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how to save thunderbird downloads to my home directory

  • 3 uphendule
  • 1 inale nkinga
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  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu david

drkayak
drkayak
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I use thunderbird with Debian linux. I want to change the destination for downloads from '/home/myusername/Downloads' to '/home/myusername'. Under Preferences > General > Files & Attachments > Save files to, I can specify any subdirectory of '/home/myusername', but not '/home/myusername' itself. The best I have been able to do is to select 'Always ask me where to save files', so that I can force the download to go where I want it to. Is there a better way, like a configuration file that I could edit? Thanks.

I use thunderbird with Debian linux. I want to change the destination for downloads from '/home/myusername/Downloads' to '/home/myusername'. Under Preferences > General > Files & Attachments > Save files to, I can specify any ''subdirectory'' of '/home/myusername', but not '/home/myusername' itself. The best I have been able to do is to select 'Always ask me where to save files', so that I can force the download to go where I want it to. Is there a better way, like a configuration file that I could edit? Thanks.

Isisombululo esikhethiwe

I don't for sure. In Windows, there is no restriction and, since I'm not running Linux, I can't test. However, there is an entry in prefs.js called user_pref("browser.download.dir that may work. If you try that, be sure to make a copy of prefs.js first (with TB not running) in case things go poorly. Another possibility might be to use config editor and search for 'browser.download' - there are several such entries to try. Again, copy prefs.js before any such testing. These may not work, but it's the best I know. Walk carefully, as dragons be there. Good luck.

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All Replies (3)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Isisombululo Esikhethiwe

I don't for sure. In Windows, there is no restriction and, since I'm not running Linux, I can't test. However, there is an entry in prefs.js called user_pref("browser.download.dir that may work. If you try that, be sure to make a copy of prefs.js first (with TB not running) in case things go poorly. Another possibility might be to use config editor and search for 'browser.download' - there are several such entries to try. Again, copy prefs.js before any such testing. These may not work, but it's the best I know. Walk carefully, as dragons be there. Good luck.

drkayak
drkayak Umnikazi wombuzo
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Thanks for the response. Looking at 'prefs.js' in my thunderbird directory, I saw that "browser.download.dir" and "browser.download.downloadDir" were in fact set to my home directory, which is what I wanted. I then realized that it was the settings in my browser (chrome), not in thunderbird, that were directing downloads to the 'Downloads' directory when I clicked on a link in an email message. Duh!

In chrome it was easy to change the download directory to my home directory by going to Settings > Advanced > Downloads > Location.

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused!

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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I'm glad all worked out well. Thanks for feedback.