Change Adobe Reader's default program for e-mail links

Question

When I click an e-mail address in Adobe Reader X, an Outlook e-mail window opens, even though Thunderbird is my standard e-mail client and assigned to the mailto: protocol.

How can I make Adobe Reader X open e-mail links in Thunderbird?

I'm using Windows 7. How to Change the Email Client in Adobe Reader doesn't seem to apply to this version of Adobe Reader, I don't see the drop-down menu of step 6.

Solution 1

Had the same problem, for some reason there were two different settings, which were called depending on the current user context:

1. start regedit,

2. find your way to

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\command

3. check if it's the same value as in

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Thunderbird.Url.mailto\shell\open\command

4. check if it's the same value as in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command

Please note:

• Presumably the value should be something like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -osint -compose "%1"
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\‌​‌​mailto\UserChoice should be something like Progid Thunderbird.Url.mailto

Solution 2

I did all of the above but it did not work, but I found another solution.

1. Go to Control Panel ⇨ All Control Panel Items ⇨ Default Programs
2. Select Set Program Access and Computer Defaults (not Set Your Default Programs)
3. Choose Custom
4. Set Email program (not current program) to be Thunderbird

Step two was the tricky part.

Comments

[doncherry]

I'm using Windows 7. Unfortunately, this setting had already been set, i.e. Thunderbird had already had all the standards. I ensured it was set and tried again, but the compose window opened in Outlook again.

[Paul]

Does it do the same if you do Send To Email in something like Word?

[doncherry]

No, in Word or Firefox, a Thunderbird compose window opens. Adobe Reader is the only program in which I've encountered this behavior.

[Paul]

Why are adobe products so stupid when it comes to things like this. It seems to be ignoring the system setting, is this your machine or a work machine with a standard build?

[doncherry]

It's my personal, own laptop.

[Paul]

Ok, I am out of ideas - it isn't working as it should, and is likely a bug or configuration issue where Adobe is incorrectly reading the results it gets from the system. If an uninstall-reinstall of X doesn't fix it, I would suggest using one of the lightweight and faster alternatives to Reader (though I appreciate this might mean missing functionality that you need; some of them are pretty full featured though).

[doncherry]

I uninstalled, cleaned the registry and temporary data with CCleaner, downloaded the latest installer, reinstalled -- still the same problem. Thanks for your help, still.

[doncherry]

Thanks so much for digging through the registry, this had really been bugging me for a while :)

[doncherry]

Thanks! Sounds interesting and plausible, but I can't test it, since the accepted answer had already solved my problem. It'll certainly be helpful for other users.

[doncherry]

After updating to Adobe Reader 11, I seem to have the same issue, even though all the registry entries you mention have the correct values. Any ideas?

[Admin]

The first answer worked with Adobe Reader XI ver. 11.0.06. I suggest copying the Thunderbird value the first time you find it to avoid backtracking. I had to change the value in the third LOCAL MACHINE string.