Known Issues for SeaMonkey 1.0.9

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General
ChatZilla
Dialog Boxes and Windows
Java
Flash
Mouse wheel scrolling
Plugins
Preferences
Printing
Profiles
Proxies
Security
Navigator (web browser)
Sidebar is Displayed When Searching with Google
Accessing and Displaying Web Pages
Downloading Files
View Source
Outlook Web Access (OWA)
Mail & Newsgroups
General Mail and News Issues
AOL Mail and Netscape WebMail Accounts
Attachments
Address Book
POP and IMAP
News
LDAP
Offline Mail
Composer (html authoring tool)
JavaScript Debugger
International Issues

General SeaMonkey (cross-application issues)

ChatZilla

SeaMonkey 1.0.9 doesn't contain the latest version of ChatZilla. The most recent release can be found here

Dialog Boxes and Windows

If SeaMonkey is locked up but doesn't seem to have crashed, make sure there are no dialog boxes still open. Close each window on your desktop one at a time and if you uncover a dialog window, dismiss it. If you have multiple desktops, repeat these steps for each desktop.

This problem may affect Linux users downloading plugins. Follow these steps to resolve the problem:

  1. Minimize the plugin download window.
  2. Choose "Cancel" to dismiss the dialog box.
  3. Reopen the download window and continue downloading the plugin.

Java

A significant number of SeaMonkey crashes are actually caused by Java. Please make sure you are using the latest available version of Java.

The Linux binaries we distribute are now compiled with GCC 3.3 or GCC 3.4. If you're using these binaries then you will need at least the 3.2 version of the Java Plugin from Sun J2SE v 1.4.2 (or the Blackdown JDK 1.4.1 compiled with GCC 3.2 or higher.) The Sun Java Plugin is compatible with modern Linux versions like Red Hat 8 or later and SuSE 8.1 or later (the plugin depends on a newer version of libgcc_s.so, installing the GCC supplements for Red Hat 7.3 -GCC 3.1 Compiler Suite for Red Hat Linux 7.3 - may allow for some older Red Hat Linux to run the plugin) Users of older Linux versions should wait for a SeaMonkey version compiled specifically for their Linux distro, or compile it themselves. Other than potential plugin issues, however, SeaMonkey continues to support very old distros.

Java J2SE releases previous to 1.3.0_01 will not work with SeaMonkey. Problems have been reported with JRE 1.3.1 and 1.4.1. For best results JRE 1.4.2 or newer is recommended.

Running J2SE in 256 color mode may cause a flickering problem.

Sun's JRE will crash at startup if your useragent does not begin with Mozilla/5. It might print Expected a version > 5! Version = 4 The workaround is to not forge a useragent whose version is less than 5 if you have the Sun JRE plugin in your plugin directory. This preference would appear in pref.js as something like: user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98;)"); (Bug 83376)

Flash

Some SeaMonkey crashes are actually caused by Flash. Please make sure you are using the latest available Flash plugin (Bug 211213)

Mouse wheel scrolling

On Linux, you must have your X server properly configured to enable mousewheel scrolling. For XFree86, add a line to the Pointer section of your XF86Config files such as "ZAxisMapping 4 5". Also be sure that the Protocol line is set up correctly for your mouse.

On Windows, mousewheel scrolling does not work with all drivers. If you have problems, try updating your driver or disabling any "helper" programs that your mouse uses. If you have a Logitech mouse, you can either upgrade the driver (to at least v9.60) or enable the "Microsoft Office compatible scrolling" option in the Mouse/Buttons control panel.

On Windows, old drivers of Synaptics touchpad may not have scrolling enabled for SeaMonkey. You can get a new driver at http://www.synaptics.com/support/downloads.cfm.

On Macintosh, Mousewheel scrolling does not work with all drivers. If you have problems, try updating your driver or disabling any "helper" programs that your mouse uses.

