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Unable to open this one particular PDF attachment; has a forward-slash '/' in its name

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
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  • Paskiausią atsakymą parašė bill248

Pokey
Pokey
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I recently received a bill with the following PDF attachment:

Content-Type: application/pdf; name="email/client-XXXXXXX_inv-XXXXXXXX.pdf"

Double-clicking the attachment in Thunderbird does nothing. Right-clicking on the attachment and selecting 'Open' does nothing.

I can open the PDF file from the desktop once I've saved it. I can open all other PDF file attachments from within Thunderbird.

I suspect that Thunderbird doesn't like the file name. Any fixes for this?

Thunderbird version: 91.4.1 (32-bit)

Thank you for your time!

I recently received a bill with the following PDF attachment: Content-Type: application/pdf; name="email/client-XXXXXXX_inv-XXXXXXXX.pdf" Double-clicking the attachment in Thunderbird does nothing. Right-clicking on the attachment and selecting 'Open' does nothing. I can open the PDF file from the desktop once I've saved it. I can open all other PDF file attachments from within Thunderbird. I suspect that Thunderbird doesn't like the file name. Any fixes for this? Thunderbird version: 91.4.1 (32-bit) Thank you for your time!

All Replies (4)

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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as windows recognises that slash as a folder delimiter, I am guessing the file is not being written correctly to the temp folder to open. Does it save correctly so you can open it? Or is it being saved in a sub folder named email?

Pokey
Pokey Klausimą uždavęs asmuo
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Thanks for responding, Matt.

> windows recognises that slash as a folder delimiter, I am guessing the file is not being written correctly to the temp folder to open

I'm thinking the same.

> Does it save correctly so you can open it?

Yes, it saves correctly, and I can open it from the saved location.

> is it being saved in a sub folder named email?

No. When the "Save File" dialog appears, the forward-slash is replaced by the dash '-' character, and so the filename becomes "email-client-XXXXXXX_inv-XXXXXXXX.pdf".

julianw358
julianw358
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I have a similar problem, but mine is with a colon in the filename ":" I believe that's an invalid character for Windows filenames.

Previous to Thunderbird 91.4.1, files with a colon in the filename would open without a problem. I looked in my Windows temp folder and found that previously Thunderbird would strip off the invalid filename character when it would save the file to disk, then it would load the attachment with the modified name in my PDF reader. This was still working as of 91.4.0.

Starting with 91.4.1, it looks like that doesn't happen anymore as Thunderbird is trying to open the attachment with the original filename that includes the colon and since it's not possible to store the file with that name, it isn't found. If instead of opening the attachment, I choose to save it, the colon is automatically stripped from the default filename.

If I have Thunderbird preview the PDF, not using an external program, I don't have any problem displaying the PDF even if it has a colon in the filename. I'd prefer to use the external viewer by just opening the attachment, but there are a couple of workarounds available.

bill248
bill248
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I am now having the same problem in when someone sends me a .pdf with a dash ( - ) in the file name Thunderbird seems to be saving it as a colon ( : ) in the temp file and windows is not able to open the file. If I right click the attachment and select save as the file name stays as sent with a dash ( - ) . If I simply drag the file to my desktop then the dash is removed. I am able to open both file from the desktop