Google Chrome is a popular web browser and it has a built-in email client called Gmail. If you use Gmail as your primary email client, then you should consider using mailto links in Google Chrome. Mailto links are a great way to send emails from one website to another without having to type out the addresses each time. One of the best ways to use mailto links in Google Chrome is by using the Google Sheets spreadsheet application. You can create a new sheet and name it “links” and then add any of your favorite websites as links in the sheet. When you click on a link in the sheet, Google Chrome will open up the website that was linked to from the sheet. If you’re not comfortable using Google Sheets, then you can also use another spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel or Apple Keynote. Just make sure that your spreadsheet application supports mailto links and that you have enough data entered into the sheets so that Google Chrome can find all of the URLs associated with those emails.
Getting Chrome Ready for Extensions
The first thing that you will need to do is prepare Chrome to use extensions if you have not previously done so. Locate the shortcut(s) for Chrome and right click on them. Select “Properties”.
Once you have clicked through, you will see the “Properties” window with the “Shortcut” tab displayed.
In the address area for “Target:” you will need to add the following command to the end of the target path making certain to leave a single space in between the final quote mark and the enable extensions command.
Here is an example of what the the target path should look like…
Once you have that finished, click “Apply”, then “OK”. Now you are ready to add your new extension!
Installing the Extension
Once you have gone to the link provided below, click on the link as shown to access the .crx file. Once the file has finished downloading, you will be prompted about the installation.
When the extension is ready to install, you will see the following message window. Click on “Install” to add the extension to Chrome. Now you are ready for all those new e-mails!
Whenever you click on a mailto link, Gmail will open up just like this…the entire window will be focused on letter composing only (nice!).
Conclusion
If you love using Gmail for all of your e-mail needs, then this extension is certain to be a perfect addition to your browser!
Links
Download the GmailDefaultClient extension (Chrome Forums)
Note: The download link is approximately two-thirds of the way down the page.