Plugins

Plugins installed for Communicator 4.x may not be available for SeaMonkey. Workaround: install these plugins in the SeaMonkey Plugins folder.

On Windows the Adobe SVG plugin crashes. Workaround: Don't copy it (NPSVG3.dll, NPSVG3.zip) into your plugins folder. If you want to view SVGs, SeaMonkey builds (except Linux GTK1) include native SVG support. (Bug 133567)

On Windows NT and 95 only, Microsoft Media Player file embedded in web pages may not work. (Bug 66015)

If you're using the Linux GCC 3.3/3.4 binaries compiled by mozilla.org then JavaScript access to Flash will only work with Flash 6.0r81 or above (Bug 212798)

On Linux, there may be problems with ESD Audio and Flash. (Bug 85772)

SeaMonkey 1.0.9 is not compatible with older versions of Macromedia Flash for Macintosh (anything before version 6.0 r67.) Macintosh users should upgrade to the latest version of Flash to avoid the possibility of crashes at some Flash sites. A free upgrade is available at the Macromedia Flash Player Download Center for OS X.

Many Flash on Linux problems can be fixed by upgrading to Flash 6.

On Linux, SeaMonkey crashes at pages with Flash animations if an XIM server is used. See International Issues as to how to avoid the problem.

Preferences

Do not share a profile between Netscape and SeaMonkey nightly builds. Doing this can lead to unpredictable results, some of which may include loss of Search settings and preferences and unchecked growth of the Bookmarks file (large enough to freeze your system). It is best to create a new profile for each or manually copy (and change the name) an existing profile. (Bug 137164)

Printing

(Windows) If you print across a network to a windows share printer and then delete it from your list of available printers, prints will still go to it until you select another printer from the print dialog box. (Bug 323781)

(Windows, Linux) If you have multiple printers, preferences from an incorrect printer may be used. (bug 324072)

Print preview may behave incorrectly if you change the scaling or page orientation. (Bug 311028)

On Windows, some users might not be able to print on Windows 98 or Windows ME with the default spool setting. The workaround is to go into printer properties, choose details tab, choose spool settings, and then choose print directly to printer. (Bug 130083)

On Linux, Full print preview functionality (toolbars, printing from print preview, page setup, etc.) is only available with the non-standard Xprint module. (Bug list)

In Print Preview, plugins are not shown. (Bug 134002)

The default Unix/Linux binary comes with an alternate print module called Xprint which features CUPS, LPRng, MathML, TrueType fonts and PostScript/ PDF/ PCL output support.
For more information see http://xprint.mozdev.org for a thorough and very detailed guide and Mozilla.org's Xprint project pages.

Profiles

In Profile Manager, if you rename a profile to a name you previously used, all your preferences may be lost. Workaround: If you rename a profile, use a unique name. (Bug 113203)

If problems occur during installation and your Communicator profile was not copied and converted, you can still use your profile. Launch SeaMonkey from the command line, adding the "-installer" option (that is, type "seamonkey.exe -installer" on the command line), or reinstall SeaMonkey to see the profile manager dialog again.

Proxies

SeaMonkey only accepts hostnames for manual proxies. If you migrate a Communicator 4 profile, you will need to change the settings manually. Communicator 4 allowed URL's in manual configuration, but SeaMonkey does not. If you migrate a profile configured this way, you will need to change the URL to a hostname and port number. (Bug 30387)

Security

Fedora Core 5 users using SELinux in enforcing mode will experience security permissions problems when using the GTK1 build. Use the GTK2 build instead (recommended), or see this page for more information.

