You can choose which Mac app opens when you click an email address or a mailto: link. Install your preferred email app, then choose it in Mail > Settings > General > Default email reader. This changes how email links open; it does not move your messages or accounts to the new app.
Work more comfortably with your favorite applications
The Mac is a computer that is primarily intended for work and productivity tasks. That is why you can find many applications to carry out all these actions throughout the day. By default Apple designs a set of applications, which are considered native, whose mission is to meet basic needs. Many people choose these default options, but others prefer to have direct access to those applications of which they have more first-hand knowledge.
In this case, as soon as you start a Mac from scratch, you have default applications such as Mail. When you click on an email address in the browser, for example, this application will open to start writing it. Although, Apple provides different facilities so that you can change the app yourself in the event that you do not like the native option.
In the Mac App Store you can find many alternatives to this email manager such as Spark or Newton among others. If you yourself feel more comfortable with these options that can be found in a large number of platforms due to their characteristics, you can make the change comfortably. The ultimate goal is for each user to personalize their Mac experience with the most engaging applications.
Different ways to change the native mail app
Once it is clear that you want to change the native application to manage your email, it is time to get into what is really interesting about this matter. Previously, different aspects and limitations imposed at the software level must be taken into account, as well as the different methods that can be found to make this change. We tell you all the details below.
What you should keep in mind before
Install the email app before choosing it. For webmail such as Gmail, you can select a browser as the default email reader, but that browser may need its own email-link handler setting to open the intended webmail service. Selecting a browser alone does not guarantee that Gmail opens automatically. If your Gmail account is full, use our Google storage cleanup guide; changing the default email reader does not increase the account’s storage quota.
Recent macOS versions call the Mail menu option Settings; older versions use Preferences. Follow Apple’s default email app instructions for the current labels. This setting changes the app used for email links, not every way of opening Mail.
From the Mail app
One of the first ways to change the default mail manager is through the Mail application itself. Although it may seem somewhat redundant, this is where you can choose the specific application you want to use to compose all your new emails. Once you are inside the application, the following steps will simply be required:
- At the top of the Mac, go to Mail.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, click on Settings (or Preferences on older macOS versions).
- If you look closely, at the top of the window that appears you will have several sections. In this case, we will be interested in clicking on General .
- You will see a section called Default email reader , where the application you want to use and that you have installed on your Mac will appear.
Test by clicking an email link. If the desired app is missing from the menu, choose Select and locate it. Opening Mail directly will still open Mail.
From the new mail manager
Other ways that can be found to be able to choose the new mail manager is through the new application. This is something that happens in a similar way to a simple web browser. In each of the managers the configuration paths are completely different, but by simply accessing the configuration you can have a tab that allows you to choose the application as the default.
As we say, this is one of the most comfortable ways that can exist. Many developers are interested that you are always using their application over others. That is why in the use that you give to the manager it is possible that different pop-up messages appear requesting permission for this to be the default option. Likewise, in a first run it can also give you this option.
The most common problems that can occur
Both Mac and macOS itself are not perfect. This means that different problems may appear when making this configuration. Next, we expose you the different problems that can arise.
Forced to configure your email account
It is possible that when making the application change through Mail, you may be asked to add an email account as a requirement. This is something really usual and that forces you to make the configuration in an application that you really do not want. That is why many people see in this case as something impossible to finish the operation.
In these cases, Apple itself recommends that you go to the preferences of the new mail manager. As we have commented previously in the preferences of the new application you can find the option to be able to make the change without having to configure an account in Mail.
The change is not applied correctly
When making an application change, the fact that it is not applied correctly may fail. That is to say, although in the settings it is established that an email must be opened with, for example, Spark, it continues to open with the native option. This is something that can derive from a simple bug in the operating system.
In this case, to try to solve it, you will simply have to enter to undo the operation. Access the Mail settings by following the steps that we have previously commented and return the selection to the company’s native option. After doing so, it must be rebooted and reconfigured. This will try to restart the configuration, trying to solve the problem that has been caused.