Windows SendTo Mail

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R.N. Folsom
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Windows SendTo Mail

Post by R.N. Folsom »

Windows 2000 (and I'd guess XP and perhaps W98se also) has a "SendTo" feature: In Windows Explorer, right click on a file, and the resulting context menu has a "SendTo" feature, that if selected opens a SeaMonkey (or Mozilla) Compose Email window, with the file attached, ready to send by email.

However, if one does this when SeaMonkey is not already open (for some other task), the SendTo feature opens not only a Compose Email window, but also the SeaMonkey browser, which one then needs to close (either before or after sending the email).

Obviously, an extra cursor move and a click to close an unneeded and unused browser window is not a big deal, but nevertheless, is there any SeaMonkey setting to prevent the browser from opening when one uses SendTo Mail Recipient?

Thanks for any help.

Roger Folsom
Mike Novack
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misunderstanding?

Post by Mike Novack »

Let's separate two things, that it opnes the application and that when it does so, it opens the browser portion.

a) That a "send to" opens SeaMonkey. IT HAS TO. If you want your "send" to be sent via SeaMonkey than obviously the application must be opened to do that.

b) When SeaMonkey opens it opens Navigator (the browser) instead of just opening "Mail&Newsgroups" --- you probably told SeaMOnkey to do this (well ---- it might have come out of the box with that box checked as default -- it needed SOME box checked indicating it was to open SOMEWHERE).

Take a look, see where you are telling SeaMonkey to open (in Mozilla it's an "appearance" preference) and if this is not what you want, change it.

c) You didn't explicitly ask this but I'll add "why does it not close down afterwards?" (if that is what happens). I'll not really try to answer the question, just point out that this would be behavior not always to be desired and "getting it right" very complex ESPECIALLY in the multiplatform environment. Don't look at this question from the viewpoint "but my Windows only app does this" because a "Windows only" app need not consider possible conditions that the Windows operating system does not support (but others might).
An application that is just sitting there open, not doing much if any work, should NOT be consuming much in the way of system resources (CPU, RAM, etc.) If it does "take up resources" on a GOOD multitasking operating system, something is wrong. But if it works fine on a good operating system (gets mostly paged out, etc.) but not on the OS you are using, that's a sign that your OS isn't REALLY up to "multitasking".
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rainer.wendland
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Post by rainer.wendland »

Hi, Roger!
Here is the configuration for current user ("Roger") :
1. Find SendTo - Folder in "C:\documents and settings" (I may not write the official english name for it, coming from germany...) >"Roger"

2. Find MailTo - file in C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\SendTo: (something like) "email-adressee.MAPIMail"

3. Create a link of that file (email-adressee.MAPIMail.lnk), also with rightmouseclick on it and choosing "make a link", and copy it into the SendTo - Folder in "....Roger", where You also can find other links where You can "send to".

4. Try it (Rightmouseclick on any file) and give feedback.

Ciao Rainer
R.N. Folsom
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Re: misunderstanding?

Post by R.N. Folsom »

Mike:

Thanks for your response. Please excuse my tardy reply.

Mike Novack wrote:Let's separate two things, that it [SendTo] opens the application and that when it does so, it opens the browser portion.

a) That a "send to" opens SeaMonkey. IT HAS TO. If you want your "send" to be sent via SeaMonkey than obviously the application must be opened to do that.

Understood, and agreed. Previously I had assumed, apparently wrongly, that SeaMonkey logically could start simply by opening an email compose window, as the result of a Windows SendTo Mail Recipient command.

[After all, if a received email window is open, and one closes Mail&Newsgroups and also Navigator (if it was open), the received email window remains open and you can scroll up and down and read it.
More to the point is that if a Compose window is open, then closing Mail&Newsgroups (and Navigator if open) still leaves the compose window available, and the message can be composed and either saved in the drafts folder or sent.
(By closing Mail&Newsgroups or Navigator, I mean using the X in the Mail&Newsgroups or Navigator main window upper right corner.)]

b) When SeaMonkey opens it opens Navigator (the browser) instead of just opening "Mail&Newsgroups". . . . it needed SOME box checked indicating it was to open SOMEWHERE).

Understood and agreed. I deliberately opted to have SeaMonkey open Navigator, because I have a separate icon (in the Start Menu, and also on the Desktop Launch bar) that opens ". . . SeaMonkey.exe" -mail, which opens Mail&Newsgroups.

