Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Thunderbird-version 91.0.3 (Linux Mint 20.2) Cannot browse home folder on network to add attachment

more options

I have a Linux desktop PC and a Linux (Debian) server with SMB-based shares. If I choose to add an attachment from a remote, non-home folder - such as 'data' and 'docs' - then I can access them by navigating to the needed file through 'Attach'...'+ other locations', selecting the share by name and continuing navigation to select a file.

However I cannot add files from /home/myhomefolder on the network; this is presented by Thunderbird as 'Homes on [IP Address]', but selecting it does not take me to my home folder.

There is a quirk with some apps whereby the shares only become accessible if they have been visited previously using the stock desktop's file browser, but this does not apply here; I can open other apps, such as Geany text editor and reach /home/myhomefolder without a problem.

Not quite the same thing, but the file browser in, for example, Geany, Libre Office, and many other apps, recognises, shows and lets me use the bookmarks I have setup to network locations, but the Thunderbird one is much simpler and only lists '+ other locations' and offers the problem navigation described earlier. It seems as if the file browsing function in Thunderbird is less sophisticated and/or based on a library that doesn't work properly with all types of network share.

At the moment, I have to use the stock desktop file browser to copy files to attach into a local 'temp' folder where I can select them in Thunderbird.

Any thoughts on a solution?

I have a Linux desktop PC and a Linux (Debian) server with SMB-based shares. If I choose to add an attachment from a remote, non-home folder - such as 'data' and 'docs' - then I can access them by navigating to the needed file through 'Attach'...'+ other locations', selecting the share by name and continuing navigation to select a file. However I cannot add files from /home/myhomefolder on the network; this is presented by Thunderbird as 'Homes on [IP Address]', but selecting it does not take me to my home folder. There is a quirk with some apps whereby the shares only become accessible if they have been visited previously using the stock desktop's file browser, but this does not apply here; I can open other apps, such as Geany text editor and reach /home/myhomefolder without a problem. Not quite the same thing, but the file browser in, for example, Geany, Libre Office, and many other apps, recognises, shows and lets me use the bookmarks I have setup to network locations, but the Thunderbird one is much simpler and only lists '+ other locations' and offers the problem navigation described earlier. It seems as if the file browsing function in Thunderbird is less sophisticated and/or based on a library that doesn't work properly with all types of network share. At the moment, I have to use the stock desktop file browser to copy files to attach into a local 'temp' folder where I can select them in Thunderbird. Any thoughts on a solution?

All Replies (1)

more options

I have this same problem. I've tried it on all three releases (stable, beta, future) and none of them fix this.

I have no idea how to make this work but it's a terrible pain to have a local temp folder and have to copy items over....