Make Gmail The Default Email Client

I already covered how one could make Gmail the default Firefox 3 mail client which would have the effect that mailto links would be opened directly in Gmail. This did not change the default mail behavior in Windows however which was not a huge problem for me because I use Thunderbird locally and the Gmail account is available in the mail program.

Some users prefer to do everything online however and they may have a problem with the options to send mails in Windows. gAttach! (via Freeware Genius) comes to the rescue. It’s a small software for Windows that integrates Gmail nicely as the default mail client. Some applications that are compatible to that program are Windows Explorer, Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat and Windows Live programs.

It also handles mailto links in web browsers. The main benefit of using gAttach! is that users can send emails and attach files to those emails from within Windows which are then handled and send by Gmail.

Each attempt at sending a file or email will open a small window asking for the Gmail login information. Gmail will be loaded afterward and the message is available as a (opened) draft with the text and files included. It’s interesting to note that the user can configure gAttach! to add the draft to Gmail without loading the Gmail interface. This is great if you want to add several mails to Gmail and send them at a later time.

Several other options can be set like enabling rich text formatting or opening Gmail in HTML or normal mode.

The usual Gmail limitations like a maximum file size of 20 Megabyte still apply obviously. It’s definitely a nice application for users who love Gmail and use it for everything. Users like me will most likely continue to work with their desktop mail client and the online version of Gmail instead.