Firefox is not handling text files the way I want it to!

If I'm visiting a website and find a link to a text and click it, Firefox
displays the plain text. If I right click the link and ask for a new tab,
Firefox displays the text in the new tab. No problem.

But if I have a local page on my own computer I'm working with, and it has a
link to a local text file, Firefox launches the external text viewer. I
cannot make it display the text itself, like it does for online files. It
will offer to save it to disk, or launch it externally, but it will not
simply display the text like it does when I'm online, and this is what I
want it to do.

I am using Firefox 1.5.0.4

Help appreciated!

J.

Janice P.

Janice P. wrote:
> If I'm visiting a website and find a link to a text and click it, Firefox
> displays the plain text. If I right click the link and ask for a new tab,
> Firefox displays the text in the new tab. No problem.
>
> But if I have a local page on my own computer I'm working with, and it has a
> link to a local text file, Firefox launches the external text viewer. I
> cannot make it display the text itself, like it does for online files. It
> will offer to save it to disk, or launch it externally, but it will not
> simply display the text like it does when I'm online, and this is what I
> want it to do.
>
> I am using Firefox 1.5.0.4

I think this is the same in 1.5.0.4. Check in Tools - Options -
Downloads, View & Edit Actions. Look for a listing for "txt" in the
Extension column. Highlight it and click Change Action. See what it
says. Either change the action or (in the previous dialog) remove the
action.

--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
http://mozilla.edmullen.net
http://abington.edmullen.net
It is bad luck to be superstitious.

On Sat, 09 Dec 2006 11:23:59 -0500, Ed Mullen <> posted:

>Janice P. wrote:
>> If I'm visiting a website and find a link to a text and click it, Firefox
>> displays the plain text. If I right click the link and ask for a new tab,
>> Firefox displays the text in the new tab. No problem.
>>
>> But if I have a local page on my own computer I'm working with, and it has a
>> link to a local text file, Firefox launches the external text viewer. I
>> cannot make it display the text itself, like it does for online files. It
>> will offer to save it to disk, or launch it externally, but it will not
>> simply display the text like it does when I'm online, and this is what I
>> want it to do.
>>
>> I am using Firefox 1.5.0.4
>
>I think this is the same in 1.5.0.4. Check in Tools - Options -
>Downloads, View & Edit Actions. Look for a listing for "txt" in the
>Extension column. Highlight it and click Change Action. See what it
>says. Either change the action or (in the previous dialog) remove the
>action.

Thank you for your reply, Ed. There is no action for the .txt extension,
and I can't see how to add one.

J.

Here's the link you want to use for your text files...

file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt

Scott--


Janice P. wrote:
> If I'm visiting a website and find a link to a text and click it, Firefox
> displays the plain text. If I right click the link and ask for a new tab,
> Firefox displays the text in the new tab. No problem.
>
> But if I have a local page on my own computer I'm working with, and it has a
> link to a local text file, Firefox launches the external text viewer. I
> cannot make it display the text itself, like it does for online files. It
> will offer to save it to disk, or launch it externally, but it will not
> simply display the text like it does when I'm online, and this is what I
> want it to do.
>
> I am using Firefox 1.5.0.4
>
> Help appreciated!
>
> J.
>

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:22:34 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
<"scott[dunspamme]"@fuzzywolf.com> posted:

>Here's the link you want to use for your text files...
>
>file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt
>
>Scott--

Thank you Scott, but that's desperately impractical. As soon as I finish
editing my local pages I need to upload them, sometimes several times a
week. I'd have to stop and locate all of the file:///c:/ links and convert
them to relative links, every time I wanted to upload them.

That's asking too much, even with a convenient search and replace. It seems
to me that Firefox should be able to display a text file with a normal
(relative) link, whether it's local or remote. Why it works for remote but
not for local is what's bothering me.

J.

It's common practice in all browsers to treat files like that when
viewed local when it comes to text links...

Here's a question, why do you need to view them local as well as
remotely? Perhaps it would be best to stick with pulling the data
remotely. Either way not sure why you're needing both.

At any rate that's the best way to do it that I can think of. The only
other option would be to iframe the txt files in html pages so that it's
forced to load the content as is.

