Make Gmail open when you click email links

When you click an email address, you want your Google mail to open and compose a new message. How you enable this depends on which Web browser you use.

First:

1. Open System Preferences
2. Click Internet Accounts. 
3. The resulting window shows a list of social media (see below). Click Google, enter your email and password, and click "Set Up."

 

4. A Google icon will appear in the column on the left. Click on it to reveal a new list on the right (see below).

5. Check the box beside "Mail." Close the window, and you are done with that part of the process. Email links will now work automatically in Safari. You will need to take a few additional steps if you use Chrome or Firefox. Instructions for those are included below.

 

 Chrome

1. In Chrome, open Preferences by going to the Chrome menu in the menubar (or by holding the "command" key and typing a comma). 
2. Scroll down and click on "Open Advanced Settings"
3. Scroll down to " Privacy" and click on "Content Settings..."
4. Scroll down to "Handlers" and click on "Manage Handlers"
5. In the next window, be sure that "mail.google.com" is selected in the drop down menu beside "mailto." (See illustration below.)
6. Click "Done" until you are done.

Firefox

1. Go to the Firefox menu > Preferences > Applications.
2. Find "mailto" as a content type.
3. Click the menu to the right of mailto and choose Gmail as the default, and you are done.

 

 Last updated: 9/2014