Free Mailto Link Generator

A mailto link is a hyperlink that opens the user's default email client with a pre-filled message when clicked. The format is mailto:[email protected]. Tapping or clicking opens Apple Mail, Outlook, Gmail, or whatever email app the user has set as default. You can pre-fill the subject line, body, CC, and BCC fields using URL query parameters like ?subject=, ?body=, ?cc=, ?bcc=.

Append ?subject= followed by your URL-encoded subject text. For example: mailto:[email protected]?subject=Hello%20from%20the%20web. Spaces become %20 and special characters like & become %26. Our generator handles URL encoding automatically, type your subject naturally and copy the output. Keep subjects under 70 characters for readability in crowded inboxes.

Use &cc= and &bcc= parameters after the initial ? parameter. Separate multiple addresses with commas. Example: mailto:[email protected][email protected],[email protected]&[email protected]. CC reveals recipients to everyone; BCC hides them. All addresses must be URL-encoded, which our tool does automatically.

Use &body= followed by your URL-encoded message. For example: mailto:[email protected]?body=Hi%20team%2C%0A%0AQuick%20question. Use %0A for line breaks (newlines). Long bodies work, but Outlook truncates mailto URLs around 2000 characters. For compatibility across all clients, keep the body under 1000 characters or use a contact form for longer content.

Use %0A in the URL-encoded body for each line break. Example: body=Line%201%0ALine%202%0A%0AParagraph%20two. Our generator takes your multi-line body (with normal Enter/Return key presses) and automatically encodes line breaks as %0A. Two line breaks in a row create a blank line, which most email clients render as a paragraph separator.

Yes, mailto links are a web standard supported by every major email client: Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail (desktop + mobile), Thunderbird, Spark, Airmail, and built-in mobile apps on iOS and Android. On desktop, the user's default mail client opens. On mobile, the primary mail app opens. If no mail client is configured, the browser prompts the user to pick or install one.

No, the mailto body parameter is plain text only. HTML tags appear as literal text in the email. If you need rich formatting, link users to a webpage with a contact form, or use a transactional email service. The HTML anchor tag our tool generates, <a href="mailto:...">Link text</a>, is the wrapper for the link on your page, not formatting for the email body itself.

There's no official spec limit, but practical limits exist. Outlook truncates mailto URLs around 2000 characters. Most browsers support up to ~8000 characters before weird behavior. Gmail's web interface handles longer links better than desktop Outlook. Rule of thumb: keep total mailto content under 1000 characters for universal compatibility, or under 500 for absolute safety.

The browser prompts the user to choose or configure a default email application. On mobile this is rare since email apps are pre-installed. On desktop, users without a configured mail client (common on corporate Windows) may see a "No program associated with this protocol" error. As a fallback, display the plain-text email address next to the mailto button so users without a mail client can copy it manually.

Mostly yes. On iOS and Android, tapping a mailto link in Safari, Chrome, or any app opens the default mail app. Inside Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok's in-app browser, mailto links usually still work but may prompt the user to open in the system browser first. LinkedIn and Twitter/X handle mailto links natively. If your audience is mobile-heavy, test on both iOS and Android before launching.

Special characters must be URL-encoded. & becomes %26, ? becomes %3F, = becomes %3D, space becomes %20. Non-ASCII characters including emoji and accented letters encode as their UTF-8 byte sequence percent-encoded (e.g., 👋 becomes %F0%9F%91%8B). Our generator uses encodeURIComponent internally so you can type any character naturally, we produce a correctly encoded mailto link.

Somewhat, yes. Spam bots scrape pages for mailto: patterns to harvest addresses. Mitigations: obfuscate addresses client-side with JavaScript, use a contact form instead, or render the address as an image. If you must use a raw mailto link, use a role-based inbox (hello@, contact@) that's easier to filter. Our tool generates the link locally in your browser, we never send or store your email address.