Cannot set default Mail app

Question

Level 1

6 points

Cannot set default Mail app

I have both Outlook 2016 and Mail on my El Capitan install (which was an upgrade from the factory install of Yosemite).

At one point, I was using Outlook for email management, but decided to return to Mail as my primary email program. I reset the mail app default in MAIL -> PREFERENCES to Mail, but after closing Mail and then restarting the default mail program reverts back to MS Outlook.

Anyway to fix this to maintain MAIL as my default mail program?

Thanks in advance.

Ken

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 4, 2015 8:48 AM

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Answer 1

slimgym

Level 1

4 points

Oct 22, 2015 3:33 AM in response to MinMan3

This bugged me when I bought the new Outlook as part of the MS HUP only last week, previously I had used 2011 which had the same setting in general that mail.app had, you could toggle either to be the default. I prefer Mail.app but occasionally Outlook has better PC compatibility. Outlook 2016 seemed to have a process to keep grabbing back the default mail app even when it wasn't running. You could be running Mail.app with no Outlook, go in to preferences > general and see Outlook had stolen the default mail handler. In the end I stuck Outlook 2016 in the trash to stop it happening as I could see no other way of doing so.

I have installed the two recent updates to take OSX to 10.11.1 and Outlook to 15.14.2 and having now moved it out of trash back to Applications, it no longer seems to be doing it. So one or both updates has, it appears, fixed this for me. Now I can fire either up and use both but Mail.app stays as the default handler for mailto and suchlike.

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Answer 2

Feb 6, 2016 2:31 PM in response to MinMan3

I solved this for Outlook (am assuming the same will work for Mail) on my Mac Pro runnig EC.

Mail has to be set up with an account. It will not let you proceed without this.

1. Launch Mail. Launch Outlook.

2. Go to (Mail) Preferences - General – Default email reader – Select…. (choose the Outlook client (or in yur case, Mail) from the Finder directory).

Mail will not hold your selected default client from the General tab. You have to force it by using "Select..." AND THEN go to the actual client in your Finder to get it to stick.

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