Solved What the heck is this?

Catnip · Jun 5, 2025

I tried to email myself at my office an Excel file by right clicking on it in file explorer and choosing "Mail to...", expecting Thunderbird to pop up like it always does.

I got this instead:

Is this a new thing? I can't send any Office files by mail unless I use Outlook. I refuse to use Outlook. I guess I will have to resort to a thumb drive to get the files to work, but jesus, what are they trying to ram down our throats this time?

Colour me unimpressed.

Berton · Jun 5, 2025

I haven't used Microsoft's Outlook in quite some time but most installed E-Mail Clients like Thunderbird, the ancient Outlook Express and some other free ones have a place where one can include an attachment before sending, just have to remember where the document was saved so as to attach.

Catnip · Jun 5, 2025

Update: All files do this now. I can't send anything via Thunderbird by right clicking on it. It is insisting that I use Outlook.

Catnip · Jun 5, 2025

Berton said:
I haven't used Microsoft's Outlook in quite some time but most installed E-Mail Clients like Thunderbird, the ancient Outlook Express and some other free ones have a place where one can include an attachment before sending, just have to remember where the document was saved so as to attach.

Yeah. I guess i will have to do it manually until I can fix this.

Berton · Jun 5, 2025

Unfortunately Office has it's functions all tied to the apps included in the suite. Outlook has been in that suite for quite awhile but also included with Window after Outlook Express was discontinued, a lot like Edge replacing Internet Explorer.

XxXxX · Jun 5, 2025

i don't have outlook installed on my system only thunderbird.
i have just right clicked a document and used send to > mail recipient
and the thunderbird send mail window opened.

thats about as far as i can help.
best of luck, Steve ..

OAT · Jun 5, 2025

Catnip said:
Yeah. I guess i will have to do it manually until I can fix this.

dacrone · Jun 5, 2025

There’s another thread here somewhere where I linked this but can’t find it right now. Here’s the link I linked.

Make Send to: Mail Recipient work properly for Mozilla Thunderbird

Hi all - I'm so tired of right clicking on the Context Menu, trying to use Send to: Mail Recipient and have it fail. So I looked for a solution and really didn't find one that actually worked, so I devised my own. Procedure: Open File Explorer and erase t

www.tenforums.com

TraderGary · Jun 5, 2025

You can set your default email app in Windows 11 so that when you right-click a file and choose to send it via email, the correct app opens. Here’s how:

Open Settings: Press Windows + I or right-click the Start button and select Settings.
Go to Default Apps: Click Apps in the sidebar, then select Default Apps.
Find Your Email App: In the search bar, type the name of the email app you want to set as default (e.g., Outlook, Thunderbird).
Set Defaults:

Click on your email app.
Look for the MAILTO protocol and set it to your preferred email app.
Also, set the default for .EML files if needed.

This ensures that when you right-click a file and choose Send to > Mail recipient, your preferred email app will open.

badrobot · Jun 5, 2025

Your default app settings was probably reset during an update. Did you try setting Thunderbird as default app for email?

Catnip · Jun 5, 2025

I have set Thunderbird as default for email as it has always been. These are my settings choices:

Unfortunately, those are the only three settings I get. Setting them to anything makes no difference at all, the PC still requires an Outlook profile to make "Send to: Mail recipient" to work.

I don't get it. This just has started happening today. It must have been an update. I really don't want to uninstall Outlook as I have a hotmail address that I like to keep an eye on. It's just more convenient to have that on the task bar. What is really bugging me is that someone in Redmond has decided that I shouldn't use any other email client.

EDIT:

I even went into the Office settings, but I can't find a setting for mail.

Also, I have nowhere in my PC to set my preferred email client. That function seems to be gone.

OAT · Jun 5, 2025

Catnip said:
I have set Thunderbird as default for email as it has always been. These are my settings choices:

Then go here and change those:

Catnip said:

TraderGary · Jun 5, 2025

Catnip said:
I have set Thunderbird as default for email as it has always been. These are my settings choices:

View attachment 136116

Unfortunately, those are the only three settings I get. Setting them to anything makes no difference at all, the PC still requires an Outlook profile to make "Send to: Mail recipient" to work.

I don't get it. This just has started happening today. It must have been an update. I really don't want to uninstall Outlook as I have a hotmail address that I like to keep an eye on. It's just more convenient to have that on the task bar. What is really bugging me is that someone in Redmond has decided that I shouldn't use any other email client.

EDIT:

I even went into the Office settings, but I can't find a setting for mail.

Also, I have nowhere in my PC to set my preferred email client. That function seems to be gone.

That certainly is odd. I've only used Outlook for more than 25 years, so obviously I don't see any problems. There's no question that Microsoft doesn't always get choices and settings right.

Catnip · Jun 5, 2025

OAT said:
Then go here and change those:

Did that. No change.

And interestingly enough, Programs and Features says that Thunderbird was installed today. Must have been a Thunderbird update because T-Bird has been installed for years.

@dacrone Thanks for the tip. I did the things in the link and T-Bird opens, but not to the new mail window. It only opens the messages pane. I think the command line for T-Bird might take some parameters.

dacrone · Jun 5, 2025

Catnip said:
Did that. No change.

And interestingly enough, Programs and Features says that Thunderbird was installed today. Must have been a Thunderbird update because T-Bird has been installed for years.

@dacrone Thanks for the tip. I did the things in the link and T-Bird opens, but not to the new mail window. It only opens the messages pane. I think the command line for T-Bird might take some parameters.

follow comment #7 on that thread

antspants · Jun 5, 2025

From memory, this fixed mine.

Make Thunderbird the Default Mail Client | Thunderbird Help

If Thunderbird is specified as your system's default email application, it will integrate with other applications (such as word processors and web browsers).

support.mozilla.org

Edwin · Jun 5, 2025

Many Clients work with a simple exe in the sendto folder..., there always seems to be a glitch with Thunderbird!

Catnip · Jun 6, 2025

dacrone said:
follow comment #7 on that thread

Did that. It works sort of. It's a bit of a kludge, but I can live with it. Strangely, this is not happening to my office computer.

Catnip · Thursday at 12:55 PM

As kludgy as this fix was, I am going to mark this as solved. I am also going to do a repair install, I think, due to a problem in another thread causing search issues with Firefox.

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