Train Firefox mailto: to use Google Apps – Take 2

In a prior post I’d detailed the method of using a javascript entry to add an external mail resource to allow clicking on mailto: links to use the Google Apps version of gmail. Unfortunately, when I tried to repeat that method on my newly reloaded Netbook running Linux Mint LMDE with the default Firefox 20, it didn’t work. I’d enter the javascript string in the browser URL bar but nothing happened this time. I wonder if it had something to do with copying the text from my prior blog post and it not containing a proper html entity for the ampersand (‘&’) character, but I found another way to fix it anyway that’s a little more geeky but actually easier to do, as there’s no about:config action required.

My solution was to track down where these options are set and then manually edit the mimetypes.rdf file in the user’s firefox profile folder with all instances of Firefox closed. Enabling the Google Apps selection required adding both a
NC:possibleApplication RDF:resource= and a
RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:handler:web:
entry. Once completed, the agent was selectable in the preference Applications setting and worked properly for me.

Here’s the entries I made (NOTE: replace veino.com in the below with your own Google Apps domain):

Find
<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:scheme:handler:mailto"
and add above the other similar entries below there the following:
<NC:possibleApplication RDF:resource="urn:handler:web:https://mail.google.com/a/veino.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s"/>

Find <RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:handler:web:https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s"
and add below that entry the following:
<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:handler:web:https://mail.google.com/a/veino.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s"
NC:prettyName="veino.com email thru Gmail"
NC:uriTemplate="https://mail.google.com/a/veino.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s" />

Restart Firefox and change your application preferences for mailto: links to use the new agent and you’re all set.