Adding an external viewer for an non-indexed type

Imagine that you have some kind of file which does not have indexable content, but for which you would like to have a functional Open link in the result list (when found by file name). The file names end in .blob and can be displayed by application blobviewer.

You need two entries in the configuration files for this to work:

  • In $RECOLL_CONFDIR/mimemap (typically ~/.recoll/mimemap), add the following line:

    .blob = application/x-blobapp
    

    Note that the MIME type is made up here, and you could call it diesel/oil just the same.

  • In $RECOLL_CONFDIR/mimeview under the [view] section, add:

    application/x-blobapp = blobviewer %f
    

    We are supposing that blobviewer wants a file name parameter here, you would use %u if it liked URLs better.

If you just wanted to change the application used by Recoll to display a MIME type which it already knows, you would just need to edit mimeview. The entries you add in your personal file override those in the central configuration, which you do not need to alter. mimeview can also be modified from the Gui.