When you click on an email link on a web page while browsing the Internet, your default desktop email client is automatically opened. Generally, your default desktop email client or program is Outlook Express or Thunderbird. However, many persons do not use such desktop email clients and access their email directly on the web through the browser. In their case also, when they click on an email link in a browser their default email client such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird gets opened automatically and normally with an error message too since usually in such a case the desktop email client might not have been configured or set up with an email address. What such a person would like is that when he clicks on an email link in the browser, his online Gmail or Yahoo or Hotmail email account (or similar other account, as the case may be) should automatically get activated. Generally, it won’t happen like that. However, now, it is possible to make your Gmail account as the default email account, which will open automatically when such email link is clicked, if you are using Gmail and moreover if your browser is Firefox.
When you make Gmail as your default email program, clicking on any email link (which generally has a mailto: protocol) in your browser (Firefox, here) will open your Gmail account with a compose mail window in your browser, instead of opening your desktop email client such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird. Thus, you’ll be able to send email through your Gmail account when you so click on an email link in your Firefox browser. [If you want to make your Yahoo! Mail account as default email client on your computer, then read my article How to make Yahoo! Mail your default Windows email program.]
Before I proceed further to elaborate on how to do it, let me clarify that the method being described below is only one of the methods to achieve this objective. There is yet another method of making Gmail as your default email program, and that is by using Gmail Notifier. However, in this article I am not describing that other method.
OK, let me proceed now with the present article. What you need to make Gmail as your default email program is Firefox browser and it must have Google Toolbar installed on it. Firefox browser can be downloaded free from this link, if do not have it installed on your computer already. And, Google Toolbar (for Firefox) can be downloaded free from this link if you have not installed it already in your Firefox browser. Moreover, you must of course have a Gmail account, which is free email account from Google; if you don’t have a Gmail account, you can open a new account free by clicking here.
Once you have Google Toolbar installed in your Firefox browser, click on the Options button on the Toolbar (see figure below):
The Google Toolbar Options window opens. In the Search tab of this window, go to the Web-browsing tools section and check on the check-box with the title of “Use Gmail for “Mail To links” (see figure below) to enable it:
Now click on the Save button on the above window. That’s it!
Now, Gmail is your default email program for all email links shown on a website when you are browsing the Internet in Firefox. So, now onwards, clicking on an email link in Firefox browser will open your Gmail account with a compose mail window, instead of opening your desktop email client like Outlook Express or Thunderbird. Give it a try; you’ll like it.
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Using Mozilla ( but not the MS browser) suddenly Gmail has become the default setting when I want to sent a link to anyone by e-mail, where Outlook had been previoulsy. How do I reset back to Outlook.
Thanks and regards,
Richard Oldcorn