Vamsi would like to see the GMail compose window open up inside Firefox (not Internet Explorer) when he clicks any email hyperlink on web pages.
Download the free Google Talk chat application and open the options dialog. You'll see a general setting that says "Open GMail When I click on Email Links" - select that and exit.
This will set Gmail as your default mailto: handler. This means that when you click on any hyperlinked email address, a Gmail compose window will open in your default web browser. The To: address field will be prepopulated with email address.
This trick works if you are in IE - the GMail compose window would open inside Firefox.
To make this work inside Firfox, implement this small change:
1. Type about:config in the address bar.
2. Type mailto: and hit enter.
3. You'll see a setting called network.protocol-handler.external.mailto that is set to false. Double click it to toggle the value to true.
Your system will work just the way you want.Related reading: Replace Outlook with GMail, GMail This! Bookmarklet
Find this article at: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/06/make-gmail-default-email-client-in.html
web: http://www.labnol.org/ email: amit@labnol.org
Reader Comments
I have configured to get the GMail compose window open inside Firefox when I click on hyper-linked email address. However, in Firefox, when I right click and choose "Send Link", it opens my Outlook email client instead of Gmail. Did you know a way out?
Written on 2/6/07 3:54 AM
Amit,
Also, you can use "Better Gmail" firefox addon from Lifehacker which will automatically link any email address to gmail compose window.
Written on 2/6/07 5:05 AM
Excellent I simply like this feature :)
thank you :)
wishes,
Samiha Esha :)
Written on 2/6/07 6:32 AM
1. about:config must be entered into the "file/open location" window.
2. from there you must scroll down to "network.protocol-handler.warn-external.mailto", and not network.protocol-handler.external.mailto.
Hey, I am not a professional blogger, but I always check my facts before posting.
Written on 3/6/07 10:37 AM
is there any feature in Outlook express or any other s/w from which is it possible to automatic forward e-mail as ssoon as it is arrived to 2 or more e-mail id...
thnx
Written on 3/6/07 10:55 AM
Thanks glad to found your site .
and i have put language translation tools from your blog.
thanks you for a very good information.
Written on 3/6/07 5:52 PM
You can also use the google toolbar or Lifehacker's Better Gmail extension.
Written on 4/6/07 2:06 AM
also try using greasemonkey with gmailto
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/5722
Written on 4/6/07 2:55 AM
Paul (the fourth commenter) is wrong on both counts:
The "File/Location 'Window'" is more commonly referred to as the "Address Bar".
Both of the about:config keys do exist.
The one Paul recommends:
network.protocol-handler.warn-external.mailto
causes Firefox to pop up a dialogue box telling you that the mailto: link is attempting to open an external location, and asking you whether to allow the request. There's a checkbox for you to remember your choice, BUT IT WON'T LET YOU DENY THE REQUEST, only cancel it.
The other one:
network.protocol-handler.external.mailto
skips the warning dialog and disallows external programs.
Talk about not checking your facts.
Written on 4/6/07 3:43 AM
you can also use the greasemonkey scruipt, search google for "default gmail greasemonkey"
Written on 4/6/07 5:27 AM
arvind, the Better Gmail extension is just a collection of GreaseMonkey scripts in an extension. For those of you that use GreaseMonkey, download the GMailTo script.
Written on 4/6/07 9:24 AM
Use WebmailCompose extension and change mailto: links to ANY mail service of your choice.
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/extensions/webmailcompose/
Written on 4/6/07 10:18 AM
Thanks for tip. I have found another method also where i configured Thunderbird for Gmail and have started using it as default.
Vamsi
Written on 4/6/07 7:06 PM
Doesn’t Google Notifier do this?
Written on 5/6/07 1:03 AM
I tried this and it worked except that the email address bar is not prepopulated with the address to which I hyperlinked. The address is blank and so I have to cut and paste. I did the settings change as written.
Written on 23/8/07 7:28 AM