NuncioHow to make Gmail your default mail app on a Mac
You click an email address on a website and Apple Mail opens, empty and unused. macOS will happily send those links to Gmail instead, but only through an app, because the setting does not accept a website.
- The setting lives inside Apple Mail, even when you never use Apple Mail.
- macOS only lists installed apps, so a Gmail tab can never be the default by itself.
- A wrapper app, a browser extension or Apple Mail itself are the three routes that work.
- With several Gmail accounts, the useful question is which account sends the message.
Why a website cannot be the default
An email address on a web page is a mailto link. When you click one, macOS looks up which app is registered to handle mail and hands the link over. That register only contains installed apps; a browser tab has no entry in it, so Gmail on its own can never be the answer.
That is why the setting sits in an unexpected place. Apple Mail owns the preference, even if you never open Apple Mail otherwise. Recent macOS versions also expose it under Desktop and Dock, next to the default browser, but the Mail route works on every version.
The three routes
Which one fits depends on how many Gmail accounts you have and whether you want a browser involved at all.
An app that opens Gmail
Install an app that registers itself as a mail handler and opens a Gmail compose window. Nuncio does this, and with several accounts it asks which one should send.
You need that app installed and running.
A browser extension
Chrome can register itself as a mailto handler and send the link to Gmail's web compose window.
Ties your mail to one browser and one Google account, and breaks when the browser is closed.
Apple Mail with your Gmail account
Add your Gmail address to Apple Mail and leave Apple Mail as the default. Everything works offline and needs nothing extra.
Messages are written in Apple Mail, not in Gmail, so labels, templates and the Gmail interface are out of the picture.
Set it in Apple Mail
This is the route that works regardless of which app you pick, as long as that app is installed.
- Open Apple Mail. If it asks you to set up an account, you can close that window; the setting is reachable anyway.
- In the menu bar, choose Mail, then Settings.
- Stay on the General tab.
- Open the Default email reader menu and choose the app you want, for example Nuncio.
- Close the window. macOS may ask once more for confirmation; agree.
On macOS 14 and later the same setting also appears under System Settings, then Desktop and Dock, as Default email app.
What happens with several accounts
With one Gmail account the answer is obvious and the message simply opens. With several, any app has to guess which account should send, and guessing wrong is worse than asking.
Nuncio asks. Every email link opens a small picker with your accounts, their photos and addresses; you choose, and the message opens as a tab in that account with the address, subject, cc and body from the link already filled in. Close the picker without choosing and nothing is sent.
Read more: How to use multiple Gmail accounts on a Mac
Undoing it
The setting is a single menu, so changing your mind takes the same four steps. Open Apple Mail, then Mail, then Settings, then General, and pick Mail again in the Default email reader menu. Removing the app you chose also works: macOS falls back to Apple Mail on its own.
If email links stop working entirely after you remove an app, open that menu once and pick something explicitly. macOS can hold on to a handler that no longer exists.
Questions people ask
Why is the setting inside Apple Mail and not in System Settings?
Historically Apple Mail has owned the preference, and on older macOS versions it is the only place to change it. Since macOS 14 the same setting also appears under System Settings, then Desktop and Dock, as Default email app. Both change the same thing.
Can I set Gmail as default without installing anything?
Only through a browser extension, and only for one account in one browser. macOS itself needs an installed app, so without either an extension or a mail app the link will keep going to Apple Mail.
Does this also change which app opens on my iPhone?
No. The default mail app on iPhone and iPad is set separately, in Settings under Default Apps. They do not sync with your Mac.
The picker appears every time. Can I choose a fixed account?
In Nuncio, not by design: with several accounts, sending from the wrong address is the mistake worth avoiding, so it asks each time. With one account there is nothing to choose and the message opens straight away.
Email links that open in the right account
Nuncio can be your default mail app, and with several accounts it asks which one sends before the message opens. Seven days free, then a yearly subscription.