No feedback is provided while restoring a certificate to a smart card, which can take a long time since smart cards are relatively slow devices. As a result, it may appear that the restoration is not happening. (Bug 52321)

For security reasons, SeaMonkey does not allow connections to certain ports. To override this on a per-port basis, add a comma separated list of ports to defaults/all.js (in your SeaMonkey installation directory). Note that this pref only works in the all.js file in the SeaMonkey installation directory and it affects all users of the installation. It does not work if you add it to the prefs.js or user.js files in your personal profile directory. For example, to unblock ports 1, 3, and 7, use the following line: pref("network.security.ports.banned.override", "1,3,7");

For security reasons, SeaMonkey does not allow web content to link to local files. An error like: Security Error: Content at url may not load or link to file:///something will appear in the javascript console. If you need to follow links to local paths it is recommended that you drag the link to the location bar and then drop it on the webpage. If you really don't like the security check and are willing to risk a site having access to all files on your system and that your system can access then you may add the site's name to a policy (say one called "policyname") as described in the CAPS documentation and set the "capability.policy.policyname.checkloaduri.enabled" preference to "allAccess".

On Windows, some software firewalls may block SeaMonkey from properly accessing the Internet. If SeaMonkey is not working properly, check that your firewall settings allows SeaMonkey to connect to the net. If your receive a warning from ZoneAlarm that SeaMonkey attempts to set itself up as a local server, it is due to SeaMonkey communicating with Personal Security Manager (PSM) which is required to access secure Web and mail servers, and you should allow SeaMonkey access.

Navigator (the browser)

Sidebar is Displayed When Searching with Google

Performing a search with Google may cause the sidebar to be displayed. To prevent this, make sure "Open the Search tab in the Sidebar when search results are avaliable" checkbox (Edit->Preferences, Navigator->Internet Search) is unchecked. (Bug 252802)

Accessing and Displaying Web Pages

Pages that appear to be rendered incorrectly may be due to standards compliance issues. See the Web Standards page on Mozilla Developer Center and Mozilla Evangelism site for more details.

Using Windows 98 with some ATI graphics adapters will result in occasional corruption of inline images as rendered on web pages. This is an ATI graphics driver bug. (Bug 104992)

While enabling HTTP pipelining may significantly improve page load times, it can prevent some websites from loading correctly. If you experience problems loading a website, please verify that HTTP pipelining is disabled and try again (see Preferences->Advanced->HTTP Networking). HTTP pipelining is disabled by default.

Downloading Files

If the user is downloading a file in the background and the user exits from the File menu, the download will abort without warning. Workaround: Only exit after downloads finish. (Bug 28385)

View Source

On Macintosh, the horizontal scrollbar in the View Source window might be missing. Resize the window to see the scrollbar. (Bug 56488)

Outlook Web Access (OWA)

The Forward, Reply, Reply All, and Reply to Folder buttons may not work. This happens if you have some form of popup blocking enabled. A telltale sign of this is a small explosion icon in the statusbar. An easy way to fix this is to select Tools->Popup Manager->Allow Popups From This Site. (Bug 102476)

Mail & Newsgroups

General Mail and News Issues

Attempting to compose, forward, or reply to a message may result in a non-functional compose window. To work around it, open a new compose window, close the new window, and then close non-functional one. If you try again, it will work. (Bug 307672 )

Moving or copying a labeled message will not retain label in destination when filing across accounts:

  1. IMAP to any other account (including Local Folders): Message labels are lost.
  2. POP to POP (including Local Folders) is OKAY.
  3. POP to IMAP: Message labels are lost.
  4. Copy Newsgroup messages to any account: Message labels are lost. (Bug 133795)

In the Mail/News Account Settings: Server Settings dialog box, any changes you make to local directory settings won't take effect until you exit and restart SeaMonkey (Bug 2654)

On Linux you may encounter problems if you install SeaMonkey in a root user environment then run as another user. Problems include saving to Sent folder, Drafts, Templates or general authentication problems. (Bug 49397)

The Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings dialog box does not display correctly at lower monitor resolutions such as 800 by 600 or 640 by 480. If possible, increase your monitor's display resolution above 800 by 600. (Bug 82122)

AOL Mail and Netscape WebMail Accounts

SeaMonkey does not integrate with AOL Mail and Netscape WebMail, as Netscape 6/7 do. If you share your Netscape 6/7 profile with SeaMonkey, you may be able to see headers for messages in the account's Inbox if you have previously checked one of these accounts in Netscape 6/7, but you will be unable to interact with the messages. To access your AOL Mail, WebMail, or Netscape Instant Messenger, you need to use Netscape 6/7.

