The Easiest Way to Set Gmail As The Default Email Handler in Windows

In almost all version of the Windows OS, the default email application is always Outlook. For those who are using Gmail and want to use it as the default email client, what you can do is to configure Outlook to use Gmail as the default account so that whenever you click on a mailto link, your Outlook will open and compose a mail with your Gmail account. Now, what if you don’t use Outlook or any other desktop email application? Or you want a simpler solution – like open the Gmail site in your default browser?

While there are several ways to configure this, the easiest way that I have encountered is via the Mailto Updater application. All you need is a single click and it will configure your Windows to run Gmail (in browser) as the default email client. What’s more, it supports Google apps too.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Download MailTo.exe

2. Run the application (by double click on it)

3. A window will appear. Select whether you want it to set the normal Gmail site or your Google App domain as the default email account. For Google Apps, you will need to enter your domain name.

4. Lastly, click “Apply setting”.

That’s it. From now on, whenever you click on a mailto link in Windows, your default browser will launch and load the Gmail compose page (if you are logged in) with the email address and subject.

What other ways do you use to configure Gmail as the default application in Windows?