'mailto' handler - Gmail not Outlook

[ozziem]

I've looked elsewhere for an answer to this but to no avail, so thought I'd try here since many likely use Outlook ...

So I like to use Gmail (web access) for all my email (I don't sync email through activesync), and I really like the handling of 'mailto' links that the gmail notifier provides. I also don't want to leave the gmail notifier running, since it uses up too much memory for my liking (i have a small laptop with not enough ram!). This works fine - I set up handling of 'mailto' links through the Gmail notifier application, and then quit that application, and I can click 'mailto' links and they get handled by gmail ....

UNTIL ....

I start Outlook (2003). After I start Outlook, it just takes over handling of these links. I've unchecked the "Make Outlook the default program for E-mail ..." in the options, and cannot find any other options to change.

I can repeat the above procedure to make Gmail handle mailto links again, but Outlook will take over again once I start it.

I like to use Outlook for my calendar/contacts/tasks (sync with PPC), but NOT for email.

Anyone have any ideas on how to prevent Outlook from taking over my 'mailto' link handling? Thanks in advance!

[gibson042]

Well, I don't know about capturing the mailto: protocol, but if you use Firefox for your web browser, then you can use the Greasemonkey (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=748) extension to install the Mailto Compose In GMail (http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/595) user script. If that's a little bit much, there is also G-Mailto (http://www.rabidsquirrel.net/G-Mailto/), which just captures the mailto: links like you want.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Internet Explorer (http://www.reifysoft.com/turnabout.php) and Opera (http://www.opera.com/support/tutorials/userjs/) also support user scripts. With those, you would want to use GMailTo (http://youngpup.net/userscripts/gmailto.user.js).

[ozziem]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I had seen Gmail-to, but assumed that it would work in the same way as Google's own Gmail Notifier application - which works, but only until Outlook is started.

I do use Firefox, so the Greasemonkey idea is a definite possibility - and may prevent Outlook from taking over again since it would appear to be browser resident and therefore may 'intercept' the 'mailto:' link before anything else ... I'll give it a try if there are no other suggestions.

Ideally, though, I'd just like to prevent Outlook from taking over Gmail Notifier's settings (which it seems to be doing without my permission :evil: ) from within Outlook (rather than installing something else) ....

[Jason Dunn]

Start > Set Program Access and Defaults > Custom > Use my Current Email Program

See if that helps! :D

[ozziem]

Thanks for the additional idea!

However, this is how it was already set ...

Maybe it's just not possible to keep the Gmail setting permanently since it's not really an an application as such. However, I'd kind of prefer it just to say that I don't have a default mailto handler if Gmail ever gets "unset", rather than Oulook just deciding that it wants to handle things for me ...

[Jason Dunn]

Maybe it's just not possible to keep the Gmail setting permanently since it's not really an an application as such.

Yeah, I think that's the basic problem - Web apps aren't really apps in the way that Windows XP understands them, hence this problem. :?

[ozziem]

So this

https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=206

solves my problem perfectly. (In case anyone else has the same issue.)