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I can't open any attachments

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We are using our aol address. I am unable to open any attachments. I can open the attachments using Internet Explorer, but not Firefox.

We are using our aol address. I am unable to open any attachments. I can open the attachments using Internet Explorer, but not Firefox.

All Replies (10)

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Hello,

Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache. In order to try to fix these problems, the first step is to clear both cookies and the cache. Note: This will temporarily log you out of all sites you're logged in to. To clear cache and cookies do the following:

  1. Go to Firefox > History > Clear recent history or (if no Firefox button is shown) go to Tools > Clear recent history.
  2. Under "Time range to clear", select "Everything".
  3. Now, click the arrow next to Details to toggle the Details list active.
  4. From the details list, check Cache and Cookies and uncheck everything else.
  5. Now click the Clear now button.

Further information can be found in the Clear your cache, history and other personal information in Firefox article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

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I have tried clearing the cookies and cache. That has not solved the problem.

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Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

  • You can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
  • Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

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We have it fixed. Safe mode did not help, I ended up doing the reset to default state.

Thanks for the suggestions!

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Have same problem. E-Mail attachments will not open in FireFox, but will open if try IE. Have tried all of above (clear history, clear cache, restart without add-ons, reset to default mode, etc.) nothing worked. Uninstalled FireFox and reinstalled. Problem remains.

Have problem on two different PC 's (one on XP, one on W-7). Tried turning off Sync, didn't help.

Running out of ideas.

Help.

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I think I finally solved the problem. May be too soon to tell for sure, but looks promising.

I have my e-mail as an automatic homepage in FireFox. Every time I tried to solve the attachments problem by resetting or reloading FireFox, I copied back the command line for my e-mail, with all of the conditions and parameters that had been attached to it for a long time. I tried using just the basic command line to get to the site and now the attachments are working normally again.

I had FireFox "use current" to set up homepage default. I have restarted several times and continues to work correctly.

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What kind of files are that?
Image files or other file types as well?


Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance).

  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window.

Also make sure that your security software isn't blocking the attachments.

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JimRam's solution looked as though it might apply in my case, where I use a shortcut which launches a new Firefox window at the BT/Yahoo webmail page, and it does. Starting Firefox at its homepage which is Google and then keying the webmail address and logging in allows attachments to open, so problem solved at the expense of keying it all in.

Removing the -new-window parameter from the shortcut, just leaving the webmail page address, caused the problem to return. Launching Firefox and then clicking the mail entry on the bookmarks toolbar didn't work either.

However, having keyed in the webmail site and then logging in (never sustains login in that case), I noticed the address was not that used in the old shortcut. Copied this different page address to the shortcut and attachments now open! I would accuse BT/Yahoo of causing the fault but notice that users of other mail services have a similar issue.

Modified by robert.nixon

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Yes, my solution has been working fine for a couple of days now and I am sure I found the problem.

At least I have a solution. Am not sure exactly what created the problem.

It may be a Yahoo/FireFox combined problem, since I also have Yahoo hosting my mail where I had the problem. My mail is from ATT.NET but is managed by Yahoo.

The ATT.NET Mail command line saved in my FireFox homepage defaults was saved a very long time ago and had a long string of conditions and parameters. Going in without all of the conditions and parameters gets you a clean link which automatically has good replacement conditions and parameters. Just update the homepage default with a "save current" and you are good to go. Magically, attachments are back working like they should.

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Having had success (see above on 2 Dec) I then changed the shortcut on my wife's PC as it had the same problem, and found it was still running Firefox 12. So the problem did not originate recently in Firefox, so it's caused by a Yahoo change, although I suppose it's possible they have made a valid change that found an old fault in Firefox.