E-Mail and Xfinity Connect Help

[Havanai]

I am using Comcast's e-mail application, not Outlook and I use Mozilla Firefox as my browser.  When I go online and I want to send a link of the current page, I click (in the upper left), Firefox-->Send Link, but that automatically opens up MS Outlook.  I want Comcast's e-mail program to open up instead.  How do I get that to be selected as my default e-mail application with which to send internet links?

[reasd]

Hello,

You cant set comast email application as your default client using firefox to send a link.

[Havanai]

You say you cannot select the Comcast e-mail application as your default!?!  You're kidding.  So every time I want to send a link, I have to copy it while in Firefox Mozilla browser, then create a new e-mail in Comcast's program, and paste it?  Really!?!

[reasd]

Hello,

Because the email client  has to be setup on your computer.

[Havanai]

So, does that mean I'd have to use something like Outlook, gmail, or Mozilla's Thunderbird that is downloaded and installed on my machine?  Isn't the Comcast application installed on my machine?

[Latoque]

I don't think you can.  Xfinity/Comcast is a webmail service, like Hotmail or Yahoo.  It is not a client program.  I use Firefox too and as near as I can tell, the "mailto" links like the one in the File menu need a client program to make them work.  If Outlook is the default mail client on your machine, that's what will pop up when you click on "Send Link".  If you want to use only the Comcast webmail portal, then open up your Xfinity mail page, and then bookmark it someplace.  Then, when you want to send a link to someone, you just bypass Outlook and go direct to Comcast mail, go into your compose page and copy and paste the link you want to send.  I have my Yahoo, Hotmail and Comcast email accounts all bookmarked in my Bookmarks toolbar.  I use Thunderbird for a client program.   But using those bookmarks bypasses it if I want to.

[Barmar]

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Havanai wrote:

Isn't the Comcast application installed on my machine?

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There is no Comcast application, it's just a web site, like any of the thousands of other web sites you might go to (Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc.). While there's a standard way to automate sending an email via a mail client application, there's no similar mechanism for doing this via web pages. Perhaps due to the popularity of web-based email (Gmail, Hotmail, ISP webmail services, etc.) they should have developed a protocol for this, but AFAIK the Internet industry has not done such a thing.

For some more discussion of this, see http://www.pcworld.com/article/248856/how_do_i_make_web_mail_my_default_email_part_1.html

[BethKatz]

Yes, you'd think by now there would be an easy way to have mailto links handled by the web-based email system of your choice. But there isn't. It can be set up with some browser and email server combinations, but Comcast is not one of them.

You do not HAVE to use an email client such as Outlook. You can copy and paste the mailto link.

- copy the link to the clipboard (right-click it or control-click it on a Mac).

- open the web-based email

- create a new message

- paste the link (clipboard contents) into the To field

- erase the front part of the address that is 'mailto:'

This also works for copy and pasting a link you want to share with friends. Instead of pasting into the To field, paste into the message body.

I listed the steps above, but you may be able to create a new message and drag-and-drop the address into the To field. That worked for me on my Mac.  

In iOS on my iPhone, I held down my finger on the address and had a choice of sending a new message, adding to contacts, or copying. So I could choose to handle it as above there as well.

[Havanai]

Thanks Barmar and Beth.  I have come to Comcast/Infinity from MIndspring/Earthlink.  They are a minor player in the Internet/E-mail field and I'm sure their web-mail program is antiquated.  Yet, it provides the convenience of simply hitting "Send Link" to forward a web page to someone else without having to copy and paste it into a different application.  And, by the way, their handling of Suspect Emails, i.e. from senders not in your Address Book, is superior too.