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Mailto only opens my webail page. Why can't it also fill the email address? Not much use otherwise

  • 14 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 17 views
  • Last reply by kevinjh

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If I click on a mailto link on a website, Firefox will open my webmail page for me. All very well but I still have to copy the address of the email concerned and manually paste it in. Surely it's possible to do this automatically? It works that way if Outlook is your default email client. If it can't be done automatically the email address could at least be copied to clipboard so it can be pasted into the address field.

At present it's easier to simply right click and copy the email address then open the webmail bookmark. I usually have a webmail tab open already, so I don't want another one.

If I click on a mailto link on a website, Firefox will open my webmail page for me. All very well but I still have to copy the address of the email concerned and manually paste it in. Surely it's possible to do this automatically? It works that way if Outlook is your default email client. If it can't be done automatically the email address could at least be copied to clipboard so it can be pasted into the address field. At present it's easier to simply right click and copy the email address then open the webmail bookmark. I usually have a webmail tab open already, so I don't want another one.

All Replies (14)

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Hi, Actually it should fill in the email address when you click the mail to :

As to why it is not working I have no idea. Please try : uninstall Firefox. Then Delete the Mozilla Firefox Folders in C:\Program Files , C:\Program Files(x86) & C:\ProgramData Then restart system. Then run Windows Disk Cleanup. (Note: This should be Pinned and run Weekly, If never done below expect 10's of gig's) Then run it again and click the button that says Cleanup System Files. Note: your Firefox Profile is saved. But you should make a back up before you do :

Reinstall with Current Release Firefox 59.0.1 with a Full Version Installer

Please let us know if this solved your issue or if need further assistance.

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What webmail is it? The built-in ones (Gmail and Yahoo) should work, but sometimes others do not work correctly, or you may need an add-on to do the job.

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Firstly it's good to know it is meant to work as I thought it should. Frustrating that it doesn't in my case. It isn't just Firefox. I had the same problem with Chrome. In both cases clicking on "mailto" links just opens webmail at my inbox. I use VirginMedia's webmail system. It is offered as one of the options in Firefox but I don't know if it's 100% compatible.

I'm rather reluctant to uninstall Firefox when it seems the issue may be the webmail system itself. I use the same profile on my PC and laptop and mailto works the same on both. If I do uninstall Firefox, do I need to back up everything as descirbed. Surely I could simply login after fully installing Firefox and sync my profile with my laptop?

Thanks for the headsup about windows updates. I checked and my AV has set the quality key.

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Hi, welcome on the key info.

Well there is 1 main system on Sync. If delete info and it syncs then everything has deleted information. It is just a precaution.

You do not even need to sink as I state your Profile is saved. I am not asking you to delete that folder and the uninstall does not delete that folder.

Know nothing about your email providers and their programs. Should check if they are doing maintenance or there are issues.

Modified by Shadow110

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kevinjh said

I use VirginMedia's webmail system. It is offered as one of the options in Firefox but I don't know if it's 100% compatible.

I don't think it's built in, so I'm not sure how it got installed... Do you recall a message while you were viewing your mailbox about whether you wanted to add an application? Or possibly something from the Add-ons site?

Anyway, I think your experience demonstrates that it's not 100% compatible. Just don't know if it's fixable, or time to move to "Plan B."

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jscher2000 said

kevinjh said
I use VirginMedia's webmail system. It is offered as one of the options in Firefox but I don't know if it's 100% compatible.

I don't think it's built in, so I'm not sure how it got installed... Do you recall a message while you were viewing your mailbox about whether you wanted to add an application? Or possibly something from the Add-ons site?

Anyway, I think your experience demonstrates that it's not 100% compatible. Just don't know if it's fixable, or time to move to "Plan B."

I've just returned to using Firefox after using Chrome for a couple of years. When I clicked on a mailto link it tried to open Chrome and wanted me to make it the default browser which I declined. Then it offered to install a mail extension which I accepted. This had a whole lot of webmail options in it, including VM. It doesn't appear under addons and extensions, it's buried in Firefox settings. I searched for mailto addons but nothing suitable shows up. So I assumed this was something Firefox provide if you opt to accept it.

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Okay, I don't know what that was, it doesn't sound familiar.