Attachments

Attaching RTF files to emails may result in them being sent such that most readers will not be able to read them. If you plan to send RTF attachments, you should go to Edit->Preferences->Navigator->Helper Applications, select "New Type", and enter:

    MIME Type: application/rtf
    Description: Rich Text Document
    Extension: rtf

and then select OK to close the dialogs.

Address Book

SeaMonkey does not import Communicator 4.x addressbooks. (Bug 35509)

To import Outlook address books, you must have the default mail client set to "Microsoft Outlook" in Microsoft Internet Explorer. (Bug 90206)

Pop and IMAP

You must exit and restart SeaMonkey to see the effect of a change to the option "show only subscribed IMAP mail folders". To access this option: choose the Advanced button in the Server section of the Account Settings dialog box. (Bug 38943)

News

The Subscribe dialog box may not work with news servers that require authentication. If you open a password-protected newsgroup you may be prompted more than once for the user name and password combination.

LDAP

Setting a LDAP server to use for autocomplete may not work correctly - a work around for this is to set it for each account individually (Bug 317566).

LDAP directories with ldif extensions may appear after migration from Communicator 4.x. (Bug 94645)

SeaMonkey may temporarily hang during LDAP autocomplete if network connectivity is broken. Specifically, if the LDAP server in question is unreachable (network connectivity problems, including taking a laptop outside a firewall), the entire app will hang when attempting to contact that server. The app will begin responding again after about 10 seconds (the length of the TCP timeout). (Bug 79509)

Offline Mail

Moving/Copying a downloaded message (while offline) will result in not being able to read the message at the new folder while you are offline. Workaround: Go online to read it, then re-download the message to have it accessible when you are offline. (Bug 78809)

When starting SeaMonkey, if you only have one profile, both of the Offline preferences for startup mode ("Ask me if I want online or offline mode", or "Use my previous online/offline state") do not work. SeaMonkey will always start in online mode. To go offline, from the File menu, choose Work Offline. (Bug 82487)

Composer

Pasting text at the beginning of a line does not work (Bug 299343)

When Publishing in Composer, if the Publishing URL, file name, username, or password contain any special characters (such as "@") that need to be escaped, then Composer creates a duplicate site entry each time you publish the document. To work around this bug, choose the original site name from the Site Name list in the Publish dialog box before publishing the document again. For example, some ISP users have usernames that are also their email addresses, e.g., "janedoe@ispname.net". After publishing to this site, the next time you use the Publish dialog, the username from the document URL will appear as "janedoe%40ispname.net" (the "@" was escaped during publishing). Since Composer can't find this entry, it creates a duplicate site name. (Bug 141819)

You may not be able to simultaneously edit a document using both Composer and another editor. (Bug 27820)

Certain pages (such as ones that set frames) can't be edited. However, you are still able to choose the Edit Page option in the File menu for such pages. An editor window opens, but you are unable to edit the page.

Edit->Paste As function does not exist yet. (Bugs 73286, 41547)

You can not print HTML Source. (Bug 82239)

Some shortcut keys do not function properly. (Bug list)

Hourglass does not show when application is busy. (Bug 83300)

Some element icons do not render in Show All Tags mode. (Bug 88036)

List editing can cause nested lists to outdent to next level list. (Bug 98547)

JavaScript Debugger

Once you've floated all the views out of the main window, no drop targets remain to bring them back. If you have "Save Default Layout On Exit" checked, and you exit, you will appear to be stuck like this. (Bug 151785)

As a workaround, show the Interactive Session from the Show->View/Hide menu, and type "/restore-layout factory".