where do i find the protocol handlers in edge

Question

where do i find the protocol handlers in edge

Lorie Herman 25

I am trying to change the protocol handler in Microsoft Edge to default to my gmail account, however I cannot locate "protocol handler" in settings. One of the articles I found on the internet stated "the setting in Edge is buried under Cookies and site permissions." But I am not seeing "cookies and site permissions" in the settings. Does anyone know how to change the protocols in Edge? Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.

5 answers

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Answer 1

Richard Courtenay 10

Best I can tell mid this year the MS Edge user interface removed the option to manage protocol handlers. We are incorporating them into a project we are running and mid project saw the UI option disappear. We've confirmed the protocol handlers for Edge on Windows still work in the latest version (as of October) if you configure them via the Windows registry and/or group policy. I assume that on Mac the documented method will still work there too.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/microsoft-edge-browser-policies/registeredprotocolhandlers

Nothing at the above documentation suggests the policy is depreciated, so should be OK to use it if you can get around not having Edge support the settings via the UI.

edge://policy showing the recognised and applied policy on MS Edge v141.0.3537.57 policy

Mike 0 Reputation points

2025-12-05T04:51:33.2633333+00:00
This was very helpful. Thank you for sharing. Gmail and Google Calendar handler registry entry is below for anyone interested. Tested and working in Edge 143.0.3650.66. Navigating to edge://policy will show the policy correctly applied with a status of "OK" on success.

The usual script and registry disclaimers apply: take backups, use caution, and make sure that you understand what you are running.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Edge\Recommended] "RegisteredProtocolHandlers"="[{\"url\": \"https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s\", \"protocol\": \"mailto\", \"default\": true}, {\"url\": \"https://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=%s\", \"protocol\": \"webcal\", \"default\": true}]"

I hope that Microsoft restores the feature in the future. It's silly that we have to resort to this.
Reon Toerien 0 Reputation points

2025-12-09T15:56:18.3766667+00:00

I'm experiencing this same issue in linux using Edge version 143.0.3650.66 (Official build) beta (64-bit)

This really should not be this difficult, I just want gmail to open when I click on a email link.

Any ideas?

Answer 2

Mick Abraham 5

Richard Courtenay's reply makes the most sense so far (to me as an amateur computer person). Thank you for taking the time to explain. Editing the registry is something I prefer to not learn at my advanced years, so I've stopped using the Edge browser and gone back to Chrome.

It's important for me to click a "mail to" link and have a new message launch from Gmail, but I can't easily instruct Edge for the proper behavior. There's no telling how many others have experienced this same show stopper.

Microsoft seems tone deaf regarding this problem. Oh, well.

145a 460 Reputation points

2025-10-19T04:50:35.0333333+00:00

same issue

y on earth did msft rm the protocol config in edge?

Answer 3

Ian Cooper 0

Why on Earth is it this difficult to get Edge to send mail links to my Gmail account? I mean, NONE of the above advice works anymore!!!

I'm seriously considering going back to Chrome or Firefox, even though they have their own problems, but at least they don't constantly try to hijack me and send me to Outlook (which I've never used and don't intend to start using) whenever I click on an email link.

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Answer 4

Sumit D - IA 160.7K Independent Advisor

Thank you, Lorie.

The Protocol handlers are in Windows Settings, I believe. Could you please check here?

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Answer 5

Sumit D - IA 160.7K Independent Advisor

Hi Lorie,

I'm Sumit, here to answer your query at the Microsoft QA.

Apologies for any inconvenience you are experiencing. I am happy to help you today.

It should be on the following page - please copy and paste it in the Edge address bar:

edge://settings/privacy/sitePermissions

I look forward to your response and am happy to work with you until we find a solution. Please keep me updated.

Lorie Herman 25 Reputation points

2025-07-06T16:24:18.7866667+00:00

Sumit, I am not sure if this message will be received by you, but I wanted to thank you for your response. I appreciate it. However, I can't seem to locate the "protocol handler" that I am looking for. There are three (3) sections; a) ALL sites b) Recent activity and c) ALL permissions. When I look at (c) the only handler I see is for "payments". I don't see one for "email". I have attached screen shots of what I have available in (c). Is there something or another place I should be looking? Thank you very much for all of your assistance!
Louis 10 Reputation points

2025-07-07T04:25:55.7666667+00:00

Hi Sumit,

I couldn’t find this option on the sitePermissions page that you provided as a link. It seems that this option was removed in a recent version of Edge.
Mick Abraham 5 Reputation points

2025-09-23T15:41:27.4433333+00:00

I'm writing on 9/23/25 to underscore the identical problem that Lorie H. has described. Her screenshot for the All Permissions doesn't show Protocol Handlers ... and I have the same problem. With respect to Sumit D, I checked App execution aliases in Windows Settings and couldn't see anything related to protocol handlers in the Edge browser. Maybe I didn't know exactly what to look for in there. I'm trying to get Edge to invoke Gmail when I click on mailto links. Youtube videos etc. make this seem simple to arrange... but step one is to find the protocol handlers in Edge settings. Thanks in advance to anyone who has found the solution for this problem.
Dan R 0 Reputation points

2026-03-06T03:01:33.5266667+00:00

I appreciate the people who hav bothered to create YouTube videos on the subject of using Gmail as the defasult mailto "app". As noted above and above, there is no Protocol handlers to be found. MS makes billions and if you are a lousy loner, they do not seem to care how many hours you waste trying to structure your pooter to work the way you want. Now in my late 70s, 7 hours wasted is a lot more critical than it was 30-40 years ago when I would frequently have a stack of discs to re-install MS...more than once.

I will note that Apple is no better. They have had a bug in 26.3 for weeks that effectively shuts down the ATT Uverse TV app after about 5 minutes. Maddening. My desk is piled high in paper -- largely because I never know when MS or Apple is going to stumble.

MS, this ain't right.

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