Opening emails in Firefox or Chrome (with a webmail)

Classified in : Windows, WebSurf - Tags : firefox, webmail, gmail, chrome

For once, an article on Windows.

You are using a webmail (Gmail, Yahoo ...) and also  applications or documents including mailto links, so, you would like the links to open  Firefox or Chrome on your webmail: follow the guide !

The problem

Since a few months, I have been doing pre-sales and post-sales for the  great ERP sollo. This software very flexible of use and configuration allows to perform sales management, stock management, accounting, and even include CRM functions.

But I dissgress: when I click on a contact in the software, the default Windows email client opens. It's often Outlook (considering MS Office has probably been installed), but some people would like to use their webmail (e.g. Gmail).

We will have the same problem with email links in a Word document or a PDF, for instance.

Solution for Firefox

To use Gmail with Firefox, just follow the instructions on the Firefox support site

But to launch Firefox, from another program that's more complicated ! After a lot of research, I eventually found out the solution: you only need to add one single key in the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\Capabilities\URLAssociations]

"mailto"="FirefoxURL"

 

You may download the regedit file directly then just by opening the file (and click yes on the confirmation messages), you will add the new entry in the registry.

You just need to go to  Default Programs => Associate a type of file or protocol to a program, (sorry if the menu names are not correct: I am guessing here, I am using a French Windows) then go to the MAILTO protocol, and then click on the new Firefox icon ! laugh

Solution For Chrome

For Chrome, the icon has already bee created. You only need to go to Default Programs => Associate a type of file or protocol to a program, (sorry if the menu names are not correct: I am guessing here, I am using a French Windows) then go to the MAILTO protocol, and then click on the Chrome icon.

On another hand, to create the link with Gmail it's more subtle. You will have to click in the address bar on the double grey diamond icon (next to the favourite star) then click "Use Gmail". Ofr more details check out the Google support site.

For another webmail than Gmail, the easiest solution is probably to instal the Mailto extension.

 

Et voilà  ... as soon as you click on a  mailto link in any software or document you will switch to Firefox or Chrome (according to your choice) ! wink

[ 8 comments ]

© Le Computing Froggy  !

8 comments

#1 thursday 11 june 2015 @ 13:27 Dror said :

Thank you!
works like a charm
:)

#2 wednesday 01 july 2015 @ 21:29 Ash said :

Nice. I had to add this for HKCU actually, but the principle is sound and worked nicely with that modification.

#3 monday 27 july 2015 @ 12:06 The Computing Froggy said :

@Ash : Strange, may be it depends on Windows version ? ! ? I mainly did this on Windows 7.

#4 monday 04 january 2016 @ 10:47 baptiste said :

nickel, merci beaucoup. en plus le lien regedit à télécharger simplifie encore. top!
Merci pour le partage!

#5 monday 19 september 2016 @ 21:37 Dave James Miller said :

Perfect, thank you very much for posting this!

#6 sunday 27 november 2016 @ 08:01 Piquan said :

Thank you! This wasn't exactly the right lead, but it sent me down the right path.

When I did this, it caused the other associations (http etc) to disappear. In my case (64-bit Vista, 32-bit Firefox), the right place to put it was as follows. I think the best place to put the new association can be found by searching the registry for "FirefoxURL", and add the appropriate association wherever you find the existing ones.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Clients\StartMenuInternet\FIREFOX.EXE\Capabilities\URLAssociations]
"mailto"="FirefoxURL"

#7 sunday 30 december 2018 @ 13:01 HedgehogInTheFog said :

Hello!

How I set default mail client on Windows 10? It' s not working :'((((

#8 tuesday 19 march 2019 @ 23:27 Gabriel Pass said :

This works perfectly on the latest 2019 version of Windows 10. Thank you for very much for this genius little hack!

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