How to use the email link generator
- Recipient email: the address that should receive the email. The link appears as soon as this field has a value. For two recipients, separate the addresses with a comma.
- Subject: a short, specific subject that tells you where the email came from.
- CC and BCC (optional): colleagues who should be copied, for example a sales manager.
- Message: the starting text of the email. Line breaks are kept.
- Click Copy link, place it in your page, email signature or PDF, and test it on the devices your audience uses.
Mailto syntax explained with an example
A Pune college wants an "Email admissions" button. Recipient: admissions@example.com. Subject: "Admission enquiry - BBA 2027". CC: counselling@example.com. Message: "Hello," then "Please share the fee structure." then blank "Name:" and "City:" lines. The tool generates:
mailto:admissions@example.com?subject=Admission+enquiry+-+BBA+2027&cc=counselling%40example.com&body=Hello%2C%0APlease+share+the+fee+structure.%0AName%3A%0ACity%3Amailto:admissions@example.com: the scheme and the recipient.?starts the optional fields and&separates them.subject=,cc=,body=: header fields defined in RFC 6068, the mailto URI standard. Empty fields are left out.%40is @,%2Ca comma,%3Aa colon and%0Aa line break.+marks a space. The tool encodes spaces form-style as plus signs; a real plus sign you type becomes%2B.
To use it on a website: <a href="mailto:admissions@example.com?subject=…">Email admissions</a>. In HTML, write each & in the link as & to keep the markup valid; browsers still read it as &.
If spaces appear as plus signs
RFC 6068 recommends %20 for spaces in mailto links, because a plus sign cannot be told apart from a real "+". If a mail app on your test device shows "Admission+enquiry", replace every + in the generated link with %20. That is safe because any plus sign you actually typed is already encoded as %2B. The same standard specifies %0D%0A for line breaks; if a client runs your lines together, replace %0A with %0D%0A.
Mailto link or contact form?
| Need | Better choice | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Contact link in an email signature, PDF or footer | Mailto link | Works anywhere a link works, no backend needed |
| Lead capture from paid ads | Form | Visitors without a configured mail app cannot use mailto, and form submissions are easier to track |
| Supplier or B2B enquiries with attachments | Mailto link | The sender can attach files in their own email app |
| Structured data you must capture (budget, city) | Form | Required fields cannot be enforced in an email draft |
If you use both, track clicks on the mailto link as an event; our guide to form tracking in GA4 with Google Tag Manager shows the setup. If enquiries matter more than convenience, a tracked form on a fast landing page usually wins; that is the standard we follow in conversion-focused website development.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Expecting the link to send email. It only opens a draft. On a shared office PC or a phone with no mail app set up, nothing useful may happen, so show the address as text beside the button.
- Putting a second address after "?" as
?to=. RFC 6068 calls this not recommended because clients handle it differently. Put all main recipients before the "?", separated by commas. - Typing a space after the comma between addresses. Some clients fail to parse it. Use
a@example.com,b@example.com. - Very long bodies. Some browsers and mail apps truncate long URLs. Keep the body to a few short lines.
- Publishing a plain address on a high-traffic page. Mailto links expose the address to scrapers; use a role address such as
enquiries@, not a personal inbox.
Practical use cases
- College admissions: separate links per course with the course name in the subject, so counsellors can filter the inbox.
- B2B manufacturer: a "Request a quote" link with "Product: / Quantity: / Delivery city:" in the body.
- Agency or freelancer: a signature link that CCs the account manager automatically.
- Support page: a link with "Order ID:" in the body to cut back-and-forth.
For a chat-first alternative, use the WhatsApp link generator; to decode an existing mailto body, paste it into the URL decoder.
Everything runs in your browser — nothing you type is sent to our servers.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create a link for email that opens a draft?
Use a mailto link: mailto: followed by the email address, such as mailto:hello@example.com. Add ?subject= and &body= to prefill the subject and message. In HTML, place it in an anchor tag. This generator builds and encodes the whole link from the recipient, subject, CC, BCC and message fields.
Does a mailto link send email automatically?
No. A mailto link only opens a new draft in the visitor's default email app, with the recipient, subject and body filled in. The visitor can edit the draft and must press send. If no email app is configured on the device, the link may do nothing, so show the address as text too.
How do I add a subject and body to a mailto link?
Add a question mark after the address, then subject= and body= separated by an ampersand, with spaces and punctuation encoded. For example: mailto:hello@example.com?subject=Quote%20request&body=Hello. Type plain text into this generator and it handles the encoding, including line breaks in the body.
Can I send a mailto link to multiple recipients?
Yes. Separate the addresses with commas and no spaces before the question mark, for example mailto:sales@example.com,support@example.com. For copies, use the CC and BCC fields. The mailto standard, RFC 6068, advises against adding extra recipients after the question mark because email clients handle it inconsistently.
Why does my mailto link not work on some computers?
The link needs a default email app. On computers where people use webmail and have not set a default handler, clicking a mailto link may open an unused desktop app or do nothing. Show the email address as visible text next to the button, or offer a contact form as an alternative.