# Drafts open in the wrong mail client

> Open in Mail hands a Spiich draft to whatever your computer has registered for mailto: links, which is often a desktop app you never send from. Registering mail.google.com as Chrome’s email handler makes those drafts open in a Gmail compose window instead.

- Source: https://spiich.ai/help/troubleshooting/default-mail-client
- Section: Troubleshooting
- Who can do this: Everyone
- Time: 2 minutes
- Last updated: 2026-09-02

## Before you start

- Google Chrome, or another Chromium browser with the same protocol handler settings.
- A Gmail account you are signed in to at mail.google.com.

`Open in Mail` on a Spiich draft is a plain `mailto:` link. Spiich does not decide where it opens; your computer does. If you read and send mail in a Gmail tab but `mailto:` still points at Apple Mail, Outlook desktop, or nothing at all, the draft lands somewhere you never send from.

Chrome can hand those links to Gmail instead. The setting is two minutes of work and it fixes every `mailto:` link, not just the ones from Spiich.

## Which button opens what

| Button | What it opens | Setup needed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `Open in Gmail` | A Gmail compose window, pre-filled | None. It goes straight to Gmail |
| `Open in Outlook web` | Outlook on the web, pre-filled | None |
| `Open in Mail` | A `mailto:` link | Whatever your computer has registered for `mailto:` |

Which buttons appear depends on the mailbox connected to your account, and the chevron beside the button switches between the web client and the desktop one. If `Open in Gmail` is on the card, use it and you can stop reading here. This guide is for `Open in Mail`, and for the `mailto:` links elsewhere in Spiich that have no web-client alternative, such as the Email button on an [action column](/help/your-data/bulk-actions).

## Point mailto links at Gmail

Gmail asks Chrome for permission to handle email links the first time you open it. Choosing **Deny** or **Ignore** on that prompt, which is easy to do without reading it, files the site under **Not allowed to handle protocols** and Chrome stops asking. That is why the fix starts by clearing the refusal.

1. **Open Chrome's protocol handlers**
   Type or paste `chrome://settings/handlers` into the address bar and press Enter. Chrome refuses to follow `chrome://` links clicked on a page, so this one has to be typed. Under **Default behavior**, make sure **Sites can ask to handle protocols** is selected.

2. **Remove Gmail from the blocked list**
   Look at the **Not allowed to handle protocols** list further down the page. If `mail.google.com` is in it, click the **X** at the end of its row. Chrome is now allowed to ask again.

   ![Chrome's protocol handler settings with mail.google.com listed under Not allowed to handle protocols and the cursor on the X at the end of its row](/images/help/chrome-blocked-handlers.avif)
   *mail.google.com sitting in the blocked list. The X at the end of the row removes it.*

3. **Open Gmail**
   Open [mail.google.com](https://mail.google.com) in a new tab. If it was already open, reload it so Chrome looks at the site again.

4. **Allow Gmail to handle email links**
   A small double-diamond icon appears at the right-hand end of the address bar, just left of the bookmark star. Click it, choose **Allow** in the "Allow mail.google.com to open all email links?" dialog, then click **Done**.

   ![Chrome asking whether to allow mail.google.com to open all email links, with Allow selected](/images/help/chrome-allow-email-links.avif)
   *Pick **Allow**, then **Done**. **Deny** and **Ignore** are what put the site in the blocked list.*

5. **Set Gmail as the default**
   Go back to `chrome://settings/handlers`. `mail.google.com` now appears under **email**. Open the three-dot menu at the end of its row and click **Set as default**. If that option is greyed out, Gmail is already the default and the row reads `Default` beneath the address.

   ![Chrome protocol handler settings with mail.google.com listed under email as the default, and its three-dot menu open](/images/help/chrome-protocol-handlers.avif)
   *After allowing, mail.google.com moves under **email**. The three-dot menu on its row holds **Set as default** and **Remove**.*

6. **Test it from a Spiich draft**
   Ask Chat to draft an email, or open a meeting's `Email` tab, and click `Open in Mail` on the card. A Gmail compose window should open with recipients, subject and body already filled in. Any other `mailto:` link works as a test too.

