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bhowton Author

Level 1

18 points

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

Top-ranking reply

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,649 points

Posted on Oct 18, 2015 7:53 AM

Problems such as yours are sometimes caused by files that should belong to you but are locked or have wrong permissions. This procedure will check for such files. It makes no changes and therefore is not, in itself, a solution.

First, empty the Trash, if possible.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

find ~ $TMPDIR.. $ -flags +sappnd,schg,uappnd,uchg -o ! -user $UID -o ! -perm -600 $ 2>&- | wc -l | pbcopy

Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. The command may take a noticeable amount of time to run.

Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear.

The output of the command will be a number. It's automatically copied to the Clipboard. Please paste it into a reply.

The Terminal window doesn't show the output. Please don't copy anything from there.

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51 replies

cicorias

Level 1

9 points

May 15, 2016 11:51 AM in response to Community User

holy sh*t monkey. yes, don't use the dropdown as it doesn't work. just like the fact that nobody at Apple apparently works on the mail app.

May 24, 2016 9:43 AM in response to JRMH-Perth

Thanks @JRMH-Perth - this totally worked for me.

May 24, 2016 11:53 PM in response to Community User

Thank you!

May 30, 2016 9:02 AM in response to -djbolt-

Tip: As another user suggested try restarting your computer immediately after you set the default mail client!

This worked for me and I was able to successfully set Outlook 2016 as my default mail client.

DJ.Rumpy

Level 1

16 points

Jun 1, 2016 9:06 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thank you Linc Davis. Resetting the Launch Services worked to resolve my issue. I had a similar issue but couldn't change the default app FROM mail to another client. It kept reverting back. Running through the reset process now has all of that working again, and my 'share' function in Safari is working with the proper mail client as well.

Execute this in Terminal:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchSe rvices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -seed

Jun 2, 2016 4:19 PM in response to -djbolt-

Should have known. Restart solves many problems!

Jun 14, 2016 9:17 AM in response to Community User

Thanks. That worked like a charm!

_green_

Level 1

14 points

Jun 30, 2016 7:35 AM in response to bennykn

Have you found another solution? I currently have this problem. Thanks.

Jun 30, 2016 8:33 AM in response to _green_

I was able to solve the problem using one of the solutions mentioned above in the thread. The way to do so is to go to Apple Mail --> Preferences --> General --> Default Email Reader and then in the Drop Down list, click 'Select' at the bottom and manually browse to Microsoft Outlook in the Applications folder.

murphysm

Level 1

8 points

Jul 1, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Community User

THANK YOU! Easiest of the provided solutions and now works properly. not sure why your answer isn't the Apple Recommended answer.

Jul 4, 2016 5:34 PM in response to bhowton

Alright so this may seem crazy, but try deleting the .Spotlight-V100 folder on the root drive
sudo rm -Rf .Spotlight-V100/

(This will delete your Spotlight Cache)

Then kickstart spotlight's re-indexing with

sudo mdutil -E /

After that try setting the default mail client again.

This worked for me. My theory is that if spotlight is for some reason corrupt or not searching correctly Apple Mail isn't able to properly set the default Mail application. (It must be using spotlight to accomplish this somehow).

If this fixes it for anyone else I'd be very curious to know!

Hope this helps.

ant_m

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2016 6:14 AM in response to bhowton

I also had this issue where Outlook could not be set - it kept defaulting back to Mail app every time I quit Mail.

I ran the command to reset LaunchServices: /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchS ervices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -all local,system,user

...and when I opened Mail again and went into Preferences it correctly showed Outlook. This seems to have now stuck.

312mac

Level 1

4 points

Jul 14, 2016 8:31 AM in response to bhowton

GO TO SYSTEM PREFERENCES AND CLICK ON EXTENSIONS. CHECK THE 1ST 2 AIRMAIL BOXES.

THEN OPEN APPLE MAIL (I MEAN THE APPLE DEFAULT MAIL APP). THEN OPEN MAIL AND THEN PREFERENCES. YOU WILL SEE THE DEFAULT EMAIL APPS. DO NOT CLICK ON ONE OF THE APPS. THIS DOES NOT WORK SO CLICK THE SELECT BUTTON OR BAR AND IT WILL OPEN YOUR APPLICATIONS FOLDER, THEN LOCATE YOUR AIRMAIL APP IN THE FOLDER AND DOUBLE CLICK ON THE APP AND THAT WILL SET IT TO DEFAULT FOR YOU.

Sep 1, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Community User

Hi txredneckcub, Your answer was absolutely the most helpful of all that I read. I had set my default mail client to MS-Outlook when Mail was giving me problems. When I tried to set it back to Mail after Mail was fixed, it kept on reverting to MS-Outlook. So, per your advise, I went to Mail --> Preferences --> General --> Default mail reader drop-down --> Select...; then, I selected MS-Outlook from the Applications window. I then repeated the procedure, but, this time, I selected Mail from the Applications window and it worked! Thanks a million!

Sep 2, 2016 2:37 PM in response to Cwistafuh

This helped me! So easy I didn't even think of it! Thanks!

Cannot Set Default Mail App in El Capitan