"mailto" links in Dashboard not always working

Question

Hello - We have customized our CDIC dashboards and have come across some strange behavior. In a links list, I’ve added a “mailto” link, so a user may click it to initiate an Outlook mail form to our group.

It works perfectly for me in Chrome, but for someone using Edge, it thinks it’s a web site address and opens a new blank tab. When the person using Edge then tried it in Chrome, it sent them to our intranet’s home page, so again did not bring up an email form. Has anyone else experienced strangeness using mailto links in CDIC?

Ann Wuyts · Answer

You’re welcome. Let us know here when submitted and/or resolved. I’m curious to learn what could be the cause of this as well.

Ann Wuyts · Answer

Hi Melissa,

How mailto: links are handled is partly determined for your browser settings (if they are allowed), and partly by your operating system settings (which email client is allowed). I suspect in this case these might not be properly configured for your colleague:

Option 1: the standard email client is not correctly set, and both browsers are ‘confused’ - and then handle that confusion/error differently
Option 2: ‘mailto:’ links are disabled in the browser (manually, or due to security settings)

My theory only holds if other ‘mailto:’ links also do not work for your colleague, so best check that first. There is a mailto link you can test with at https://www.collibra.com/us/en/privacy-policy (search for [email protected]).

If this mailto: link also fails, let your colleague check:

Which email client is set as default for Windows (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/make-outlook-the-default-program-for-email-contacts-and-calendar-ff7990c4-54c4-4390-8fe3-c0285226f021?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us)
In Chrome: The ‘three dots’ top right in the Chrome ULR bar > Settings > Security and Privacy > Site Settings > Protocol Handlers. There make sure this is set to ‘Sites can ask to handle protocols’, and your instance is not in the ‘Not allowed’ list.
In Edge:

If other mailto: links do work for your colleague and only those in the Collibra dashboard do not, I suggest you contact Collibra Support at https://support.collibra.com/.

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