to see it go: in others, I'm thrilled that, once again, it's become a productive and useful tool.

The astonishing thing is that this machine is operating Ubuntu 12.1 and runs like a trooper! I hope that my friend Tom gets as much pleasure from it as I once did and my daughter before me.

Sources & References:

• Karmic Odyssey - Christmas: a time for surprises

Changing Your Email Client in LibreOffice to Thunderbird

For some reason that I can't fathom, the default email client in LibreOffice is something called sensible-ooomua. When you try to browse for a different client, you get the following error message:

LibreOffice E-mail Client Error Message

There's an easy fix! In LibreOffice:

• Click on Tools in the main menu.
• Click Options... in the drop-down menu.
• In the left-hand pane, expand the Internet option.
• Select the E-mail option.
• Delete the text string sensible-ooomua from the E-mail program text box.
  Either:
  
• Type thunderbird (or the name of your preferred client) in the text box (yep, it is that simple).
  Or
  
• More properly, type usr/bin/thunderbird in the text box.
  Or
  
• Use the browse button (to the right of the text box) and browse to usr/bin/thunderbird and then click Open.

Next time that you want to send an email from LibreOffice, this should open Thunderbird (or your chosen email client) and start a new message.

Sources & References:

• Launchpad Bug Report: Bug #841184