Command line arguments - Thunderbird: Difference between revisions

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(→‎Compose new mail with command line: expanded based on bug 627999 experiences)
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* "to" : used to specify the email of the recipient
* "to" : used to specify the email of the recipient
* "cc" : used to specify the email of the recipient of a copy of the mail
* "cc" : used to specify the email of the recipient of a copy of the mail
* "bcc" : used to specify the email of the recipient of a ''blind'' copy of the mail<sup>*</sup>
* "newsgroups" : one or more news groups to submit the message to<sup>*</sup>
* "subject" : subject of the mail
* "subject" : subject of the mail
* "format" : compose the message in HTML ("format=1") or plain text ("format=2")<sup>*</sup>
* "preselectid" : an identifier for the "From" identity to choose from the menu<sup>*</sup>
** note that you cannot directly specify an e-mail address but need to find the identity ''key''
** for example, "preselectid=id2" would select the identity #2
** you can find the key by try-and-error or by searching for '''useremail''' in the [[Modify_Thunderbird_settings|Config Editor]]
* "body" : body of the mail
* "body" : body of the mail
* "attachment' : specify the directory and the name of an attachment
* "attachment' : specify the directory and the name of an attachment
** the value should be a file:// url, properly encoded
** the value should be a file:// url, properly encoded
** with tb3+, you can alternatively use the absolute file name (unencoded)
** with tb3+, you can alternatively use the absolute file name (unencoded)
<sup>*</sup>(in Thunderbird 3.1.x and earlier, these options ''must'' be preceded by at least one other option and cannot be at the start of the argument list due to [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=627999 bug 627999].)


Example:
Example:

Revision as of 00:42, 28 January 2011

Thunderbird supports the following command line arguments:

  • All of the Mozilla command line arguments that aren't browser specific. However, you need to figure out what version of Gecko your version of Thunderbird uses to see if some of those command line arguments aren't available. Thunderbird 3.1 is based on Gecko 1.9.2. The -install-global-extension and -install-global-theme arguments have been removed from Gecko 1.9.2 and later versions.

    Notice the syntax section at the bottom of that writeup. You can use -compose message_options to have it bring up the compose message window and fill in everything for you, but you still need to press the Send button to actually send the message.

  • The -profile "path" command line argument to specify the location of the profile. It's used to run Thunderbird with the specified profile regardless of whether the Profile Manager knows about that profile's existence. It's described in more detail in the writeup on USB drive support but it does not require a USB drive. Its useful if you're a roaming user or Thunderbird somehow lost track of your profile (perhaps due to your system crashing) and you want to verify the profile is still good before trying to fix the problem. Example: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -profile e:\my_profile will launch Thunderbird with the profile stored at e:\my_profile. A quick sanity check is that e:\my_profile should contain your prefs.js file. Note however that you normally cannot start Thunderbird with a second profile if Thunderbird is already running.
  • The -migration command line argument opens import wizard which help with import data from Outlook (Express) and Mozilla Suite/SeaMonkey.
  • The path of a .eml file. This will launch Thunderbird with a window displaying the contents of the .eml file. For example, "C:\Program Files\Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" c:\test.eml

Compose new mail with command line

You have to use the command line "-compose" to launch Thunderbird and open a new compose window. The following arguments are availables:

  • "to" : used to specify the email of the recipient
  • "cc" : used to specify the email of the recipient of a copy of the mail
  • "bcc" : used to specify the email of the recipient of a blind copy of the mail*
  • "newsgroups" : one or more news groups to submit the message to*
  • "subject" : subject of the mail
  • "format" : compose the message in HTML ("format=1") or plain text ("format=2")*
  • "preselectid" : an identifier for the "From" identity to choose from the menu*
    • note that you cannot directly specify an e-mail address but need to find the identity key
    • for example, "preselectid=id2" would select the identity #2
    • you can find the key by try-and-error or by searching for useremail in the Config Editor
  • "body" : body of the mail
  • "attachment' : specify the directory and the name of an attachment
    • the value should be a file:// url, properly encoded
    • with tb3+, you can alternatively use the absolute file name (unencoded)

*(in Thunderbird 3.1.x and earlier, these options must be preceded by at least one other option and cannot be at the start of the argument list due to bug 627999.)

Example: thunderbird -compose "to='john@example.com,kathy@example.com',cc='britney@example.com',subject='dinner',body='How about dinner tonight?',attachment='C:\temp\info.doc,C:\temp\food.doc,' (use attachment="file:///C:/temp/food.doc" for Thunderbird 2.0)

For mailto: urls the "in-reply-to" header is also supported

  • "in-reply-to" : adds In-Reply-To with the provided reference, adds it to References

Issues for Thunderbird 1.5.0

The -compose command line argument doesn't work correctly in Thunderbird 1.5 due to a parsing bug. It generates the compose message window but none of the fields are filled in. The only workaround is to use a mailto: URL. However, this prevents you from passing an attachment due to a security restriction.

thunderbird -compose "mailto:somebody@somewhere?cc=address@provider&subject=hi&body=something"

This bug was fixed in 1.5.0.2

See also