I did run some experiments, with results that surprised me given your persuasive "it has to open SOMEWHERE." It turns out that if Preferences are set to SeaMonkey opening with either the Navigator, OR Mail and Newsgroups, OR both (which opens both windows), and then one closes SeaMonkey, and then one right clicks on a file and invokes Windows SendTo Mail Recipient, the email compose window opens (of course), and also the Navigator window opens. Under no circumstances could I persuade SeaMonkey to open Mail&Newsgroups instead of Navigator when responding to a Windows SendTo command.

Given that either Navigator or Mail&Newsgroups has to open, I have no objection to Navigator's opening. I simply was surprised that SendTo always opened Navigator, regardless of how the "When SeaMonkey starts up, open . . . " preference is set.

Thanks for reminding me that SeaMonkey's multi-platform characteristic can add complexity to the programming task.

I never thought that SendTo's opening the Navigator window added any significant use of system resources. Although I am not a programmer, I do understand that SeaMonkey is an integrated Browser + Email program, so I would guess that opening either Navigator, Mail&Newsgroups, or a Compose window would consume the same amount of RAM. (I would guess also that CPU use would vary by the SeaMonkey task, but an open browser window with a blank page --- blank is how I have set Navigator to open --- shouldn't require much CPU effort.)

My operating system is Windows 2000 Sp4 Rollup1(v1). I don't know if you would think Win2k qualifies as a "good" multitasking operating system, but it works well enough for me --- now that I've learned its features fairly thoroughly --- that I don't expect to experiment by "moving on" to something else.

As I tried to make clear in my message that opens this thread, rather than save system resources, all I was trying to do was eliminate one mouse move and one click!

Thanks again.

Cordially, Roger Folsom
R.N. Folsom
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Post by R.N. Folsom »

rainer.wendland wrote:Hi, Roger!
Here is the configuration for current user ("Roger") :
1. Find SendTo - Folder in "C:\documents and settings" (I may not write the official english name for it, coming from germany...) >"Roger"

2. Find MailTo - file in C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\SendTo: (something like) "email-adressee.MAPIMail"

3. Create a link of that file (email-adressee.MAPIMail.lnk), also with rightmouseclick on it and choosing "make a link", and copy it into the SendTo - Folder in "....Roger", where You also can find other links where You can "send to".

4. Try it (Rightmouseclick on any file) and give feedback.

Rainer:

Thanks very much for your response. Please excuse my tardy reply.

Comment on your step 1):

I'm using Windows 2000. SendTo is the correct English wording for the folder, and it is a folder with which I am familiar. I'm not sure where all of its contents came from, but I think that Windows 2000's original SendTo entries included Desktop (create shortcut), Documents, and Mail Recipient (all of which are 0KB files). I probably added SendTo Floppy (A), CD-Drive, Fax, and Printer (all are real 1kb files). From the Windows 95 PowerToys SendTo component, I added SendTo Any Folder, Clipboard as Contents, Clipboard as Name, and Command Line (again all are 0KB files). And then to those I added destinations such as Notepad, WordPerfect, and the IrfanView graphics program. Finally, my SendTo includes other computers on my workgroup (peer-to-peer) network. In total, my SendTo folder has 21 entries.

The 0KB files apparently are zero-byte files, which I think means that they really are only registry entries. The 1KB files are real shortcut files.

You've probably noticed that the list above included Mail Recipient (its tooltip tells me that it is a MAPIMAIL file). So I think --- but I may be wrong --- that your message is explaining how to add something to my SendTo folder that is already there!

If so, my original message (which started this thread) was not clear. My problem was not that "SendTo Mail Recipient" failed to work. My problem was that it opened a Navigator browser window, that I didn't need. So I was wondering if there was any way I could prevent that from happening.

And according to Mike Novack's message to me (see above), the answer is that there is no way to prevent "SendTo Mail Recipient" from opening the SeaMonkey Navigator browser window. The reason is that "SendTo Mail Recipient" has to open SeaMonkey in order to open a SeaMonkey Mail Compose window (which is logical), and when SendTo opens SeaMonkey then SeaMonkey opens its Navigator Browser window.

Comments on your steps 2), 3), and 4):

Even if I needed to create a Mail Recipient entry in my SendTo folder, I would need modified directions because my C:\WINNT\system32\config folder does not contain a \systemprofile subfolder, and on my Win2k computer I cannot find a systemprofile folder anywhere. So I did a Google search on systemprofile, and apparently it was introduced in Windows XP. I didn't read enough to understand what it does.

