Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

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smacrae
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Joined: June 29th, 2011, 7:45 pm

Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

I know this has been covered, but I can't seem to apply the fixes. Any changes I make to my address book, such as changing a contact's properties revert after I restart thunderbird. The same applies to additions to the dictionary. I have only noticed this in the last few weeks. It is almost as if Thunderbird is in a "locked" or "read only" state and is rejecting all changes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Steve
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DanRaisch
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by DanRaisch »

Does the same thing occur if you launch the application in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

Yes - I am running Windows 7 64. I start Thunderbird safe mode by clicking the "start" button. "TB safe mode" is the only Thunderbird icon in the quick start menu.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by DanRaisch »

Do you have any extensions installed in Thunderbird? Determine that by using menu path Tools->Add-ons->Extensions. When you launch Thunderbird in Mozilla Safe Mode are those extensions listed as "Disabled"?
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

Thanks for your reply.
I have the following extensions:-
British English Dictionary 1.19.1
English (Australian) Dictionary 2.1.2
Extra Folder Columns 1.1.3
Lightning 1.0b2.
They are listed as "disabled" in safe mode.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by DanRaisch »

What version of Thunderbird?
Is the Thunderbird profile running on the local hard drive, a network share, or some other storage device?
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

Good morning.
I am running version 3.1.11. It is running on my local hard drive (c:)
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DanRaisch
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by DanRaisch »

Clear the browser cache and the Windows Temp directory.
Shutdown any anti-virus software you are running.
Download a new copy of the full installer from http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/
Delete the directory C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird
Run the installer.
Restart the anti-virus program.

Note that your saved messages, settings, passwords, etc (if any) are stored in a different directory from the program files and will not be removed by deleting the directory identified above.

This thread viewtopic.php?f=39&t=996475&p=5239885#p5239885 has a more detailed version of the above instructions if needed.
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

Thank you, I have to go to work now. I will do this when I return. :-)
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

*Sigh* Still no joy, but I now have version 5.0
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Lee_Dailey
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by Lee_Dailey »

howdy smacrae,

i note that you mentioned "read only" in your 1st post. did you go an see what windows permissions are set for the folder? i once found that my address books were in a folder that i had somehow set to read only ... [*blush*]

take care,
lee
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

G'day Lee,

No I haven't done that mainly for the reasons (a) I hadn't thought of it and (b) I don't know how to do it................[my turn to *blush*]

Steve
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

Partial success.
I have been able to edit my address book by closing Thunderbird and going to C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ . I have two profiles, one is ".default" and the other ".Steve". I opened both folders and right clicked on "abook.mab" and hit "properties". Under "Attributes" I unchecked "Hidden". I then hit the "Advanced" button and unchecked "File is ready for archiving". Then OK->Apply->OK.
Reopened Thunderbird and I could edit my address book. I still cannot edit the dicionary - am chasing that now.

One thing I did notice though, when I opened the properties of my profile folders (iptbwnoe.default and iwo89piq.Steve) the Attributes box "Read-only (Only applies to files in folder)" was checked ( a blue fill). Aha! I thought, so I unchecked it, hit "apply". Another dialogue box appears "Confirm Attribute Changes". I followed the available prompt ("Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files") and hit "OK". Another box came up telling me the computer was applying the changes. When that was finished I hit "OK" and got out of the "Properties" window. However when I opened the "properties" window again, the "Read-only" box had re-checked itself.

I would have thought that if "Read-only " remained unchecked, then editing of the files would be possible.

Steve
smacrae
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by smacrae »

I have just done the same for the dictionary.
Open the profile and right click on "persdict" and do what I said for "abook.mab"
I Have a feeling this is just a work around and begs the question why did Thunderbird suddenly decide to prevent editing of address book and dictionary? One also wonders what else it has done that is yet to become evident. :( Time will no doubt tell.
Thanks to Dan and Lee for your inputs and I hope this will help others.

Steve
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Lee_Dailey
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Re: Unable to edit address book or dictionaries

Post by Lee_Dailey »

howdy Steve,

you are quite welcome! glad you figured it out. [*grin*]

why did it happen? ... i dunno. i presume some other thing in windows caused it, but i have no idea how to find out. as for the read-only check box staying ON in windows, well, it does that to me also. there are NO files in the entire tree that are read only and still the properties dialog shows that box shadowed/checked.

take care,
lee
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