Using Email Links in Veracross (Mac)

The Problem

Veracross uses “mailto:” links for things like Email Parents and Email Students (see example below). On a Mac, clicking one of these links normally tries to open the default Mail app - which most staff haven’t set up, so nothing happens.

Email Parents / Email Students links in Veracross

There are two ways to fix this - a quick one-time workaround, and a permanent fix.

Option 1: Quick Fix (one email at a time)

Use this when you just need to copy an address into Gmail without changing any settings.

1.      Right-click (or Control-click) the mailto: link in Veracross.

2.      Choose Copy Email Address from the menu.

3.      Go to Gmail and click Compose.

4.      Paste the address into the To field (⌘V).

Note: You’ll need to repeat this each time, it doesn’t change how the links behave going forward.

Option 2: Permanent Fix (recommended)

Install the “Open in Webmail” app and set it to use our school Gmail. Once set up, clicking any mailto: link will open a new Gmail compose window automatically (as long as you’re signed in to Gmail in your browser).

1.      Check whether Open in Webmail is already installed — look in your Applications folder or search with Spotlight (⌘ Space).

2.      If it isn’t installed, open Self Service (look for the Manager app in Applications).

•        In Self Service, find Open in Webmail and click Install.

3.      Open the Open in Webmail app. You’ll see the settings window below.

Open in Webmail Settings window

4.      Under Mail service, select Gmail (Custom Domain) and type vcschools.org in the box next to it.

5.      Click Finish Setup… in the top right, then follow the prompt to set Open in Webmail as your Mac’s default handler for email links.

6.      Close the settings window. From now on, mailto: links will open directly in Gmail.

Note: You only need to complete this setup once per computer. If a mailto: link ever stops opening in Gmail, reopen Open in Webmail and confirm Gmail (Custom Domain) is still selected.

Questions?

Contact the Help Desk at helpdesk.vcschools.org if you run into any issues.