How-To Use Gmail As Your Default Mail Application

When Firefox 3 was first released, one of the new features was the option to associate html protocols with web applications, such as launching a webmail service when clicking a “mailto:” link.

Unfortunately, at the time of launch, only Yahoo’s mail client was officially supported, and users had to either use extensions or manipulate some javascript code to enable Gmail as the primary mail handler.

The current iteration of Firefox has included Gmail in the web app client list, and here’s how you turn it on.

• Go to Tools-> Options, and select the Applications tab. This is a list of protocol and content associations, with their respective plug-ins for each type of content (ie. Mp4 video).
• In the search field, type “mailto”.
• Then, in the Actions drop down menu, select Gmail as your default client.
• That’s it! The next time you click on an email link, Firefox will open up Gmail in a new tab to send an email.

Bonus tip: download and install the Better Gmail 2 add-on to add extra UI features if you’re planning on using Gmail as your primary mail client.

To read other tweaks: maximumpc.com