There may be some equivalent folder in Win2k, but I don't know what it would be.

Thanks again for your comments. If I am wrong about your intention --- i.e. if you are not trying to explain how to create a Mail Recipient ((MapiMail) item in my SendTo folder, but are are trying to explain something else, then please let me know.

Cordially, Roger Folsom
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rainer.wendland
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Post by rainer.wendland »

R.N. Folsom wrote: the answer is that there is no way to prevent "SendTo Mail Recipient" from opening the SeaMonkey Navigator browser window.
Cordially, Roger Folsom


If I'm using SendTo, only the SeyMonkey-mail-compose-window is opening, not navigator.

I'm using WinXP.

Ciao
Rainer
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R.N. Folsom
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Post by R.N. Folsom »

rainer.wendland wrote:If I'm using SendTo, only the SeyMonkey-mail-compose-window is opening, not navigator. I'm using WinXP.

That's very interesting, since my vague recollection is that at some point in the distant past (when I was still using the Mozilla Suite with Windows 2000, or maybe even Netscape Communicator with either Win2k or Win98se), that SendTo opened only the mail-compose window.

So my initial mental response to your message was to guess that I have some SeaMonkey preference mixed up. But my wife's computer also uses SeaMonkey with Win2k Sp4, and her SendTo Mail Recipient does exactly what mine does: open SeaMonkey's mail compose window and also the Navigator window. So perhaps that's a SeaMonkey "feature" that works only with Win2k.

On the other hand, I'm the one who set up her computer (although I did not copy any preferences from my computer to hers).....

At least for now, it's an unresolved mystery.

Thanks very much for telling me your experience.

With luck, someone who uses Win2k will read this and tell me their experience.

Thanks again.

Cordially, Roger Folsom
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rainer.wendland
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Post by rainer.wendland »

Hi, Roger!
In the german Thunderbird forum I found a thread little similar to Yours. The idea came up to use command parameters in a batch-file (*.bat), that is posed near the SendTo-file.
Mozilla has given a list with some instructions how to use them:
http://www.mozilla.org/docs/command-lin ... ml#options
Maybe this helps You?

edit: Probably it is a matter concerning Windows more than SeaMonkey. So I want recommend You to search in other forums like "msfn":
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?

Sincerely
Rainer
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Andy Boze
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Post by Andy Boze »

I've done a bit of experimenting and I find that my experience is the same as Ranier's. If I have no start-up option checked, when I start SeaMonkey by double clicking on its icon, the browser starts. However, when I right click on a file and Send To > Mail Recipient, only the Mail Compose window opens -- no browser, no mail&newsgroups window, just the e-mail compose window.

Now if I select a start up option, Navigator, for example, when I right click on a file and Send To, then the mail compose window opens, plus the Navigator window. So, it seems that if you have any start-up option selected, that window will open along with the mail compose window if started from a Send To.

So, what can you do if you want to Send To mail compose, and have a start-up option selected? I've found that if you use SeaMoney's Quick Start option, then no matter what start-up options you have selected, the Send To will open only the mail compose window.

I should mention that I'm using WinXP, same as Ranier, and I'm also using SM 1.5a.

BTW, I like using SeaMonkey's quick start, although I haven't for several months. At least on SM 1.5a, when using Quick Start, the site icons won't display in the bookmarks menu, and I have so many bookmarks that the site icons make it easier to finds what I'm looking for.

I'll also mention that on my other PC, also WinXP and SM 1.5a, the Send To fails to start SeaMonkey at all. This probably has no significance to anything, but just thought I'd mention it.
But then again, I may be wrong.
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rainer.wendland
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Post by rainer.wendland »

Hi, Andy!
My start-up option is: Open navigater and mail - both!
And SendTo only opens the mail composer.
So everthing is fine...
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rainer.wendland
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Post by rainer.wendland »

Hi, Roger!
MAILTO-Settings are in the registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ mailto\ shell\ open\ command
On the right side You'll find the path of the email-program. I have this:
@="C:\PROGRA~1\MOZILLA.ORG\SEAMONKEY\SEAMONKEY.EXE -compose %1"
It is important to have not only ....SEAMONKEY.EXE %1" at the end, but also
-compose between .EXE and %1"
This -compose means the compose-window You want to be opened.
Have You it in the registry?
If not, You may add it, and then it may work...

