Last year, Firefox 3 added the option to
associate protocols with web applications. A common way to link to mail addresses is using the mailto: protocol, so you'll often find links like
security@google.com.
When Firefox 3 was released, Yahoo Mail was the only webmail service that could be selected directly and the instructions for adding Gmail were
complicated. Gmail has been added to the list of mail applications and it's easy to set it as the default email client in Firefox and open all the mailto: links in Gmail, without installing extensions:
* go to
Tools > Options* select the
Applications tab
* search for
mail* select
Use Gmail from the list of actions associated with the mailto protocol
* click
OK to save the settings.
If you want to set Gmail as the default mail client for your computer and not just for Firefox, install
Google Talk,
Gmail Notifier for Windows or
Google Notifier for Mac.
Labels: Gmail, Tips
LoKi` said on June 16, 2009 6:35 AM PDT:
When will Chrome (chromium) be able to do that?
The option with installing a second application is not best fit...
Hmm... Doesn't work for me, I wonder why?
jeber said on June 16, 2009 6:37 AM PDT:
In most Linux distros the path in Firefox to this option is "Edit/Preferences/Applications".
manni said on June 16, 2009 6:42 AM PDT:
How I can use Google Apps mail as default?
Ignore my previous comment, I went into about:config, found that network.protocol-handler.external.mailto was set to false, and toggled it. Toggled a few other values also, but I think the aforementioned was the important one.
Now it works, thanks!
For Google Apps, check
this post from Gmail's blog. Remember to edit the domain name.
Absik said on June 16, 2009 6:59 AM PDT:
If you have Google Toolbar installed and the option "Use Gmail for Mailto: links" is checked, the Firefox preferences are not taken into account.
You may also want to check-out Affixa (http://www.affixa.com/), which becomes your machines default mailto: handler, supporting multiple GMail, Google Apps, and Yahoo accounts, as well as drag-and-drop attachments.
said on June 16, 2009 11:09 AM PDT:
I don't have the gmail handler in Firefox 3.0.11 on Ubuntu 9.04..
said on June 16, 2009 12:17 PM PDT:
Weird - works on one machine, but doesn't work on the other. I'm using FF 3.0.11 on all PCs. Cool feature though.
Same as the last Anonymous... it's not there for me.. I use Kubuntu 9.10.
Mike said on June 16, 2009 5:25 PM PDT:
Those Google Apps instructions seem unrelated to this option in Firefox you're talking about.
Easiest thing for Google Apps users is to use Greasemonkey and install the "Mailto - Google GMail (Clean, Fast, Popup)" script which works perfectly with Google Apps.
roxy said on June 16, 2009 11:47 PM PDT:
Not working.
There is no "Gmail" option to select from list (FF 3.0.11 , PL)
In Mac it's Firefox/Preferences
said on June 18, 2009 4:24 PM PDT:
I used Google Apps it works
1) Go to Google Apps and sign in.
2) While in Google Apps, copy and paste the following into your browser's address bar and hit enter.
(but be sure to replace yourdomain.com with your Google Apps domain name):
javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://
mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","Gmail")
A message will dropdown prompting you to add the application.
Then
* go to Tools > Options
* select the Applications tab
* search for mail
* select Use Gmail from the list of actions associated with the mailto protocol
* click OK to save the settings.
Manuel said on June 18, 2009 4:33 PM PDT:
I've never seen deliver the URL for Google Notifier for Mac something else than a 404. Same this time when I tried in eager.
It is working. I have also done. Thanks for sharing this information !!
said on July 8, 2009 12:22 PM PDT:
is google trying to rule the world? it's becoming like micro$oft
buy acai said on September 2, 2009 10:14 PM PDT:
You may also want to check-out Affixa (http://www.affixa.com/), which becomes your machines default mailto: handler, supporting multiple GMail, Google Apps, and Yahoo accounts, as well as drag-and-drop attachments.
said on September 29, 2009 7:17 AM PDT:
buy_acai - Enough of the spam. Your name alone made me not want to go to the link. Not to mention it only works in Windows.
Thanks for this informative post.I am using Firefox for quite few months but was unaware of this thing....Thanks again and please keep on sharing useful stuff.
Regards
Felipe said on November 5, 2009 10:35 PM PDT:
This is great. I want to see the the new message dialogue open in a tiny new window, instead of new or current tab. Is this possible?
< http://felipe1982.com >
said on December 4, 2009 2:06 AM PDT:
People with other browsers - lrn2greasemonkey.
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/595
Oh, okay, I never knew about this feature, although I do seem to remember it doing this automatically without me having to set anything.
