How to delete an entry from "about:config"?

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mentallo
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Joined: August 11th, 2005, 9:52 am

How to delete an entry from "about:config"?

Post by mentallo »

I want to delete something form the about:config file. How do I do that?
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Rod Whiteley
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Joined: December 6th, 2004, 3:41 am
Location: UK

Post by Rod Whiteley »

There is no about:config file. The settings are in the file prefs.js (and possibly also user.js) in your profile. Default values can come from other places, depending on the setting. Deleting a setting completely can sometimes cause an error in the program. It is normally best to choose Reset in the about:config dialog.
Rod
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Post by tanstaafl »

The config editor is Thunderbirds equivalent of Firefoxs about:config . Its the recommended way to edit preferences though you can still edit prefs.js using a text editor. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config and http://kb.mozillazine.org/Modify_Thunderbird_settings
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frazelle09
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Joined: June 18th, 2004, 6:40 pm
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Post by frazelle09 »

Wow, this looks like the right place for this problem.

i'm running Freespire Linux with TB 1.5.0.5 and everything was fine. However today i cannot print my received mails. It seems that when i start the program i can print one mail and if that mail is a reply to a previous one, the only part that prints is the part that we sent, the new reply is not printed, but left blank.

When i go into the about:config window, i can see about 80 lines of printer config info. There are even printers there that we don't even have connected anymore! Ya suppose the poor thing might be a little confused?

i have uninstalled the program, shut down and restarted the computer and reinstalled the program. Same problem.

i can print with other programs just fine, i.e. OpenOffice, KPDF, and Inkscape.

i was thinking of just finding the file and renaming it and seeing if TB recreated a basic file which could be set up again, but i see from the above posts that the file gets its info from other sources...

Any ideas?

Have a great day! :)
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phubert28
Posts: 5
Joined: July 1st, 2010, 6:41 pm

Re: How to delete an entry from "about:config"?

Post by phubert28 »

RESET is of no use if you have ADDED a line you now want to REMOVE. I ADDED a line because T-bird was no longer WRAPPING text while composing (and STILL does so unevenly).
Unfortunately, on first attempt, I copied and pasted - but copied TOO MUCH, creating an invalid entry which remains there now, since I SEE no "Delete".
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DanRaisch
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Re: How to delete an entry from "about:config"?

Post by DanRaisch »

1. RESET is the correct option to remove a user added config element. Resetting removes the value of the added config element. Closing the about:config tab (or window) completes removal of the added element. If you open the about:config process again and search for that user created element you will find that it is gone.

2. You've responded to a thread that died 11 years ago. If you require additional support, please create a new topic and let the deceased rest in peace.

3. Locking due to the age of the original posts.
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tanstaafl
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Re: How to delete an entry from "about:config"?

Post by tanstaafl »

You replied to a 11 year old thread. In the future, if the thread is more than a year old please create a new one. There isn't that much traffic on the forum that you need to game it in order to get somebodies attention.

Reset will apparently just remove the settings value and mark it as default status. However, when you exit and restart that added setting is gone. I just tested that using version 60.0

"I ADDED a line because T-bird was no longer WRAPPING text while composing (and STILL does so unevenly)."

I prefer plain text messages but eventually gave in and now create HTML messages with just plain text because the line wrapping code in plain text messages is too buggy. Eventually they will replace the built-in editor. There has been at least one formal attempt that was aborted due to problems integrating the HTML editor widget with the rest of Thunderbird. It gets discussed periodically as something that they need to attempt again. The Thunderbird Council just hired three more full time developers and a technical manager so they are starting to gain enough resources to attempt more projects like that. Hopefully when they replace it with something more modern (its basically 20+ year old Netscape Composer code from the Netscape Communicator browser) the problem will be fixed.
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