set gmail as default mailto: responder in edge

Hi John, are you trying to make Gmail open automatically when you click an email link in Edge?

To do this, open Gmail in Edge, click the handler icon in the address bar (it looks like two diamonds), then choose “Allow” to let Gmail handle all mailto links. If you don’t see the icon, go to Edge Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Handlers and turn on “Allow sites to ask to become default handlers.” This lets Gmail open directly when you click email links in Windows 11.

Thanks, John. Since you don’t see the handler icon, let’s confirm if Gmail is allowed to handle links. In Edge, go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Address bar and search > Manage search engines and site permissions, then look for “Protocol handlers” and turn on “Allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols.”

After turning this on, reload Gmail and check if the diamond icon appears in the address bar. Once you allow Gmail, it should open all mailto links automatically. Can you check if the “Protocol handlers” option is visible in your settings?

No problem at all, John. You’re looking in the right area. In your version of Edge, go to Settings > Cookies and site permissions, then scroll down and select “Protocol handlers.”

Turn on “Allow sites to ask to become default handlers for protocols.” Once that’s enabled, open Gmail, reload the page, and look for the diamond icon in the address bar. Click it and choose “Allow.” This will make Gmail your default mailto responder.

I went to Settings. There is no Cookies and site permissions option. I went to Settings > Privacy, search and services > Cookies. There is no Protocol handlers option. I did a Search settings for Protocol handlers in Settings. "No search results found"

This thread came up in my search for the same. The feature appears to have been removed from MS Edge at some point, but there is still a supported workaround through the registry.

An example for adding Gmail and Google Calendar is below. This is tested and working in Edge 143.0.3650.66. Navigating to edge://policy will show the RegisteredProtocolHandlers property properly applied with a status of "OK" on success.

The usual script and registry disclaimers apply: take backups, use caution, and make sure that you understand what you are running.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended]
"RegisteredProtocolHandlers"="[{\"url\": \"https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s\", \"protocol\": \"mailto\", \"default\": true}, {\"url\": \"https://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=%s\", \"protocol\": \"webcal\", \"default\": true}]"

See Richard Courtenay's answer and my response here for more context:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2339128/where-do-i-find-the-protocol-handlers-in-edge?page=1&orderby=helpful&comment=answer-12280319&translated=false