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mailto option does not see outlook.exe

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  • Last reply by Phil

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Whenever I click on an e-mail address inside Firefox, it always defaults to the generic mail client. I want it to default to Outlook. I have found the 'mailto' option in Options/Applications. When I select "Browse" and navigate to the directory containing outlook.exe, though, it does not see that executable and, so far as I can tell, does not allow me to paste that string into the window.

Whenever I click on an e-mail address inside Firefox, it always defaults to the generic mail client. I want it to default to Outlook. I have found the 'mailto' option in Options/Applications. When I select "Browse" and navigate to the directory containing outlook.exe, though, it does not see that executable and, so far as I can tell, does not allow me to paste that string into the window.

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Hi KCPhil, is Microsoft Office Outlook the default email program at the Windows level? If not, that might help.

If you have to browse around to the .exe by hand, try looking for the 32-bit version as well as the 64-bit version. Or in other words, check under both

  • C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\

Firefox doesn't care whether your mail program is 32-bit or 64-bit.

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@jscher2000 - thanks for your response. Outlook thinks it's my default mail program (i.e. that box is checked in Options). My outlook.exe file is in C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\OTele I don't see that I have another version.

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Microsoft Office is not installed under AppData\Local. I don't know what's in there, but it's not right.

What happens if you enter this in the Windows Run dialog and submit it? To call that up, you can hold down the "Windows" key and tap the R key:

mailto:john@example.com

What you would expect, if your email program is open, is to immediately get a new message compose window in that program. Does it work?

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That opened the 'default' mail client, where I have my gmail, live and yahoo accounts - none of which I use Outlook for. However, I think you got me a little bit closer. I had been looking for a .exe file. Doing another search of my C: drive, I found Outlook under \ProgramFiles\MicrosoftOffice\root\Office16. When I did a Browse in the Firefox Options Applications mailto drop-down, using that string, it did see Outlook and I was able to select it. However, when I click on a mail link in a web page, it opens a new Outlook page, but gives me an error that says "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" It also opens the default mail client at the same time. So I'm a little closer, but still not getting the desired result.

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Are you sure you have Outlook installed on your computer? Which version of the Office suite do you have?

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I have Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016. Outlook says it is 16.0.10730.20102, 32 bit. I'm using Outlook for my primary e-mail account, which is RoadRunner (i.e., Spectrum, former Time Warner cable). It's a POP3 account. Even after a reboot, I'm getting the same result as described above.