Greetings to the forrum.
The "Attachments" item (the one that allows the user to open or save attachments) is missing from my "File" menu of ThunderbirdPorttable 3.1.4. The copy of 3.1.4 on my hard drive correctly displays this item. I'm puzzled and hope someone can explain what is going on.
Thank you very much.
Craig
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Here are more details on my missing menu item problem.
One computer running standard (non-PortableApp) Thunderbird 3.1.4 correctly displays the "Attachments" item under the "File" menu when I open a message. This copy of Thunderbird has been consistently upgraded from one of the earliest iterations of Version 2.x. A flash drive with ThunderbirdPortable 3.1.4 does not show this item. This copy was installed without any previous copies of Thunderbird having been present on the flash drive. This problem continues to bother me. All help is greatly appreciated.
Craig
Hello, everyone.
One more try at getting a response to my question, please: Is it reasonable to expect that if one installs ThunderbirdPortable 3.x without previous installations that there should be an "Attachmentts" item on the "File" menu when an attachment is part of an opened message?
Thank you.
Craig
What you describe should not be happening.
It is the result of either a corrupted installation, corrupted profile, or some other strangeness.
Why don't you try copying the working installation over to the USB stick, and then run it and see what happens?
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Thank you. I'll try it. The installation that shows the "Attachments" item correctly is a standard copy of Thunderbird, not Thunderbird Portable. Do I just copy the entire Thunderbird directory to the flash drive with Thunderbird Portable on it?
Craig
First, you should re-download and re-install ThunderbirdPortable into a different folder. You can do this by either renaming the existing ThunderbirdPortable installation to a different name, such as ThunderbirdPortable-old OR telling the paf file to install to a different name, such as ThunderbirdPortable-new.
Hopefully, the new installation will work correctly.
If it does not, then you can try copying the working data over the non-working one. The thing that drives the program is the profile.
So, you need to identify the profile folder in each installation. Then copy the working profile on top of the non-working one. If it were me, I'd make a backup of both just to be on the safe side... you never know when disaster will strike.
If that fails to solve the problem, you can try copying your entire Thunderbird directory into the ThunderbirdPortable\App folder (where you'll find a folder called Thunderbird).
Please note that you may end up losing internal optimizations that have been made to ThunderbirdPortable to make it work more smoothly from a USB stick.
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
Thank you very much, J Neutron. The re-install did the trick.
I'm still puzzled as to why this phenomenon occurs. Incidents are not common, it appears, but for another instannce, see
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunderbird/+bug/602221
Craig
The hardware can be a problem area with USB sticks. Transfers of a large number of files can lead to errors, mostly because of the architecture of the media, the USB connection to the PC, and the like.
That's why I snagged a "small" portable hard drive. It is many times faster, holds a lot more, and doesn't need any power except for the USB connection. It just doesn't fit into pockets quite as well as a USB stick.
Glad to hear that the mystery is solved.
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
I was going to lay this subject to rest, but this evening, I did some testing which yielded a potentially interesting result.
I mentioned I re-installed Thunderbird Portable onto my flash drive, and the "Attachments" item made its proper appearance under the "File" menu when an opened message had one or more attachments. What I failed to mention was that this happened when I decided to reinstall the program to a different location on the flash drive. I then deleted Thunderbird and reinstalled it to the location the software occupied when I first noticed the problem. This time, the "Attachments" item stayed present. It's as if the drive had remembered something from the previous installation, which hardly seems possible.
The flash drive happens to be a U3 drive on which a couple of non-U3 applications (one of them being Thunderbird Portable) reside. Is there something in the architecture of the U3 drive that might be causing Thunderbird to behave inconsistently from installation to installation? Would I be better off with a standard drive?
J Neutron's suggestion of a portable hard drive is a good one. I have one and may well consider using it.
Craig
U3 drives use a sleight-of-hand to allow Windows to see and use a hidden/protected flash drive partition. Using ThunderbirdPortable on that drive might be an issue in that it doesn't communicate with the U3 partition very well.
This is speculation on my part since I don't have/use a U3 flash drive and therefore can't test it. I can tell you that I purchased a Sandisk Cruzer with U3 and the first thing I did was to use an uninstall utility on the U3 to make it into a "normal" flash drive.
neutron1132 (at) usa (dot) com
I'm pleased to report that I can make the "Attachments" item in the "File" menu appear by turning on the message (or preview) pane. If I go to the message index and arrow to a message with an attachment, enabling the message pane with F8 and then opening the message will cause the "Attachments" item to appear. The U3 drive is absolved from blame.
The fix for this problem is documented here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/thunderbird/+bug/602221
The question is why is this bizarre behavior happening?
Craig
Attach a signature (signatures can be altered via the UCP)
You are launching ThunderbirdPortable via ThunderbirdPortable.exe I assume, rather than thunderbird.exe? I'm wondering if your Portable and Non Portable versions are getting tangled up some how.
Good point. I am definitely launching the application from the drive. I can cause the "Attachments" item to appear and disappear depending on the status of the message pane. Works every time. It also works with my hard drive version.
Craig
Craig
Maybe this is a "feature" then or a known bug? Thunderbird has them.
The main thing you've figured out a workaround.