If you’re like me and you like everything Google and you use Windows XP, then you should love this hack. I have been trying to get Windows to use Gmail as my default mail provider when clicking on email links in the browser. Unfortunately this has proven to be a right pain in my ass over the last few months.

I have been using programs that would sit in my task tray and wait until I clicked a mailto: link and then jump into action. I don’t want the hassle of installing and setting up foreign programs to handle something that is so simple. After finally finding a way to do it, I thought I would post the solution on here.

For Linux users click here

Go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options

Scroll down approximately 16 items, you should see “URL:MailTo Protocol” and then click on advanced

Highlight “open” and then click on “Edit”

Delete everything in “Application used to perform action:” and then click on browse.Search for your browser’s executable file, for example I am selecting Google Chrome, and then click open.

Once again click where it says “Application used to perform action:” and scroll to the end and put the following text there after inserting a space;

https://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=%1

For example, mine now says

“C:\Documents and Settings\[User-Name-Removed]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” https://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=%1

Click OK or close on any open boxes.

For Linux users, if I understand correctly, you should use the following instructions;

Go to: System > Preferences > Preferred Applications, Under Internet / Mail Reader select “Custom” and enter the command:

gnome-open “https://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=$s”

Now every time you click on a mailto link, it will take you to Gmail! Click me to test it out!