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When I use Gmail to send an email, the email signature defined in the settings is automatically added at the bottom of the email. However, when I open a mailto link to send a message, the email signature is not automatically added.

Here's the code:

<a href="mailto:john@smith.com?subject=Thanks for your time&body=Hi,%0A%0AIt%20was%20a%20real%20pleasure%20speaking%20with%20you.%20Thank%20you%20for%20your%20time%20and%20we'll%20be%20in%20touch%20soon." target="_blank">test</a>

And there's a JSFiddle here. What do I need to do to make the email signature appear when I'm sending from a mailto link?

halfer
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frenchie
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3 Answers3

7

Using body as a parameter in the mailto link replaces everything that is already placed into the email by Gmail. If body is not part of the attribute from mailto, then the signature works as expected.

Source: I tested this with your fiddle by removing the body attribute and clicked the link again. It works just as you want.

I have to add code to submit this answer with a fiddle, so here is the link that will work with a signature:

<a href="mailto:john@smith.com?subject=Thanks for your time" target="_blank">test</a>
alengel
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  • No, I'm not talking about adding a signature to the mailto link, I'm talking about using mailto to open Gmail and then have Gmail add the signature at the bottom of the email like it does when you send an email from the Gmail interface. – frenchie Dec 01 '15 at 13:20
  • Sorry @frenchie, you're right I misunderstood what you initially tried to do. I amended my answer accordingly. Sorry this is not more helpful but this seems to be a bug that Gmail hasn't bothered to fix yet. – alengel Dec 03 '15 at 11:09
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    I can see that this answer is marked correct, but does it actually answer the question?  I have the same behaviour on all mailto links, even if they don't specify a body or subject, ie just have the email address and nothing else. – Max Williams Jul 09 '18 at 11:53
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Do this (on desktop of course): 

http://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=example@example.com&su=Hello%20Dani%20(via%20Stack%20OverFlow)">http://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=example@example.com&su=Hello%20Dani%20(via%20Stack%20OverFlow)

Note:
If you want your gmail signature, you must use gmail.
If you'd like to use a different client, you must make a signature on that client itself.

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    Yes but that's not a mailto link; the reason it needs to be a mailto is that not everyone uses Gmail. – frenchie Nov 19 '15 at 21:16
  • As @frenchie has stated in the comments, he wants the signature to be shown in Gmail directly when he clicks on a mailto link from somewhere else. He already has a signature setup with Gmail but when he clicks on a mailto link and it opens in Gmail, the signature isn't shown. This answer doesn't provide the information on how to fix that (I think this is a Gmail bug). – alengel Dec 03 '15 at 11:01
  • @DaniSpringer try this: create a gmail signature with a logo and when that's set up, click on the mailto link in the jsfiddle. The signature with the logo isn't there as it normally is when you click to compose a new email from the gmail interface. – frenchie Dec 05 '15 at 23:25
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A workaround for this which could be used in conjunction with above answers:

  1. Compose new email, leave it totally blank
  2. Save the email as a canned response titled something like "SIG"
  3. When clicking a mailto link with a body description, you can go the the last line of the email and insert your SIG canned response to dump your signature in there.
sutur
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