How to Change the Default Email App on Mac in 2026

To change the default email app on a Mac, open Apple Mail, choose Mail > Settings, click General, and pick your app from the Default email reader menu. Mail must have at least one account set up first, Apple says. The change takes effect from that menu, not from System Settings.

Odd place for it, I know. You're leaving Mail, and Mail is where you have to go to leave. So this guide covers the steps, what to do when Mail has no account, the exact route for Microsoft Outlook, Spark, Mimestream and Gmail, and why some links keep opening Mail after you've changed everything. Menu names follow Apple's current guides; older versions of macOS say Preferences where these steps say Settings.

How to change the default email app on a Mac

The default email app on a Mac is set inside Apple Mail, under Default email reader. Apple's General settings page describes that menu as the place to choose the email app you want to use, with Mail selected out of the box.

1. Install the email app you want to use, if it isn't on your Mac yet.
2. Open Mail and check that it's signed in to an account. No account? Use the steps in the next section.
3. In the menu bar, choose Mail > Settings.
4. Click General.
5. Open the Default email reader menu and choose your app.
6. If your app isn't listed, choose Select and find it in the file window that opens.
7. Close the window, then click an email address link on any website, one that starts a new message, to test it.

Apple keeps the browser setting somewhere else entirely, under **System Settings > Desktop & Dock**, which is why people go hunting through System Settings for an email option. I did the same the first time I switched, and it took me longer to find this menu than to use it.

Which route each email app uses

Most Mac email apps are set as the default through Apple Mail's menu, but a few have a route of their own, and Gmail in a browser takes two steps. This table shows where to go for each, based on each company's own help pages where one exists.

Before you assume your app needs Mail, open its own settings and look for a default option. Apple suggests the same check if you'd rather not add an account. Not sure which app to move to? Our Apple Mail alternatives guide compares the main ones with prices.

How to change the default email app if Mail has no account

If Apple Mail has no account, the Default email reader menu is out of reach, so add a temporary account and turn it off afterward. Salve Regina University's IT team puts it plainly: a grayed-out menu means no accounts are configured yet.

1. Open Mail and choose Mail > Add Account, per Apple's account guide.
2. Enter any address you own and follow the prompts.
3. Change the Default email reader using the steps above.
4. Back in Mail > Settings, click Accounts, pick that account, and clear Enable this account.

That's the whole trick. I used a spare personal address for this on a new Mac, because I didn't want my work inbox syncing into an app I was about to stop opening. Apple says you can disable or remove the temporary account once you're done. Disabling is the better choice if you think you'll change defaults again, since removing it puts you back at step one. Removal also wipes that account's mail from the Mac, though Apple's guide says the server keeps its copies.

How to make Outlook the default email app on a Mac

Microsoft Outlook becomes the default email app on a Mac through Apple Mail's menu: open Mail > Settings > General and choose Microsoft Outlook under Default email reader. I haven't found a current Microsoft page showing a switch for this inside Outlook for Mac, so start in Mail.

One setting trips people up. Outlook has a Default account toggle under Tools > Accounts, described on a Microsoft page written for Outlook 2016 for Mac. That picks which of your accounts is the main one inside Outlook. It doesn't make Outlook the app your Mac opens for email links.

This setting matters beyond email address links, too. University of Utah IT notes that some tasks, such as mail merge, need Outlook set as the default. If a merge refuses to run, check this menu early. Leaving Outlook altogether? See our Outlook alternatives for Mac.

How to make Gmail the default email app on a Mac

Gmail has no Mac app from Google, so making it the default means pointing email links at a browser, then telling the browser to send them to Gmail. Apple warns that a browser chosen in Mail's menu might not open webmail on its own, which is why the second half matters. A dedicated app avoids all that, and it's what I'd pick if Gmail is your only inbox, since it means one menu and no browser settings. Our Gmail app comparison covers the options.

Gmail in Google Chrome

1. Open Gmail in Chrome and sign in.
2. Look for a small icon Chrome shows on the far right of the address bar, asking to handle email links. Click it, choose Allow, then Done. These steps come from Crelate's Mac guide.
3. No icon? Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Additional permissions > Protocol handlers, turn on Sites can ask to handle protocols, and refresh Gmail.
4. If links from other apps still open Mail, go to Mail > Settings > General and choose Google Chrome under Default email reader.

Gmail in Mozilla Firefox

1. In Firefox, open Settings > General and scroll to Applications.
2. Find mailto in the list and choose Use Gmail, as Mozilla's help page describes.
3. In Mail's Default email reader menu, choose Firefox so links from other apps go there too. A member of the TidBITS forum runs this setup.

If mailto or Use Gmail is missing, Mozilla's fix is a Firefox Refresh, which also clears your other customizations. Read what it removes before you click it.

Gmail in Safari

Safari is the awkward one. I can't find a built-in setting that sends email links to Gmail, and members of the same TidBITS thread came to that view on macOS 15, using a paid Mac App Store app called Open In Webmail or a third-party extension instead. A Safari web app (File > Add to Dock, macOS Sonoma or later) gives Gmail its own Dock icon, which is pleasant, but Apple's page doesn't say it can be chosen to handle email links. Treat it as a shortcut to your inbox. For links that really open Gmail, your choices are Chrome or Firefox with the steps above, a dedicated Gmail app, or Open In Webmail.

Why email links still open Mail after you changed the default

Email links can keep opening Mail after a change because some apps and browsers follow their own settings instead of the Mac's default. Apple notes that some third-party browsers and webmail services have their own settings for this. Four checks, cheapest first:

• Check the menu held. Reopen Mail > Settings > General and confirm your app is still selected.
• Restart the app you clicked from. Mozilla says browsers and word processors may need a restart to notice the change.
• Check the browser. A link clicked in Chrome or Firefox can follow that browser's handler, not your Mac's. In Firefox, the mailto row is the place to look. In Chrome, it's the Protocol handlers page.
• Try an email address link and an app's Send button separately. They don't always behave the same way, as the next example shows.

I ran into that last one while sending a proposal from Microsoft Word. Website links were opening my new app, and I assumed the job was done, until Word's email option brought up Apple Mail. Someone reported the same thing on Apple's community forum: Word's "Send in an email" opening Mail despite Mimestream being set as the default, and Adobe Acrobat complaining that it couldn't open the default client. No fix came out of that thread, and an Adobe community thread about Spark ended without one too.

When that happens, stop fighting the setting. Save the document, then attach it from your email app. It's one extra step, and I'd take that over an afternoon of troubleshooting another company's software.

How to change the default email app on a locked work Mac

On a managed Mac where Apple Mail is restricted, the menu could be closed to you, and the fix sits with whoever manages the machine. Raise it with IT before trying a workaround. There may be a policy behind the lock, and they may have a way to make the change from their side.

Admins do have a command-line option. In a Microsoft community thread from 2017, an admin who couldn't use Mail was pointed to duti, an open-source tool that sets default apps from Terminal. It has to be built from source and comes from neither Apple nor Microsoft. That makes it a job for whoever looks after your Mac fleet, not something to install on a work laptop by yourself.

How to switch back to Apple Mail

To make Apple Mail the default again, open Mail > Settings > General and choose Mail under Default email reader. If you disabled your accounts, go to Mail > Settings > Accounts and select Enable this account for each one. Trying a new app for a while costs you nothing, because you can reverse it from one menu.

Your iPhone won't follow any of this. On iPhone, the setting lives in **Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Email**, so set it separately if you want the same app on both. And if your real goal is to get Mail off your Mac, it can't be removed, though our guide to deleting the Mail app shows how to get it out of your way.