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A Fast Way to Launch an E-mail

BY STANLEY ZAROWIN

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2009. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

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There are a handful of people I communicate with by e-mail a half-dozen times a day. Each time I want to send them a note I have to set up a new e-mail and either click for their address or type it in. There has to be a better, faster way.

There is, and it’s just as easy to set up. On any blank space on your desktop, right-click and click on New, Shortcut, which produces the Create Shortcut screen. If I’m going to be the recipient of all those e-mails, type mailto:stanley.joatech@gmail.com (see screenshot below).

If you want the e-mail to include a subject line and a cc address, just add a ? and an & like this:
mailto:stanley.joatech@gmail.com?subject=Help%&cc=rrosen@aicpa.org

And here is what the Outlook address line looks like:

You may also want to customize the icon for the shortcut by clicking on Properties. And if you really want to get techie, you can create a shortcut key (see screenshots at right and below).