Email links launch web browser instead of email

Question

I've created a territory sales map that includes an interactive US map that anchors to pages for individual states (the document is long). In addition to the map I have a list of names, emails and phone numbers. The emails are not working. There are no dots in the status bar but instead I get an envelope icon. When I look at the preflight panel it tells me there are no errors. I am setting up my emails by going to Hyperlinks->URL-> and then typing mailto:email.address@co.com. I uncheck "Shared Hyperlink Destinaton" and there are no extra spaces. I even tried setting up as Email then typing email address. Sometimes I end up with extra characters in the URL so I delete the hyperlink and type it again. I've tried all the things ChatGPT and google tells me and the email links still open a web browser instead of email. I attached a version with hyperlinks listed for the first few names on pg 2 under Alabama so you can see what I'm working with. Please help?

Abhishek Rao · Accepted Answer

Hi @benny2bell,

Thanks for the detailed explanation and for sharing the file. Really appreciate it.

I tested the behavior on my end by creating a new file and adding a mailto link, and when I clicked the email link in the exported PDF, it asked me to select an application to open the email. Once selected, it consistently opens the link in the same email client going forward. I also tested with the file you shared, and the links launched the selected email application as expected.

To help us understand this better, could you please confirm the version of InDesign you're using and the details of your operating system? Also, just to be sure, please check your system's file association settings to verify that your email client is set as the default for handling mailto links. After confirming this, try exporting and testing the link again to see if the issue persists.

Looking forward to your update so we can continue investigating this with you.

Abhishek

BobLevine · Answer

One more thing; interactive behavior in a PDF is also very dependent on the application that it's being read in. There are just too many variables here for any consistent results.

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