INFO: Internet Explorer 4 MAILTO Protocol Parameters (188019)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer (Programming) 4.0
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer (Programming) 4.01
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer (Programming) 4.01 SP1
This article was previously published under Q188019

SUMMARY

You can use the MAILTO protocol under Internet Explorer to create a hyperlink that opens the clients e-mail system. This article describes the different parameters you can use with the MAILTO protocol.

MORE INFORMATION

The format for the MAILTO protocol is as follows:

MAILTO:Recipients&Parameters

The Recipients field can be blank, a single e-mail address, or multiple e- mail addresses separated by semicolons (;).

The Parameters are optional and have to be separated by an ampersand (&). Parameters appear in a name/value pair format. Following is the list of parameters available in Internet Explorer: 
   PARAMETER     DESCRIPTION
   ---------     ------------------

   CC=           Carbon copy
   BCC=          Blind carbon copy
   SUBJECT=      Subject text
   BODY=         Body text
Because all the data is passed in the URL, the characters used must be Internet safe characters. Use a %0d for a line feed. Use a %20 for a space NOTE: using plus (+) sign does not work in this protocol.

Here is sample HTML that demonstrates using the MAILTO protocol: 
   <HTML>
   <HEAD></HEAD>
   <BODY>

   <A HREF="mailto:email1;email2&cc=email3?subject=Subject%20
           text&body=Body%0dText">
   Click Here To Invoke Mail
   </A>

   </BODY>
   </HTML>
NOTE: Your e-mail client may behave differently than described above. Internet Explorer passes the mailto: string directly to the default mail application. The mail application can parse the string in whatever way it wants. Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express parse the string as described above.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:8/29/1999
Keywords:kbinfo KB188019
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