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I use Gmail as my e-mail client, but when I click on a "mailto:" link, the Mail.app is opened.

Is there a way to avoid the Mail.app opening in this case? Can I open Gmail instead?

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you mean you want open your gmail in browser? – Am1rr3zA Oct 8 '10 at 12:49
@Am1rr3zA, if it's possible, yes. But the most annoying thing is the Mail.app popping up... – Marcos Crispino Oct 8 '10 at 13:36
Thanks to @Guillermo, @jonik below, and the asker. Now I've set-up Google Notifier how do I remove Mail.app from my life? That is, the messages that were downloaded while I was configuring it? I have no need for a local email client. – boehj Jul 11 '11 at 1:22
@boehj, you should consider opening a new question about that... – Jonik Jul 11 '11 at 9:30
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OK, I put up another question that was promptly answered. The key to doing this cleanly is to disconnect from the internet before initiating the process. – boehj Jul 12 '11 at 0:34
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5 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

With Webmailer, you can set up any webmail client as the default email client in OS X.

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I like this more than the Google Notifier, as it is one less thing cluttering up my icon bar. Note: as of May 2012, development on Webmailer is probably stopping due to the developer getting a job at Apple (source: his blog) – dolan Jan 22 at 3:39
This crashes for me in the system preferences panel whenever I try to change the mailto: handler. Webmailer 1.3, OSX 10.8.3 – Simple As Could Be Apr 20 at 18:24
up vote 10 down vote

While options like Webmailer also do the job, I'll mention yet another way for the sake of completeness:

  1. Install Google Notifier for Mac. It's an official Gmail utility made by Google.
  2. Open Mail.app, go to Preferences -> General, and set "Default email reader" to Google Notifier.app. (Yep, you need to configure this in Mail even when Mail is what you don't want to use...)

alt text

Besides directing clicks on mailto: links to Gmail, the Google Notifier comes with some additional features: It adds an icon (like this: alt text) in the menu bar and notifies you (if configured to do so) about new mail in your Gmail box. Through the icon you can also access your inbox, unread messages, and "Compose mail" screen quickly.

Works great for me; I can generally vouch for this useful little app.

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I agree that while Webmailer gets the job done, this might be the best solution for many users. Plus, it's made by Google. – Sean Moubry Oct 9 '10 at 16:41
up vote 2 down vote

You could use Mailplane. Mailplane is a site-specific browser for GMail that offers better OS-level integration. Mailplane can act as the default email client.

http://mailplaneapp.com/

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+1 for MailPlane, it’s really good. Especially if you’re used to Mail.app – Martín Marconcini Oct 9 '10 at 6:09
up vote 2 down vote

If you use Firefox 3.5 or later:

  • Go to Preferences ⌘, and and choose the Application pane.
  • Find "mailto" in the content type list, and choose what you want. If you want Gmail to open, choose it in the popup menu.

    Firefox prefs

Or you can use More Internet, a System Preferences pane that lets you choose which applications are set as helpers for Internet protocols. More Internet

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up vote 0 down vote

You could use Sparrow which is a very clean and spare Gmail client. I've been using it for a while and love it.

Go to Mail.app / Preferences / General / and make Sparrow your default email reader.

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