Sorry I couldn't help.

Janice P. wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:22:34 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
> <"scott[dunspamme]"@fuzzywolf.com> posted:
>
>> Here's the link you want to use for your text files...
>>
>> file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt
>>
>> Scott--
>
> Thank you Scott, but that's desperately impractical. As soon as I finish
> editing my local pages I need to upload them, sometimes several times a
> week. I'd have to stop and locate all of the file:///c:/ links and convert
> them to relative links, every time I wanted to upload them.
>
> That's asking too much, even with a convenient search and replace. It seems
> to me that Firefox should be able to display a text file with a normal
> (relative) link, whether it's local or remote. Why it works for remote but
> not for local is what's bothering me.
>
> J.
>

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:22:34 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
<"scott[dunspamme]"@fuzzywolf.com> posted:

>Here's the link you want to use for your text files...
>
>file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt
>
>Scott--

Just for argument's sake - and curiosity's sake, too - I did this. It does
not work. Firefox still forces the local text file into the external viewer
or offers to save it to disk, but will not display the text itself, like it
does when the link is on a web page.

This is frustrating!

J.

This is odd.. I just used <a href="./email.txt"> test2 </a> in a local
html file to test how it opens text files local and it worked fine,
opening it in the browser..

I looked through Content -> File Types and saw nothing about txt files
in there..

Checking Windows File Type settings showed the standard entry for txt
files, having an Open, Print and Print to entry; the open entry being
the following.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1

Since IE uses what's in the Windows settings for File Types, there's no
settings in IE for it.

Really not sure what the problem is. BTW, what OS are you running (+SP,etc)?

Janice P. wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:22:34 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
> <"scott[dunspamme]"@fuzzywolf.com> posted:
>
>> Here's the link you want to use for your text files...
>>
>> file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt
>>
>> Scott--
>
> Just for argument's sake - and curiosity's sake, too - I did this. It does
> not work. Firefox still forces the local text file into the external viewer
> or offers to save it to disk, but will not display the text itself, like it
> does when the link is on a web page.
>
> This is frustrating!
>
> J.
>

Janice P. <> wrote:
> Scott Hildenbrand posted:
>> file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt

> Just for argument's sake - and curiosity's sake, too - I did this. It
> does not work.

Actually, it does, if you already are reading a local page on your PC.
The easiest way to achieve that is to have the home page locally. Or you
can make the direction to the local disk utilizing the "Personal Toolbar
Folder". Used those tricks for ages, currently for 1.5.0.8. Also check
what you have in your "View & Edit Actions".

All the best, Timo

--
Prof. Timo Salmi ftp & http://garbo.uwasa.fi/ archives 193.166.120.5
Department of Accounting and Business Finance ; University of Vaasa
private.php?do=newpm&u= <http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/> ; FIN-65101, Finland
Timo's FAQ materials at http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/http/tsfaq.html

Janice P. wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:22:34 -0600, Scott Hildenbrand
> <"scott[dunspamme]"@fuzzywolf.com> posted:
>
>> Here's the link you want to use for your text files...
>>
>> file:///C:/Path_to_file/blah.txt
>>
>> Scott--
>
> Thank you Scott, but that's desperately impractical. As soon as I finish
> editing my local pages I need to upload them, sometimes several times a
> week. I'd have to stop and locate all of the file:///c:/ links and convert
> them to relative links, every time I wanted to upload them.
>
> That's asking too much, even with a convenient search and replace. It seems
> to me that Firefox should be able to display a text file with a normal
> (relative) link, whether it's local or remote. Why it works for remote but
> not for local is what's bothering me.
>
> J.
>

Nearly all of my Web pages are coded using relative links. The
directory structure is the same on my PC and Web server(s) so once I
finish editing locally I just FTP the files to the server. Works fine
in Firefox (and every other browser I have here).

- What O/S are you using?
- Try launching FF in Safe Mode and see if the problem goes away.
- Do you have any extensions installed that might be causing this?

--
Ed Mullen
http://edmullen.net
http://mozilla.edmullen.net
http://abington.edmullen.net
If you were driving your car at the speed of light, and you turned on
your headlights. Would anything happen?