Changing default email account for opening email links

I use Mail on my Macbook for my work email account and Gmail via my browser for private use. I have set the default email reader in Mail to my browser, but I don't have Gmail enabled in the Mail app because there are so many messages in my Gmail (yes, I know - I have deleted a lot but there are still too many) and I don't want Mail to download them all.


Because I'm semi retired, usually when I click on an email link it's for private use, so I want the link to open with my Gmail account by default. At the moment, it opens in Gmail but with my business account. I just tried enabling my Gmail account in Mail to see if that worked, but clicking on an email link still opens a Gmail with my business account with no apparent option to switch to my Gmail account.


How do I fix this?

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Oct 2, 2025 11:51 PM

Reply
2 replies

Oct 22, 2025 7:48 AM in response to KariSK

This is a AI response since I have never tried it.


  1. Open the Mail app (even if you don't use it).
    • Note: If you've never set up an account in Mail, you may need to add one temporarily to access the settings. A basic iCloud or throwaway account will work; you can remove or disable it later.

  1. From the menu bar at the top of your screen, click Mail > Settings (or Preferences on older macOS versions).
  2. Click the General tab.
  3. Find the Default email reader drop-down menu.
  4. Click the menu and select the email application you wish to use (e.g., Microsoft Outlook, Spark, etc.).

If you want to use a web-based email like Gmail as your default, the process is a little different:


  1. Follow the steps above and select your web browser (like Chrome or Firefox) from the Default email reader menu in Mail settings.
  2. Then, you need to configure your web browser to handle mailto: links with your webmail service. For example, in Chrome while on the Gmail website, you often see a small protocol handler icon (two gray overlapping diamonds) in the address bar. Click this icon and select Allow to let Gmail handle email links.


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Changing default email account for opening email links

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