Are you using Windows 8 or 8.1 and have Outlook installed but STILL launching the Metro/Modern Mail client…but WANT to run Outlook?  I think I can help you!

Many months ago when I first installed Windows 8, I did what I always did, installed Microsoft Office (Word, XL, PPT and Outlook), as well as Visual Studio (hey, I’m a dev, what did you expect?! LOL).  But I’ve always had a problem, when I click on a mailto link in IE, it would ALWAYS bring up the Modern or the Metro Mail app.  DOH!  I HATED that, I have Outlook, bring that up would ya?!  Well, today, my google searches panned out and I figured out how to fix it!  I hope I can help you out too!

Why is this happening?  Windows now knows how to specifically handle the mailto: protocol and has an app for that….you guessed it Mail!  SO, how do we change it?  Great question.

1. Punch the Windows key on your keyboard
2. start typing out “default programs”
3. sooner or later, while you’re typing, you’ll see this pop up, (Make sure the top dropdown says Everywhere and not Files which is going to happen if you hit the Search button on your keyboard).
4. Now, there are two ways to get to where you need to go, we’ll go the most direct way! Use the arrow keys and hit enter when you select Choose a default app for each protocol.
5. Scroll down till you see MAILTO, it’ll most likely say Mail (that’s actually good!), now click it and select Outlook (desktop), like here.   If you don’t see that option…hhmmmm I can only guess you didn’t install Outlook yet?

Ok, now that we both know how to change the default mail program that comes up when clicking on Support links in webpages, it’s time to grab a coffee and get coding!

PS After you try this out, you’ll get finger flicked, that’s ok.  Allow it and you’ll be fine from now on.