How To: Make Firefox Use Your Preferred Email Client

[technoshaun]

Most of us who use Linux also use Firefox as our preferred browser. One of the problems is getting Firefox to open the email client we want when we click on a mailto: link to send an email from a web page. Here is the way to fix this so Firefox will do just that.

Open Firefox and enter about:config in the URL locator.

Right click anywhere on the page and select 'New' >> 'String'

In the entry dialog pop up window enter "network.protocol-handler.app.mailto" (without the quotes) and click 'OK'

In the next window enter the FULL path to the email program you wish to use; Example: /usr/bin/kmail. Click 'OK'

To test open another tab and go to a web site that you know has a mailto: link (such as www.craigslist.org) and click on it. Your preferred email program should come up in a few moments in the send email editor so you can create an email to send. If it doesn't go back and double check your spelling and entries. Ensure the path to your email client is correct.

[DeathKitten]

Re: How To: Make Firefox Use Your Preferred Email Client

Alternatively, if you use gmail, the Gmail Manager extension makes the mailto: links direct you into the gmail compose email page. I am unsure if other web based email services have extensions that do the same, but I vaguely recall an extension that did this for most webmail services, but I think it is no longer maintained.

[francois]

Re: How To: Make Firefox Use Your Preferred Email Client

Hi there,

I upgraded to Feisty recently, and Firefox 2. The modification suggested by Technoshaun worked, in that when I right-click on a web page in a Firefox tab and select "send link", it actually opens a Kmail window. However, it does not include the link to the web page in the e-mail, as it did in the Edgy version.

Thanks for any insights or hints.

[Detonate]

Re: How To: Make Firefox Use Your Preferred Email Client

Hmmm, it works in mine. When I click on Send Link a Thunderbird compose window opens with the URL of the web page in the message body.