[Users] can't click on Firefox e-mail links and open the Claws-Mail compose window -- UPDATED INFO

[Dustin Miller]

On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 21:08:26 -0500
Gil Weber <gilweber at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 21 Feb 2022 07:35:14 +0600
> Dustin Miller <dustbiz at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 19:41:50 -0500
> > Gil Weber <gilweber at gmail.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > ... Is the answer in the different Claws-Mail versions?
> > >     
> > DM: That's where I would look first.  
> > > 
> > > ... I am using Mint 20.2 with Claws-Mail 4.0.0 (flatpak). When I
> > > click on an e-mail link in Firefox 97.0.1 the main Claws-Mail
> > > screen opens, not the compose window. 
> > > 
> > > ... setting up Firefox email links in the about:config screen.
> > > 
> > > network.protocol-handler.app.mailto	claws-mail  ("string")
> > >     
> > DM: I would look into this, as you possibly need a different string
> > here. The terminal output of 'info claws-mail' may help you here,  
> 
> Gil: here is the output of 'info claws-mail'  Does this indicate 
> anything I'm not understanding?
> 
> gil at phred:~$ info claws-mail
> info: No menu item 'claws-mail' in node '(dir)Top'
> gil at phred:~$ 
> 
DM: Okay, I think this basically just confirms that you don't have the
non-flatpak version installed on this system. Try running it on your
laptop. What you're looking for is basically a manual for how to use
Claws via a terminal, which I think might be helpful to see whether a
different string will get you what you want. There may (should) be a
way to access this same information with the flatpak version -- just
depends how the flatpak creator set things up. I'm guessing you might
also be able to find it online, on the Claws website somewhere, or by
doing a search like: claws mail man page . Here's a link to what I get
when I do that search:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=claws+mail+man+page&ia=web .
> 
> 
> > DM: perhaps Claws' online documentation, and you may need to check
> > out some generic flatpak info or some that's specific to the Claws
> > flatpak (that would be with the flatpak maintainer though, rather
> > than here). If you still have a non-flatpak version of Claws
> > installed on your system as well, you may want to check which one is
> > actually getting opened when you click on the link; that might also
> > give you a data point for figuring out the string you need.  
> 
> 
> Gil: Only running the flatpak version of Claws-Mail on the desktop
> where I'm having the problem. Running the "original" version (NOT
> Flatpak) of Claws-Mail on the laptop.
> 
DM: Okay, so it seems that the 'claws-mail' part of the string is
right, since it's opening the program; you probably just need to add
something to the string. I'm guessing what you need to add is the
'--compose' option. If you go to the page linked above, then click
through to one of the web pages that gives the 'man page' (manual), and
then search for the string:

--compose "mailto:%t?subject=%s&cc=%c&body=%b"

you should get to the following example:

EXAMPLE START
--compose "mailto:%t?subject=%s&cc=%c&body=%b"
This syntax can be used in web-browsers and CLI to open a pre-populated
Compose window. Possible fields after the destination recipient are:
subject, from, cc, bcc, in-reply-to, body, insert (insert a file in
body part, needs an absolute path), attach (attach a file, needs an
absolute path, see also: --attach).
EXAMPLE END

DM: I haven't tested this, but I'm guessing this is along the lines of
what you're looking for, although you'll likely need to edit the part
between the quotes according to what you want. If you're not sure what
the different symbols mean, I think you can find places within Claws
itself (perhaps in preferences / settings via some of the templates
pages?) or on the Claws website that describe these. In the example
above, it looks like this will include the destination email address,
subject, CC field, and body, so if you're only wanting the 'To' email
address, it might work to just use "mailto:%t?" (not sure whether you
need the '?' or what it does). You may find it easiest to use your
laptop terminal to do some initial testing to figure out the command
you want, and then you can do the final experimenting / testing with
Firefox on the system that has the problem. Hope you can get it figured
out! :) Cheers, ---Dustin