Mailto Link Generator
Create a mailto link with a prefilled subject, body, cc and bcc - then copy the link or a ready-made HTML snippet to drop on your website. Free, no signup, and it runs entirely in your browser.
The address the email opens to. Separate multiple recipients with commas.
Line breaks are preserved. Note: a mailto body is plain text only - no HTML, images, or attachments.
privacy-friendly - your inputs never leave your browser. nothing is stored or sent to our servers.
Got your mailto link? Here is the catch.
A mailto link only works if the visitor has a desktop email client set up - many don't, so the click does nothing and you lose the message. It also exposes your address to spam bots, keeps no record of who reached out, and can't validate anything. A no-code contact form captures the message instead: it lands in your inbox and your dashboard, with spam protection and an autoresponder built in.
Build a free contact form instead →Free forever plan. No credit card required.
The real limitations of a mailto link
A mailto link is the quickest way to add a "contact us" click to a page - but you should know what you are committing to. Here is what a mailto link cannot do:
It breaks for visitors with no email client
A mailto link only opens if the device has a default mail app configured. Many people browse on a work laptop or a webmail-only setup, so clicking the link does nothing at all - and they leave without a way to reach you.
It puts your email address on the page for spam bots
The address sits in your page's HTML in plain text. Bots scrape mailto links to harvest addresses, so publishing one is a reliable way to start getting spam.
You keep no record of who tried to contact you
A mailto link depends on the visitor actually opening their email app and hitting send. If they don't finish, there is no submission, no log, and no lead - you never even know they tried.
No validation, no required fields, no spam filtering
The prefilled subject and body are only suggestions - the sender can delete everything. There is no way to require a phone number, validate an email, or screen out junk before it reaches you.
Plain text only - no attachments, formatting, or routing
A mailto body can't carry HTML, images, or file attachments, and every message lands in one inbox with no way to route by topic or auto-reply to the sender.
Long subjects and bodies get truncated
Email clients and browsers cap how much text a mailto link can carry, and they encode it differently. A long prefilled message can arrive cut off or garbled depending on the visitor's setup.
"I have been considering a strong commitment to web forms, which may be the first point of contact to make the customer experience a good one. I have tried many form builders. When creating a web form, FormNX was the best way to achieve all the customizations I could think of for a non-engineer with the least amount of effort."
When a mailto link isn't enough - use a real contact form
- ✓ Works for every visitor - no email client required, it just submits
- ✓ Hides your address from spam bots that scrape mailto links
- ✓ Every message stored in your dashboard - searchable and exportable, never lost
- ✓ Built-in spam protection and an instant email alert plus autoresponder
- ✓ Conditional routing, file uploads, and required-field validation
- ✓ Take payments on the same form - a contact form that can also collect a deposit
See how the no-code contact form builder works →
Create a free contact form →Free forever plan. No credit card required.
What is a mailto link?
A mailto link is a normal HTML link that, instead of opening a web page, opens the visitor's email app with a new message pre-addressed to you. It uses the mailto: URI scheme in place of https:. The simplest form is just an address:
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">Email Us</a>
You can prefill the subject, message body, and cc/bcc recipients by adding parameters after a ?, joined with &. The generator above builds and encodes this for you so the spacing and special characters are handled correctly.
Mailto link syntax and parameters
A full mailto link follows this structure: mailto:recipient?param=value¶m=value. These are the parameters you can use:
| Parameter | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (address) | One or more recipients, comma-separated | mailto:[email protected],[email protected] |
subject | Prefills the subject line | ?subject=Support%20request |
body | Prefills the message text (plain text only) | &body=Hi%20there |
cc | Carbon-copy recipients | &[email protected] |
bcc | Blind carbon-copy recipients | &[email protected] |
Spaces and special characters must be percent-encoded (a space becomes %20, a line break becomes %0A). The first parameter starts with ? and every one after it with &. A complete example with a subject and body looks like this:
<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=Hello&body=Hi%20there">Email Us</a>How to add a mailto link to your website (3 steps)
- Fill in the recipient, and optionally a subject, body, cc and bcc, in the generator above.
- Click Generate mailto link, then copy either the raw link (for a button or link field) or the ready-made HTML snippet.
- Paste the HTML snippet into your page where you want the link, or paste the raw link into your site builder's link field. Use Test it first to confirm it opens your email app correctly.
For a "contact us" page that needs to actually capture and store messages from every visitor, a contact form is the more reliable choice - the link above is best for a quick, low-stakes "email us" click.
Frequently Asked Questions
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1. Is there a better way than a mailto link?
For anything beyond a quick "email us" click, yes - use a contact form. A mailto link breaks for visitors without an email client, exposes your address to spam, and keeps no record of messages. A no-code contact form works for every visitor, hides your address, stores every submission, and adds spam protection and an autoresponder - all on a free plan.
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2. What is a mailto link?
A mailto link is an HTML link that opens the visitor's email app with a new message addressed to you, using the
mailto:scheme instead ofhttps:. You can prefill the subject, body, cc and bcc with URL parameters. -
3. How do I create a mailto link with a subject and body?
Add
?subject=Your%20Subjectafter the address, then&body=Your%20message. Spaces and special characters must be percent-encoded. The generator above does this for you - just type the subject and body in plain text and copy the result. -
4. Can a mailto link have multiple recipients, cc and bcc?
Yes. Separate multiple recipients with commas (
mailto:[email protected],[email protected]), and addccandbccas parameters ([email protected]&[email protected]). The generator has fields for all of these. -
5. Why doesn't my mailto link open anything?
A mailto link only works if the device has a default email client configured. On a computer with only webmail (or no mail app set as default), clicking it does nothing. This is the main reason a contact form is more reliable for capturing messages from every visitor.
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6. Is this mailto generator free, and do you store my data?
It is completely free with no signup. Everything runs in your browser - your recipient, subject, body, and cc/bcc never leave your device and are not sent to or stored on our servers.
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7. Can a mailto link include HTML formatting or attachments?
No. The mailto body is plain text only - it cannot carry HTML formatting, images, or file attachments. If you need to collect files or formatted input, use a form with file uploads instead.
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8. Does a mailto link work on mobile?
Usually yes - phones almost always have a default mail app, so mailto links tend to work better on mobile than on desktop. They still offer no validation, storage, or spam protection, so they remain best for low-stakes "email us" links rather than real lead capture.
Made by FormNX - the no-code form builder. Need to actually capture messages, not just open an email app? Build a free contact form. See our other free tools: QR code for Google Forms, embed Google Form generator, and email notifications generator.
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