Ciao
Rainer
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Andy Boze
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Post by Andy Boze »

rainer.wendland wrote:My start-up option is: Open navigater and mail - both!
And SendTo only opens the mail composer.

I wonder if there's a difference between how SeaMonkey 1.0.x and 1.5a handle this. I got the Send To working on my office PC and SM behaves identically now on both my office PC and the one at home. I have to have all of the start-up options deselected in order for mail compose to start up alone using Send To.

I hope your fix works for Roger. I took a look at my registry and on the office PC the -compose switch was missing, so that might have been part of my problem there. (The other was the Windows wasn't recognizing SM as my default mail program.)
But then again, I may be wrong.
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rainer.wendland
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Post by rainer.wendland »

So, Andy!
Have You changed Your registry? Or is it too strong stuff for You?
It isn't difficult here...
And do You know how change the setting to default-mail-program?
In the "internet options" You can choose it. If there is already SM, sometimes it helps, to choose Outlook Express for default and then the other way round SM again. That should help recognizing. It is/was very often a problem also within Thunderbird...
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Andy Boze
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Post by Andy Boze »

No problems. I know my way around the registry pretty well. It just hadn't occurred to me to look there, since SeaMonkey wasn't starting at all when I tried the Send To. And I found that I had to specifically set the e-mail client to SeaMonkey, not just leave it set to the default e-mail program, though instead of setting it via Internet Options, I set it in "Add or Remove Programs" Program Access and Defaults.
But then again, I may be wrong.
R.N. Folsom
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Post by R.N. Folsom »

rainer.wendland wrote:MAILTO-Settings are in the registry:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ mailto\ shell\ open\ command
On the right side You'll find the path of the email-program. I have this:
@="C:\PROGRA~1\MOZILLA.ORG\SEAMONKEY\SEAMONKEY.EXE -compose %1"
It is important to have not only ....SEAMONKEY.EXE %1" at the end, but also
-compose between .EXE and %1"
This -compose means the compose-window You want to be opened.
Have You it in the registry?
If not, You may add it, and then it may work...Rainer

Rainer:

Thank you very much for all the thinking that you (and Andy Boze) have done about this. However, at least in Windows 2000, as nearly as I can determine, Windows SendTo does not use the mailto key. Instead, the mailto key is used by websites that have some sort of "send mail to us" link. And then clicking that opens the SeaMonkey mail compose window (assumimg that SeaMonkey is the default mail program).

Note that in the scenario I describe immediately above, the browser is already open, when the user clicks on the website's "send mail to us" link.

My understanding of that mailto key comes from Jerry Honeycutt's MS Windows 2000 Registry Handbook, Que publishing, c2000, on page 308 (although that page is discussing HKLM\Software\Clients\Mail rather than the key you cite).

(Honeycutt wrote also an XP registry book, but I didn't get it because I'm not using XP.)

In any case, my HKCR\ mailto\ shell\ open\ command has the same email path that yours does, including the -compose. And that hasn't solved the issue.

In the Windows 2000 SendTo folder, the "Mail Recipient" file type is a "MAPIMAIL file." So I think that the Windows 2000 SendTo uses registry keys that involve MAPIMail and MozillaMapi. Relevant keys (I think they are relevant because they have paths either to the SeaMonkey program folder or have linked CLSIDs) may include the following:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.MAPIMail]
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\MozillaMapi
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\MozillaMapi.1
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{29F458BE-8866-11D5-A3DD-00B0D0F3BAA7}
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{6EDCD38E-8861-11D5-A3DD-00B0D0F3BAA7}
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface\{6EDCD38E-8861-11D5-A3DD-00B0D0F3BAA7}

Of these six keys, my Windows 2000 does not include any that use the -compose switch.
The fourth key above includes a path to seamonkey.exe /MAPIStartup.

I'm out of ideas.

Cordially, Roger Folsom

________________________________________________________________

P.S.: No matter what how my SeaMonkey preferences for Appearance, Startup are set, Windows SendTo always opens not only the mail compose window but also the browser window. That's true even if all Appearance Startup choices are unchecked, and in about:config, general.startup.compose is set to True.

So I suspect that one of the six keys I list above has some setting that is corrupt or wrong. But I don't know what that setting would be.
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