Mailto link generator

A mailto link is a link that opens the reader's email app with a new message already addressed to you, instead of taking them to a web page. It starts with mailto: rather than https:, and it can carry a subject, a message body, cc and bcc.

Fill in the fields above and copy the result. By hand, the format is mailto:you@example.com?subject=Hello&body=Hi%20there. Everything after the address has to be percent-encoded, which is where hand-written links usually go wrong: spaces become %20 and line breaks become %0A.

Yes. Every browser and operating system still handles them, and Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail can all register as the handler. What has changed is that a click now depends on the reader having a default mail app set. When none is set, nothing happens, so pair the link with the visible address.

There is nothing to request or register. A mailto link is just text built from your own email address, so type it in above and copy what the tool produces. It works the moment you paste it somewhere.

Put the mailto URI in an anchor's href: <a href="mailto:sales@acme.com?subject=Pricing">Email us</a>. The one thing to watch is the ampersand between parameters. In HTML it has to be written as &amp;, otherwise the markup is invalid and some browsers drop everything after it. The HTML output above already escapes it.

mailto: then the address, then ? before the first parameter and & before each one after it. Valid parameters are subject, body, cc and bcc. Values must be percent-encoded: a space is %20 and a line break is %0A. A plus sign does not mean a space here, which is a common mistake carried over from web form URLs.

Turning an address into a clickable link is the same job as making a mailto link. In a website or a rich-text editor, select the text you want people to click, choose insert link, and paste the mailto URL from above instead of a web address. Most editors also convert a plain address into a mailto link automatically when you type it.

Yes, and it is the main reason to use one. A pre-filled subject means replies arrive already sorted, and a pre-filled body can carry the questions you need answered or a reference number. Both are suggestions rather than locks: the sender can edit anything before hitting send.

Yes. Cc is visible to everyone on the message; bcc is not. Both are set as parameters and both are editable by the sender, so never use bcc in a mailto link to hide an address you would not want that person to see.

Yes. mailto:?subject=Hello is valid and opens a compose window with the recipient blank, which is occasionally what you want for a share link. Some clients handle it poorly, so test it if the recipient is meant to be left open.

Click it on the devices your readers actually use. The preview above shows what the compose window should contain, but the handoff itself depends on the reader's setup, so a link that works on your laptop can do nothing on a phone with no mail app signed in. Check one desktop and one mobile at minimum.

Almost always because no default mail app is set. On Windows, set it in Default apps; on a Mac, in Mail's settings; in Chrome, allow your webmail to handle email links when it offers. It can also happen inside apps that open links in their own browser, which often blocks the handoff entirely.

No official one, but practical limits bite around 2,000 characters. Older Outlook versions and some webmail handlers truncate before that, and a truncated link can lose the body or fail to open. The tool warns you when you cross the line.

In Chrome, open Gmail and click the handler icon in the address bar, then allow it. If the prompt does not appear, go to Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, Additional permissions, Protocol handlers, and allow mail.google.com. After that every mailto link on the web opens a Gmail compose window.

It can. The address sits in your page source in plain text, and harvesters scan for exactly that pattern. On a high-traffic public page a contact form is safer. Obfuscation tricks slow harvesters down but also break the link for some readers, so the honest choice is a form when spam matters and a mailto link when convenience does.

A contact form when you need the message to reach you reliably and want to avoid harvesters. A chat link when you want a reply in minutes rather than hours: WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger links open a conversation the same way a mailto link opens a draft, and people answer them far faster.