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Using Thunderbird 52.4.0 (64-bit), why do HTTP: Links in received mail work but HTTPS: links do not work?

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I've recently installed the latest release of Kubuntu and am having problems when I click links in E-Mail messages.

Some work, others do not.

I've checked. The ones that work all seem to be HTTP while the ones that do not all seem to be HTTPS.

Yes. Firefox is correctly set up as default browser. I've tried running Thunderbird in both ordinary and "Safe Mode". It made no difference.

I also find that It will not retrieve Mail unless I turn set Password security in Server Settings to NONE and Authentication to Password transmitted insecurely. This is puzzling because the SSL/TLS setting worked fine for the first two days after the install, then Stopped working. I don't get any error messages. Thunderbird just sits there with the "busy" bar moving back & forth for a while, then does nothing.

Thanks for your help.

I've recently installed the latest release of Kubuntu and am having problems when I click links in E-Mail messages. Some work, others do not. I've checked. The ones that work all seem to be HTTP while the ones that do not all seem to be HTTPS. Yes. Firefox is correctly set up as default browser. I've tried running Thunderbird in both ordinary and "Safe Mode". It made no difference. I also find that It will not retrieve Mail unless I turn set Password security in Server Settings to NONE and Authentication to Password transmitted insecurely. This is puzzling because the SSL/TLS setting worked fine for the first two days after the install, then Stopped working. I don't get any error messages. Thunderbird just sits there with the "busy" bar moving back & forth for a while, then does nothing. Thanks for your help.

Chosen solution

Hmm specifying a "helper" application in the attachments is almost always a problem. That s why I wrote this support article all those years ago https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Hyperlinks-in-Messages-Not-Working#w_check-that-no-application-is-specified-for-the-http-content-type

From the text of the article you may discern that there are hidden preferences that manage HTTP and HTTPS protocols, which is why having a helper application mare a mess usually.

Oh, note that I douldn't find whatever button or menu was supposed to allow me to add or edit entries to this list. Is there something Missing?

I think so, on my window version there is a drop down arrow on the far right of the "action" which offers a menu of things including changing the action or just deleting it. My personal preference is however to just select the entry and use the delete key. It is very hard to mess up.

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try restarting thunderbird with add-ons disabled from the help menu.... given both issues revolve around SSL, perhaps the certificate store has an issue. Although that would be unusual.

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That wasn't it. I did find an answer. In Preferences - Attachments -Incoming there was one entry that said to use Firefox for https content.

It was apparently working Backwards. Since http was working fine and there was no entry for http, I deleted the entry for https and it now works fine.

Don't know Why this would work backwards from the way it is supposed to, but it did and deleting the entry seems to have fixed the problem.

Oh, note that I douldn't find whatever button or menu was supposed to allow me to add or edit entries to this list. Is there something Missing?

I am using Thunderbird 52.4.0 (64-bit) installed as part of the 64 bit Kubuntu release 17.10 and Firefox Quantum 57.0 (64-bit) installed as my default browser.

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Chosen Solution

Hmm specifying a "helper" application in the attachments is almost always a problem. That s why I wrote this support article all those years ago https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Hyperlinks-in-Messages-Not-Working#w_check-that-no-application-is-specified-for-the-http-content-type

From the text of the article you may discern that there are hidden preferences that manage HTTP and HTTPS protocols, which is why having a helper application mare a mess usually.

Oh, note that I douldn't find whatever button or menu was supposed to allow me to add or edit entries to this list. Is there something Missing?

I think so, on my window version there is a drop down arrow on the far right of the "action" which offers a menu of things including changing the action or just deleting it. My personal preference is however to just select the entry and use the delete key. It is very hard to mess up.

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In my version, the drop down arrows in the Application Preferences box don't appear to do anything except switch from Up arrow to Down Arrow when clicked on.