bhowton

Q: Cannot Set Default Mail App in El Capitan

I was using Outlook 2016 before upgrading to El Capitan. After the upgrade I decided to switch to the default Mail app. Unfortunately, when I try to make the switch in Mail > Preferences, the app I choose does not stick. When clicking a link, closing and restarting Mail, or even waiting just a few minutes, the default Mail app switches automatically back to Outlook 2016. Any thoughts?

 

I am running a mid-2011 Macbook Air.

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 18, 2015 7:35 AM

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Q: Cannot Set Default Mail App in El Capitan

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  • by niefl,

    niefl niefl Jan 28, 2016 1:13 AM in response to JRMH-Perth
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 28, 2016 1:13 AM in response to JRMH-Perth

    No, did not work for me... Still Apple Mail does not remember changes to the default app.

  • by MattMortz,

    MattMortz MattMortz Jan 28, 2016 6:28 AM in response to niefl
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 6:28 AM in response to niefl

    I just had the same issue and the following worked for me:

     

    In finder, find the Microsoft Outlook app in your Apps folder and simply rename it to something like 'Old Microsoft Outlook'. Then reopen Mail and change the default mail reader to Mail. 

     

    This prevented my Mac from reverting back to Outlook as the default.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Matt

  • by markoustic,

    markoustic markoustic Feb 10, 2016 6:50 AM in response to bhowton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 10, 2016 6:50 AM in response to bhowton

    Hi All,

     

    I've had the same problem since I installed Outlook 2016. This has just worked for me:

     

    1. Run 'First Aid' on Macintosh HD from within Disk Utility.

    2. Quit all open email clients.

    3. Reopen Apple Mail then go to preferences > general > default email reader and select your preferred email client.

    4. Quit Apple Mail and reopen. Check under the default email reader option - mine stuck after performing the above steps.

     

    I assume there was some sort of corrupt preference or file, caused during the process of upgrading to El Capitan, which prevented Mac OS from being able to 'remember' your default application choice. Running 'First Aid' aka 'verify permissions' must have been able to correct this.

     

    I hope this helps!

     

    I'm running OS X 10.11.3, Mail 9.2 (3112) and Outlook 15.15 (151008) on a mid 2012 MacBook Air.

  • by JEH1985,

    JEH1985 JEH1985 Feb 15, 2016 12:56 PM in response to Abyss66
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 15, 2016 12:56 PM in response to Abyss66

    Finally, this helped me:

    /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchSe rvices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -all local,system,user

  • by BaileyMM,

    BaileyMM BaileyMM Feb 29, 2016 5:33 PM in response to bhowton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 29, 2016 5:33 PM in response to bhowton

    Hello,

    After looking into the issue further I found another way to set outlook/mail as a default outside of the annoying auto-reverting mail preferences tab. Right clicking a mail doc, open with, selecting your preferred server and ticking the box 'always open with' is just another dead end. However, right clicking the mail doc --> get info and expanding the 'open with' section gives you the same option. Selecting your chosen client will than present with a "change all button". This defaults any mail doc in future to open with your selection. You may also notice that it appears with (default) next to the client when selecting open with in future.

     

    This worked for me on a couple of el capitan computers after restarts and other testing. This solution is not effected by whatever the default in apple mail preferences is.

  • by shadrach343,

    shadrach343 shadrach343 Mar 8, 2016 11:40 AM in response to bhowton
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Mar 8, 2016 11:40 AM in response to bhowton

    I was able to set the default mail application via the Mail preference by using the "Select" (as in other application) feature and navigating to the install location for Outlook.

  • by debasenyc,

    debasenyc debasenyc Mar 10, 2016 12:20 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2016 12:20 PM in response to Linc Davis

    Thank you Linc. This command fixed the issue of Mail not saving Outlook at the preferred client.

  • by Cwistafuh,

    Cwistafuh Cwistafuh Mar 13, 2016 2:21 PM in response to bhowton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 13, 2016 2:21 PM in response to bhowton

    I simply unchecked the 'Make Outlook the default application for email etc" in Outlook Preferences and it allowed Apple Mail to stay selected in Apple Mail Pref dropdown menu.

  • by GeoffreyNL,

    GeoffreyNL GeoffreyNL Mar 14, 2016 8:57 AM in response to JRMH-Perth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2016 8:57 AM in response to JRMH-Perth

    You're a lifesaver. This solved my issue, too

  • by kyoung21b,

    kyoung21b kyoung21b Mar 14, 2016 11:57 AM in response to OldGnome
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2016 11:57 AM in response to OldGnome

    Thanks for posting that. It did solve the stated problem of allowing me to change default mail apps but unfortunately seems to have killed the functionality which brought the problem up in the first place. That is, I was trying to email a web page from Safari to a friend, which I do fairly regularly, via clicking on the share icon in the upper right corner of Safari. One of the options available in the menu that appears was email, and if I chose that I would get a Thunderbird mail window (switching from Thunderbird to Mac Mail was what led me to the above problem). But since I fixed the mail app switch problem using that suggestion to reset the Library, Safari no longer provides the option of sharing via email. Has anyone run into that problem and fixed it ? Thanks,

  • by alien8d,

    alien8d alien8d Mar 16, 2016 8:48 AM in response to FJ Cruiser
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 8:48 AM in response to FJ Cruiser

    Worked great for me.  Outlook 2016 latest version and Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.3. 

  • by dsturnerville,

    dsturnerville dsturnerville Mar 22, 2016 1:28 PM in response to txredneckcub
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 22, 2016 1:28 PM in response to txredneckcub

    This is the only solution that actually worked for me.  Thanks.

  • by mdangear,

    mdangear mdangear Apr 6, 2016 11:24 AM in response to dsturnerville
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 6, 2016 11:24 AM in response to dsturnerville
  • by frounhafer,

    frounhafer frounhafer Apr 13, 2016 12:13 PM in response to bhowton
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 13, 2016 12:13 PM in response to bhowton

    "I don't use Office, but knowing Microsoft, it may be forcing you to use Outlook as your default email reader."

     

    You really believe Microsoft setup Outlook so that it locks you out of changing it from the default mail app?

     

    I was able to fix this issue with the recommended Disk Utility > First Aid, wondering if it was a permissions error? Thanks for the help everyone!

     

    <Edited by Host>

  • by zhongnan,

    zhongnan zhongnan Apr 14, 2016 9:43 PM in response to bhowton
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 14, 2016 9:43 PM in response to bhowton

    Just solved the same issue on my mac. It is the problem from Chrome, not Outlook or Mail.

     

    1. Copy paste this in chrome browser: chrome://settings/handlers

    2. Protocol handlers mail to: none

    3. Open Mail

    4. Mail > Preferences > Default Email Reader > (change to) Mail x.x

    5. Enjoy!

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