Unknown File Type

Recently installed Ubuntu Mate 20.4 and have been very pleased except for one thing. I store my files on a Synology NAS and in Caja .doc files show as unknown type. This seems to be a new issue with Ubuntu Mate 20.4 and also with Mint 20. Did not have this problem with 18.4 or several previous versions of Mint.

When I click on a doc file in Caja it tries to open with an unrelated program. When I right click on the file Libre Office Writer is not an option. I can go to "Open Other Application" and select Writer (making sure to check the remember box) and the file opens fine. Next time I try a doc file it is the same problem over again. So right click on file, click properties, click "Open With". No applications listed. Try to "Add" Writer, it will not add it to applications.

I should note at this point that if I drag a doc file to my Desktop, type shows as Microsoft Word Document and opens just fine in Write.

Now, I happened to also have Thunar installed so started playing around with that. Same issue when clicking on a doc file on the NAS. Then I right clicked on a doc file, changed "Open With" to Writer. Now when I click on a doc file in either Caja or Thunar it opens with Writer. However doc files on the NAS still show unknown file type.

Any one have any thoughts on this issue?

Hi @RWB :slight_smile:
Welcome to our community :slight_smile:

In order to workaround your issue you can right click one of your documents > Properties and next in the "Open with" tab choose a other text editor :

image

Libre Office should be there :slight_smile:

Thanks for your reply.

As I mentioned in my post, your solution is what I used to get doc files to open in Writer. What I was actually looking for was a reason why the file type is unknown in 20.2 and not in previous versions and if someone has any ideas on that.

Hi back :slight_smile:

For me the .doc files are correctly recognized in caja as text files and opens by default with libre office. Maybe at one point you have done some config that mess up something.

You can insure .doc is present inside this file :

─[✗]─[olek@lenovo_apbook04u]─[/usr/share/mime/application]
└──╼ $cat /usr/share/mime/packages/libreoffice.xml | grep pattern
    <glob pattern="*.sxd"/>
    <glob pattern="*.std"/>
    <glob pattern="*.oxt"/>
    <glob pattern="*.sxm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.sxg"/>
    <glob pattern="*.xls"/>
    <glob pattern="*.xlsm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.xlsb"/>
    <glob pattern="*.xltm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.ppt"/>
    <glob pattern="*.pptm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.potm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.doc"/>
    <glob pattern="*.docm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.doc"/>
    <glob pattern="*.dotm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.odb"/>
    <glob pattern="*.odg"/>
    <glob pattern="*.fodg"/>
    <glob pattern="*.otg"/>
    <glob pattern="*.odf"/>
    <glob pattern="*.odm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.otm"/>
    <glob pattern="*.odp"/>
    <glob pattern="*.fodp"/>
    <glob pattern="*.otp"/>
    <glob pattern="*.ods"/>
    <glob pattern="*.fods"/>
    <glob pattern="*.ots"/>
    <glob pattern="*.odt"/>
    <glob pattern="*.fodt"/>
    <glob pattern="*.ott"/>
    <glob pattern="*.oth"/>
    <glob pattern="*.pptx"/>
    <glob pattern="*.potx"/>
    <glob pattern="*.xlsx"/>
    <glob pattern="*.xltx"/>
    <glob pattern="*.docx"/>
    <glob pattern="*.dotx"/>
    <glob pattern="*.sxi"/>
    <glob pattern="*.sti"/>
    <glob pattern="*.sxc"/>
    <glob pattern="*.stc"/>
    <glob pattern="*.sxw"/>
    <glob pattern="*.stw"/>

My file reads identical to yours. I don't think any thing is messed up and as I mentioned it is perfectly fine when the file is on the computer it is only when the file is on my NAS that is unknown file type.

I have been doings some testing the last few days running various flavours on USB. It is definitely Ubuntu 20.4 and Mint 20 that have this issue. Previous versions of Ubuntu and Mint show the proper file type.

Anyway, I am not to worried about it. Works good now that I finally got the default program set. I just wondered if anyone else had run into this problem. Also curious why I was able to set the default program with Thunar and Caja would not, even with numerous attempts.

Thanks for your help olek!

1 Like

I have exactly the same problem with thunar and network folders (samba), Xubuntu 20.04.

Same problem here, on Ubuntu Mate 20.04.1.