mailto: links open OE

[ScottH]

I've had this problem for a while and have run out of ideas... have ensured outlook is set in IE's Tools/Int.Opt./Programs, have re-installed IE, tried both repair and re-install office... but to no avail. everytime I click on a 'mailto:' link, outlook express opens and my computer starts checking my a: drive, cd drive, and zip drive... sometimes i'll get a message from outlook telling me "this feature is not installed"... sometimes not. this has not always been a problem, just in the past 2-3 months... unfortunately I haven't been able to back-track to figure out what I did to screw things up. could it have been something to do with "upgrading" to IE5.5? (have tried uninstalling it and rolling back to 5.01 also)

have WinSE, Office 2000 prof., and a headache... [img]/w3timages/icons/scream.gif[/img]

any suggestions would be most appreciated.

cheers![img]/w3timages/icons/thinks.gif[/img]

[MaryJ]

windows explorer, tools > options > file associtations. set the mailto to be outlook.

generally, the drive checking is because some files on the recently used list are on those drives.

[ScottH]

thanks for the prompt response! you were right on target with the file assoc. problem, but it seems i need to define the correct parameter; am now getting an error message which reads,"The command line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using." have tried a few, an exercise of futility... SHN

[ScottH]

Never Mind. Nothing like a little self-help. In case anyone else runs into this problem, here's an article I found in Microsoft's Knowledge Base...

OL2000: How Do I Make Outlook My Default MailTo Handler?

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 2000

SUMMARY
Microsoft Windows 95/98 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 allow you to specify a default mail program. One benefit of this is that you can open a mail form with a preaddressed message, using the MailTo link found in other messages and on Web pages. This article describes how to designate Microsoft Outlook as the default mail program.

MORE INFORMATION
NOTE: Because there are several versions of Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, please consult your product documentation to complete these steps.

To designate Outlook as your default e-mail program, follow these steps:

In Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0:

On the desktop, double-click My Computer.
On the View menu, click Options or Folder Options, and then click File Types.
Select URL:MailToProtocol, and then click Edit.
In the Actions list, click Open, and then click Edit.
Highlight Application used to perform action in the dialog box, and then press DELETE.

In the same box dialog box, including the quotation marks, type
"C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOfficeOutlook.exe" -c IPM.Note /m "%1".

Click OK, and then click Close twice.

In Windows 2000:

Quit Outlook.
On the Start menu, click Run, type regedit in the box, and then click OK.
Move to and click the following registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTmailtoshellopencommand
Double-click the (default) item on the right side.
In the Value data field, type
"C:PROGRA~1MICROS~3OfficeOUTLOOK.EXE" -c IPM.Note /m "%1" (including the quotes,) and click OK.

Quit Registry editor.

[mdchachi]

> On the desktop, double-click My Computer.
> On the View menu, click Options or Folder Options, and
> then click File Types.

This is exactly what I need to do but how do I get to
the File Types in Windows 98 (not Second Edition)?
If I go to the View menu from MyComputer I have the
following options:
Toolbars
Status Bar
Explorer Bar
As Web Page
Large Icons
Small Icons
List
Details
Customize this Folder
Arrange Icons
Line Up Icons
Refresh

When I select "Customize this Folder" it brings up a
"wizard" where I can "Create or Edit HTML document (to
represent folder)," "Choose a background picture," or
"Remove Customization." I can't find hide nor hair
of the file types. Is there any other way to get to them?

Thanks.

[Leif]

I think that should maybe be:
Tools/Folder Options/File Types

[jscher2000]

It's in the registry. If you are comfortable editing the registry, see the attached for sample values (this is from my PC, so i can't be sure it's completely authoritative).

If you decide this code looks trustworthy, you can save it down to your PC, edit the name so it has a .reg extension, and import it into your registry by opening (double-clicking) it.

[mdchachi]

<hr>
It's in the registry. If you are comfortable editing the registry, see the attached for sample values (this is from my PC, so i can't be sure it's completely authoritative).
<hr>

Thanks. When I looked later the menu item was there. So either I'm going crazy or it sometimes doesn't appear (like if you're at the disk-drive level and not within a folder). I can't reproduce the behavior now on Win98SE, though. So it's probably just a Win98 behavior (or I really am insane).
[img]/w3timages/icons/hairy.gif[/img]

[dmes]

I am using Windows 2000 Pro. In looking through the File Associations, as you suggested, I could not find MailTo, although there is an InternetMailSend file. Is this the same thing? Thanks

[ileacy]

Just ran into the same problem under WinXP/OL2000.

Fix was to:
Run "Windows Explorer"
Select "Tools | Folder Options"
Click "File Types" Tab
Scroll down to and select "URL: MailTo Protocol"
Click "Advanced" button
Click "Edit" button
Select "open". Click "Browse" button. Locate Outlook.EXE on your system. The default path, "C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOfficeOutlook.exe" , may not be correct for your system.

Select "Outlook.Exe". Click "Open."

Suffix the following string (with the quotes and prefixed by a space) to the path.

-c IPM.Note /m "%1"

Click "Ok". Click "Ok". Click "Close".

This procedure should also be valid for W2K.