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thunderbird new release does not work as default email for other programs

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by nickblyth

nickblyth
nickblyth
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since installing the new release some of my other programs can no longer recognise thunderbird as the default email and fail with a "unable to connect to your email software" error message. Identical software on an identical computer with the previous release still works perfectly. Thunderbird is set as default email client in windows 7 and no other system or software updates have occured since the Thunderbird upgrade. Any clues would be apprciated before I have to consider removing and re-installing Thunderbird which would be a major pain.

since installing the new release some of my other programs can no longer recognise thunderbird as the default email and fail with a "unable to connect to your email software" error message. Identical software on an identical computer with the previous release still works perfectly. Thunderbird is set as default email client in windows 7 and no other system or software updates have occured since the Thunderbird upgrade. Any clues would be apprciated before I have to consider removing and re-installing Thunderbird which would be a major pain.

All Replies (4)

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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please attach a screen shot of "unable to connect to your email software".

Does tools > options > advanced > general > "check now" fix it?

nickblyth
nickblyth Question owner
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screen dump from TAS software attached. Setting the default in options etc had no effect. If I set the email options in the TAS program to outlook or any of the other options it works fine, it is just the Mozilla option that fails and only in the latest release.

user1121639
user1121639
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This is an issue I have seen many times here with this latest version of Thunderbird in Windows.

For some reason, Windows needs to be reminded that Thunderbird is the default e-mail program. I don't know why.

Windows 8 or 10:

1. Type "default" into Cortana search, then click on the search result Default Programs. See my first screenshot below.

2. Under Choose default apps, change the E-mail to Thunderbird. See 2nd screenshot.

3. Scroll down to the bottom of that window and click on Set defaults by app. See 3rd screenshot.

4. You will now see a screen like my 4th screenshot below. Find and select Thunderbird, then click on Set this program as default on the right side.

5. Go up one level from this window to Default Programs, and in that window, click on Associate a file type or protocol with a program.

6. Scroll down to the protocols, and look for MAILTO. If it is not set to open with Thunderbird, change it to do so. See my third screenshot below. See 5th screenshot.

Windows 7:

1. Open the Control Panel and change the view to small icons. You will see what I show in my 6th screenshot below.

2. Click on Default Programs, then Set your default programs.

3. You will now see a screen like my 4th screenshot below. Find and select Thunderbird, then click on Set this program as default on the right side.

4. Go up one level from this window to Default Programs, and in that window, click on Associate a file type or protocol with a program.

5. Scroll down to the protocols, and look for MAILTO. If it is not set to open with Thunderbird, change it to do so. See my third screenshot below. See 5th screenshot.

nickblyth
nickblyth Question owner
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this solved the problem for most of the existing programs except for one accounts program which still refuses to recognise the new version of TB as the default email client. It had no problem with the previous version so this must be something really obscure. I have been through the registry and compared it to the registry settings that worked with the previous version and I cannot see any obvious discrepancies in any of the HKEYs or in any of the default WIn7 program settings. I can work around it by sending any accounts emails from another machine on which I have not run the TB update but it is really annoying that I cannot fix it.