browse to network

You can view network shares in nautilus under File -> connect to server

What is nautilus ?

It's the file explorer.

Ah ha. That's not the problem. I can get to any file with nautilus. But if I try to open a file from within an applications - for example to attach a file to an email in Thunderbird or to open a file in Lazarus, there is no network link in the open file dialogue. I have to copy a file from the XP machine to the Ubuntu desktop with Nautilus so I can see it in the 'attach' box.

If you show hidden files and open $HOME/.gvfs you will see the share mountpoint and can access it as a folder there.

Personally I like to run:

ln -s $HOME/.gvfs $HOME/Mounted\ Shares

Makes life a LOT easier. Try it ;) no need to copy then

I'm sorry I'm new to all this. Are you saying that if I type 'ln -s etc.' into the terminal, that will make a link to the network appear in my file open dialogs?

Yes, copy the command and run it in a terminal. You can then easily access mounted shares. It will then be a folder in your home folder.

Thanks Andrew - and sorry it's taken me so long to respond.
I tried what you suggested but still no network appears in the dialogs - not in the root or home.
No sure what a mounted share is - perhaps I haven't mounted it?

Further to that: It must me mounted because if I browse to it using nautilus and right click, I get 'unmount' in the menu.

I checked today on my PC.
Mount SMB folder.
In a application, select "Open".
Then go to your home directory ("/users/john").
Then select ".gvfs" folder.
You should see your SMB folder.

Yey fantastic. Thanks olivier