Attach a file to a new mail with Thunderbird

[Sparad0x]

Hello,
I spent a long time to search a functional way to send a file just right clicking on it in Windows 11, exactly as I did previously in Windows 10 with "Send to" -> "Mail recipient" ("Envoyer vers" -> "Destinataire" for French people).
But no way to have it working.
Looking forward, I discovered Nilesoft Shell and decided to give it a try.
I'm not a developper at all, and I needed time to read and understand how to do, but I finally found how to have it working and wanted to share it to the community.

I modified the shell.nss file adding the following code:

// Send 1 attached file in a new message with Thunderbird
item(
mode="single"
type='file'
title="Send to mail recipient"
image=icon.send_to
cmd='C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe'
args='-compose "attachment=@(sel.file.name)"'
)

If you want, you can add some other arguments (I did it with the subject, but many are available here).

But it would be perfect if an experienced developper would help me to add 2 other items, since I initially planed to put a menu, then to show the items according to the number of selected files (thanks to single and multiple mode).
If more than one file is selected, those items woud have allowed to attach multiple files in 1 email for the first one and to send 1 file per email for the second one (i.e 3 e-mails with one file if 3 different files were initially selected).

My current "draft" is:

menu (type='file' mode='multiple' title='Send by mail...' image=icon.send_to)
{
// Send 1 attached file in a new message with Thunderbird if only 1 file is selected - WORKING
item(
mode="single"
type='file'
title="Send to mail recipient"
image=icon.send_to
cmd='C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe'
args='-compose "attachment=@(sel.file.name)"'
)

// Send multiple files attached in one new message with Thunderbird if more than 1 file are selected - NOT WORKING
item(
vis=@(sel.count > 1) 
mode="multiple" 
type='file' 
title="Send all the files to one mail recipient"
cmd='C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe'
args='-compose "attachment=@sel(true,",")"'
)

// Send one file attached per new message with Thunderbird if more than 1 file are selected - NOT WORKING AND NO IDEA HOW TO DO
item(
vis=@(sel.count > 1)
mode="multiple"
type='file'
title="Send each file to a different mail recipient"
)

[RubicBG]

I won't be able to help much - I don't use Тhunderbird.

• Are you sure the first command is working properly? Test it with file outside system paths (d:\file1.txt or c:\tmp\file2.txt), send it to yourself, download the file and open it - is it working?
• To attach more than one file try sel(2, ',') or sel('\"', ',')
• There is more than one way to send each file with a separate command. How many files will there be at most or will there be no limit? - this depends on how complex the code will be

[Sparad0x]

Hi RubicBG,

Thank you for answering :-)

With the native Windows command prompt, "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -compose "attachment='D:\file1.txt,D:\file2.txt'" works fine, while "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -compose "attachment=D:\file1.txt,D:\file2.txt" only attach 1 file; so I think the problem is with the single quote use.
But using the following nss argument code, which should "theorically" be the correct one (?), doesn't work and desactivate Nilesoft Shell: args='-compose "attachment=\'@sel(true,",")\'"'

Would you have any idea on how to fix it?

On the other hand, for my Send each file to a different mail recipient feature, someone suggested the following (working) code:

// Send one file attached per new message with Thunderbird if more than 1 file are selected - WORKING
item(
  vis=@(sel.count > 1)
  mode="multiple"
  type='file'
  title="Send each file to a different mail recipient"
  image=icon.send_to
  cmd='cmd.exe'
  args='/C for %f in (@(sel(true," "))) do "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -compose "attachment=%f"'
)

It works fine, even if it is not as elegant as a fully integrated code, since a command prompt window opens then closes very quickly. Would to have an idea to avoid the command prompt window?

[RubicBG]

theory:
sel(0, ",") or sel(false, ",") for D:\file1.txt,D:\file2.txt
sel(1, ",") or sel(true, ",") for "D:\file1.txt","D:\file2.txt"
sel(2, ",") for 'D:\file1.txt','D:\file2.txt'
sel('\"', ",") for \"D:\file1.txt\",\"D:\file2.txt\"
use:

in the example there are 3 types of quotation marks, use false to remove any quotation marks around the file paths
to see what you passing use somethimg like this:

for "Send each file to a different mail recipient" add window='hidden'

[Sparad0x]

Wooo!!!
Thanks to your help, I now have a fully working code, with now prompt popup window!!!
And the solution for the second option was to use the special "`" (U+60) grave accent glyphe as you did in your exemple (which I hadn't seen in the official documentation).

Thank you for all your explanations :-)

So here is the final code to implement the 3 options:

// Send 1 attached file in a new message with Thunderbird if only 1 file is selected
item(
mode="single"
type='file'
title="Send to mail recipient"
image=icon.send_to
cmd='C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe'
args='-compose "attachment=@(sel.file.name)"'
)

// Send multiple files attached in one new message with Thunderbird if more than 1 file is selected
item(
vis=@(sel.count > 1) 
mode="multiple" 
type='file' 
title="Send all the files to one mail recipient"
cmd='C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe'
args=`-compose "attachment='@sel(false,",")'`
)

// Send one file attached per new message (1 file = 1 mail, 2 files = 2 mails, etc.) with Thunderbird if more than 1 file is selected
item(
  vis=@(sel.count > 1)
  mode="multiple"
  type='file'
  title="Send each file to a different mail recipient"
  image=icon.send_to
  cmd='cmd.exe' window='hidden'
  args='/C for %f in (@(sel(true," "))) do "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -compose "attachment=%f"'
)

Thanks again RubicBG!

[RubicBG]

some ideas

• missing double quote in -compose "attachment='@sel(false,",")'
• remove vis=@(sel.count > 1) and try it - if it works you don't need the first item
• $files_in_folder=str.join(path.files(sel.path, "*", 3|16), ',')

[Sparad0x]

Hi RubicBG :-)
The tips you gave me yesterday worked fine, and the code I posted earlier works fine too, so... YOU WERE PERFECT !!!!!

Do I have to "Close discussion", since it's fixed?

[RubicBG]

yes