   ![A Spiich email draft card with the Open in Mail button highlighted](/images/help/spiich-draft-open-in-mail.avif)
   *The draft card in Chat. `Open in Mail` is the `mailto:` button; the chevron beside it switches between the web client and the desktop one.*

   ![A Gmail compose window opened from the mailto link, with recipient, subject and body already filled in](/images/help/gmail-compose-from-mailto.avif)
   *What success looks like: Gmail's compose window, opened from the `mailto:` link, with everything filled in and Send left to you.*

> **Tip:** The double-diamond icon only shows while you are on the site asking for the permission, and only while Chrome is allowed to ask. If it is not there, go back to step two: `mail.google.com` is probably still sitting in **Not allowed to handle protocols**, or **Default behavior** is set to **Don't allow sites to handle protocols**.

## The link still opens the wrong thing

| What happens | Why | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Apple Mail or Outlook desktop opens instead | Chrome is not your operating system's mail handler, so the click never reaches Chrome's setting. | On macOS, open the Mail app and set **Default email reader** to Google Chrome under `Mail > Settings > General`. On Windows, open `Settings > Apps > Default apps`, find Google Chrome, and set it as the handler for `MAILTO`. |
| Nothing happens at all | No handler is registered anywhere on the machine. | Work through the steps above, then confirm **Default behavior** reads **Sites can ask to handle protocols**. |
| Gmail opens on the wrong account | Chrome sends the link to whichever Google account is first in the browser profile you are using. | Sign in to the account you send from first, or give that account its own Chrome profile and browse Spiich there. |
| The draft is copied to your clipboard instead of opening | The draft was longer than a compose link can carry, roughly 2,000 characters for a desktop client. This is not a handler problem. | Open a new message and paste. Recipients and subject came along with it. See [Follow-up emails](/help/meetings/follow-up-emails). |

## The same works for Outlook on the web

Nothing above is specific to Gmail. Outlook on the web registers itself the same way: visit `outlook.office.com` for a work account or `outlook.live.com` for a personal one, allow the prompt, then set it as the default at `chrome://settings/handlers`. Only one site can hold the email default at a time, so choosing Outlook replaces Gmail.

Other browsers keep the same setting somewhere else. Edge uses `edge://settings/content/handlers`. Firefox handles it under `Settings > General > Applications`, on the `mailto` row. Safari has no per-site equivalent, so on a Mac the macOS default email reader is the only control.

## What this does not change

Where a draft opens is a browser setting, not a Spiich permission. Spiich holds read-only access to your mailbox: it cannot send the message, and it cannot save it into your Gmail drafts folder either. Pointing `mailto:` at Gmail only changes which window the pre-filled message appears in. You still read it and press Send. See [What Spiich will and will not do on its own](/help/chat-and-voice/what-spiich-does-on-its-own).

## Still stuck

Email hello@spiich.ai with the browser you use, what `chrome://settings/handlers` lists under **email**, and what actually happens when you click `Open in Mail`. You can also use the [contact form](/contact).

## Frequently asked questions

### Why does Chrome never ask me for permission on mail.google.com?

The prompt was dismissed or denied at some point, which puts the site in the **Not allowed to handle protocols** list at `chrome://settings/handlers` and stops Chrome asking again. Remove it from that list with the X on its row, then reload Gmail and the double-diamond icon comes back.

### Is this a setting inside Spiich?

No. It lives in your browser and applies to every `mailto:` link you click, from any site. Spiich only produces the link; the browser and the operating system decide where it opens.

### Will Spiich start sending emails once Gmail is the default?

No. Mail access is read-only and there is no setting that changes it. Making Gmail the default only means the pre-filled draft opens in a Gmail compose window rather than a desktop app. You still press Send.

### Do I have to do this if I use the Open in Gmail button?

No. `Open in Gmail` and `Open in Outlook web` build a compose URL for that web client and ignore the `mailto:` handler entirely. This guide only matters for `Open in Mail` and for other `mailto:` links, such as the Email button on a table action column.

## Related

- [Meetings or emails are missing](https://spiich.ai/help/troubleshooting/email-calendar-problems)
- [Follow-up emails](https://spiich.ai/help/meetings/follow-up-emails)
- [What Spiich will and will not do on its own](https://spiich.ai/help/chat-and-voice/what-spiich-does-on-its-own)
- [Connect Gmail and Google Calendar](https://spiich.ai/help/connect-your-tools/connect-gmail-and-google-calendar)
- [Meetings in Spiich](https://spiich.ai/product/meeting)
- [Talk to Spiich](https://spiich.ai/contact)