DXF files in Mozila Thunderbird

If you are using great free email client Mozila Thunderbird it might happen that you will have problem with opening DXF files attached to your email messages.

The problem has its origin not on your side but on the side of the sender. If there is a computer with Mozila Thunderbird and there is not good CAD software then Thunderbird doesn’t know what type of file is DXF. It looks into file and assumes that it might be a text file (that’s what it really is). Thunderbird sends the file as Content-Type: text/plain and that is what we have to change. Open Registry editor by pressing Win + R and type regedit. Find section HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\.dxf and in the right window (if there is not) add string entry with name Content Type and value application/dxf. There shouldn’t be any problem with new emails from this computer.

Why other email clients can open these files without any problem? It is because they don’t use Content-Type for choosing which application should open the file but they just use extension of the file.

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