How do I choose which email app BusyContacts opens?

You can choose which app opens when you email someone from BusyContacts by changing your Mac's default email reader. This applies when clicking a contact's email address or using Send Email for selected contacts or everyone assigned to a tag.

If the default email reader is set to a browser or another app that is not configured to handle email, choosing Send Email may open the wrong app or appear to do nothing.

Check the default email reader

1. Open Apple's Mail app. If Mail asks you to add an email account before you can open its settings, add one first.
2. Choose Mail > Settings.
3. Click General.
4. Check the Default email reader setting.
5. Select Mail, or select another installed email app that you have configured for sending messages. If the app is not listed, choose Select… and select it from your Applications folder.
6. Quit and reopen BusyContacts, then try Send Email again.

You can remove or disable an account added only to access Mail's settings after changing the default email reader. Some email apps also offer their own setting to make themselves the default.

If you prefer Gmail in a browser, follow the Chrome setup steps below. Choosing a browser as the default email reader also requires configuring that browser to open your webmail service.

See Apple's guide to changing the default email app on Mac for more information.

Use Gmail in Chrome

To open a new Gmail message when you click an email address in BusyContacts, allow Gmail to handle email links in Chrome, then choose Chrome as your Mac's default email reader.

1. In Chrome's address bar, enter chrome://settings/handlers and press Return.
2. Select Sites can ask to handle protocols.
3. Open Gmail and sign in. Click the protocol handler icon (two overlapping diamonds) at the right of the address bar, choose Allow, then click Done.
4. Open Mail > Settings > General and choose Google Chrome under Default email reader. If Chrome is not listed, choose Select… and select it from your Applications folder.
5. Quit and reopen BusyContacts, then click a contact's email address. Gmail should open a new message in Chrome with the recipient filled in.

If the icon does not appear in Gmail, return to chrome://settings/handlers:

• If mail.google.com is listed as an email handler, check that it is marked Default. Otherwise, open the three-dot menu beside it and choose Set as default.
• If mail.google.com appears under Not allowed to handle protocols, remove that entry, reload Gmail, and allow the request when the icon appears.

If a message still does not open

Confirm that at least one of the selected or tagged contacts has an email address. BusyContacts uses each contact's primary email address.