The webmail sites that come up on the Options page in the Applications box are stored in a file named handlers.json so let's take a look.

Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Resize that window so you can see the Troubleshooting Information page behind it. Then scroll down and drag and drop handlers.json onto the Troubleshooting Information page.

After a few moments, Firefox should change the display from a half dozen lines of raw text to a structured view. Scroll way down to the mailto section, and you should find Gmail, Yahoo, and VirginMedia.

What is the "uriTemplate" for VirginMedia? Does it have %s in it toward the end? That is necessary for Firefox to pass the address from the link that you clicked. You can compare the Gmail and Yahoo URLs to see what I mean.

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Pkshadow said

Hi, welcome on the key info. Well there is 1 main system on Sync. If delete info and it syncs then everything has deleted information. It is just a precaution. You do not even need to sink as I state your Profile is saved. I am not asking you to delete that folder and the uninstall does not delete that folder. Know nothing about your email providers and their programs. Should check if they are doing maintenance or there are issues.

Thanks for the reassurance. I uninstalled firefox, deleted the folders (there was no Mozilla folder under Program Files), rebooted, ran CCleaner (my weapon of choice) then Disk Cleanup (twice) to make sure. Installed Firefox 59.0.1, everything came back, no problems.

Unfortunately the mailto issue came back too. ;-)

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jscher2000 said

Okay, I don't know what that was, it doesn't sound familiar. The webmail sites that come up on the Options page in the Applications box are stored in a file named handlers.json so let's take a look. Open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either
  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter
In the first table on the page, on the Profile Folder row, click the "Open Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer. Resize that window so you can see the Troubleshooting Information page behind it. Then scroll down and drag and drop handlers.json onto the Troubleshooting Information page. After a few moments, Firefox should change the display from a half dozen lines of raw text to a structured view. Scroll way down to the mailto section, and you should find Gmail, Yahoo, and VirginMedia. What is the "uriTemplate" for VirginMedia? Does it have %s in it toward the end? That is necessary for Firefox to pass the address from the link that you clicked. You can compare the Gmail and Yahoo URLs to see what I mean.

I don't have Gmail or Yahoo to compare it with . They were there earlier. I forgot to mention that after it tried to open Chrome it then tried to open my Gmail account (which I only keep for my Google log in. I don't use it for anything else. To stop that I deleted those two in the GUI to force it to use VM.

VM urltemplate is

https://mail2.virginmedia.com/appsuite/#app=io.ox/mail/compose/main:compose&mailto=%s

So the %s is there. That text seems to indicate it should open the compose view and fill the email address. The URL matches the address shown in webmail. So it looks as if it should work, but it isn't.

I need to log in to VM webmail before it opens the mail page. Would this break the functionality?

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kevinjh said

I need to log in to VM webmail before it opens the mail page. Would this break the functionality?

Possibly. If you aren't logged in, you'll get redirected to a login page. Then when the site sends you back to the address you requested, it's certainly possible for part of the URL to get lost. But if you click the link again immediately and it has the same problem, then... it wasn't that.

You could check with VM on whether that is still the correct mailto URL for their webmail site, or whether they have a new one.

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jscher2000 said

kevinjh said
I need to log in to VM webmail before it opens the mail page. Would this break the functionality?

Possibly. If you aren't logged in, you'll get redirected to a login page. Then when the site sends you back to the address you requested, it's certainly possible for part of the URL to get lost. But if you click the link again immediately and it has the same problem, then... it wasn't that.

You could check with VM on whether that is still the correct mailto URL for their webmail site, or whether they have a new one.

If it doesn't request a login it opens a new webmail tab at exactly the same place I was in the tab already open (in this case previewing the email about your latest reply). So it isn't the log in causing the issue. It doesn't appear to be passing parameters at all.

I'll ask on the VM support forum. I may not get VM support there but at least I'll get other user's feedback.

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Not sure if this is effecting you. It appears to be an issue that only affects users who have turned off cleartype font rendering within their windows settings. So a workaround for the moment would either be to turn cleartype back on or disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/performance-settings

it effects mostly in browsing pages not fully rendering but it could effect that maybe.

Also make sure read about MS no updates as you maye have to set a registry key to get updates.

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I haven't turned cleartype off so I don't think that is the issue