mailto link not working within a frame chrome (over https)

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7

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I have a mailto link on a page. It works as expected when the page is loaded by itself.

However when the page is loaded via a frameset in Chrome nothing happens. With the developer tools loaded the error "[blocked] The page at https://mysite.com ran insecure content from mailto:..." is displayed.

How can I fix/workaround this?

Retroaction answered 7/10, 2013 at 21:0 Comment(2)

It looks like Dale has filed a bug with Chrome: code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/… – Whimsicality 10/6, 2015 at 4:19

tel: links are affected too. Same solutions apply. – Jiva 11/7, 2018 at 7:0

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29

I also had this issue recently with an iframe. Using the top frame worked and should be compatible with all major browsers.

window.top.location = 'mailto:...';

Bokbokhara answered 12/11, 2013 at 18:59 Comment(5)

So you would have to write a javascript onclick (or something similar) to handle this mailto: link? I'm just looking for a the syntax for this solution. – Wyeth 20/11, 2013 at 15:21

Yes, using "top" is the trick, but you can do it with HTML alone! <a target="_top" href="mailto:...">email</a> – Whimsicality 22/4, 2014 at 16:7

Hi, I just came across this issue today.. and this solution works. however I just want to understand why it works? why setting the target to _top works? Does the browser not care to check for security if an anchor link is outside of an iFrame? – Empathy 21/6, 2019 at 3:9

tried all combinations, this is the only one that worked for me in Chrome without having to open a blank window – Pollak 28/8, 2019 at 15:27

@Whimsicality I am using a component that accepts an onClick, for me this is the only thing that worked. I can't use HTML for this one, i.e. it needs to be triggered programmatically through callback. – Pollak 28/8, 2019 at 15:30

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33

Yes, using "top" is the trick, but you can do it with HTML alone!

<a target="_top" href="mailto:...">email</a>

Whimsicality answered 22/4, 2014 at 16:7 Comment(7)

This is excellent. It allows mailto links to now work within an iframe using the Chrome browser. Thank you very much!!! – Diarmit 1/10, 2014 at 19:58

I had a problem making mailto: links in a Facebook frame. This worked! – Individuality 2/12, 2014 at 16:10

Never knew what "_top" was for, until now (shame on me). This solves some problems I had on a range of Android phones as well. Thanks! – Fluorescence 11/2, 2015 at 11:2

Also fixes mailto: links when using URL Frame masking to forward a URL! – Thurston 14/5, 2015 at 6:37

I would recommend using _blank instead of _top. If the user set a web-based email client as the default email tool, the email client page will replace the parent page with _top. – Osmunda 7/6, 2015 at 22:12

@Adamy, Yes the iframe case is a good point. However, you'll want to use _self, not _blank. _blank will cause a new blank untitled tab to open. _top will trigger window.onbeforeunload to fire. If the top frame is observing window.onbeforeunload, you may see a warning like "Are you sure you want to leave this page?" (If you click yes, the mailto will still work fine.) See this plunker embed.plnkr.co/12QvXVVbSKjuVT1cjrc0/preview Note that plunker's preview window is in an iframe and if you click edit then run you'll see an onbeforeunload warning message for the _top example. – Whimsicality 8/6, 2015 at 22:31

@Whimsicality Thanks for your advice. However in my case as I set up gmail (in Chrome) as my default email application, _self doesn't do anything when I clicked on the link. – Osmunda 9/6, 2015 at 1:31

B

29

I also had this issue recently with an iframe. Using the top frame worked and should be compatible with all major browsers.

window.top.location = 'mailto:...';

Bokbokhara answered 12/11, 2013 at 18:59 Comment(5)

So you would have to write a javascript onclick (or something similar) to handle this mailto: link? I'm just looking for a the syntax for this solution. – Wyeth 20/11, 2013 at 15:21

Yes, using "top" is the trick, but you can do it with HTML alone! <a target="_top" href="mailto:...">email</a> – Whimsicality 22/4, 2014 at 16:7

Hi, I just came across this issue today.. and this solution works. however I just want to understand why it works? why setting the target to _top works? Does the browser not care to check for security if an anchor link is outside of an iFrame? – Empathy 21/6, 2019 at 3:9

tried all combinations, this is the only one that worked for me in Chrome without having to open a blank window – Pollak 28/8, 2019 at 15:27

@Whimsicality I am using a component that accepts an onClick, for me this is the only thing that worked. I can't use HTML for this one, i.e. it needs to be triggered programmatically through callback. – Pollak 28/8, 2019 at 15:30

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6

Here is the solution I ended up with: Tested with Chrome, Firefox, IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, IE10, IE11, Safari

$("a[href^='mailto:']").on("click",function() {
    window.top.location = $(this).prop("href");
    return false;
});

Beery answered 18/11, 2013 at 16:21 Comment(2)

Strangely I couldn't get that to work - it seemed to die inside jquery somewhere (we're using V 1.6.1 still). But as soon as I used the click method instead it worked well. Good stuff. – Retroaction 18/11, 2013 at 21:49

Yes, on is the new click for newer versions of jQuery. – Beery 19/11, 2013 at 22:37

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3

This will also work, and won't close the window with Facebook.

<a href="mailto:..." target="_blank">...</a>

or

$("a[href^='mailto:']").attr('target','_blank');

Groundmass answered 13/8, 2014 at 12:12 Comment(0)

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3

add target="_top" or "_blank" or "_parent"

<a target="_top" href="mailto:[email protected]">email1</a>

<a target="_top" href="mailto:[email protected]">email2</a>

Fuji answered 12/9, 2014 at 3:37 Comment(0)

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1

Possibly because your parent frameset is https, but Chrome now seems to treat the mailto link as insecure.

I just came across a similar issue when triggering a mailto link via

window.location = 'mailto:...'

Changing it to this worked around it.

window.open( 'mailto:...')

Vlada answered 8/10, 2013 at 8:44 Comment(3)

It sounds like its a bug then? In which case I should file a bug report? – Retroaction 8/10, 2013 at 19:21

OK, your workaround does open a new email, but it also opens a new, blank, tab/window which isn't desirable. I've opened a bug report with google. – Retroaction 11/10, 2013 at 4:36

Yup it does. We had to script it immediately closing, which is still a bit rubbish. – Vlada 11/10, 2013 at 8:28

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0

This is my workaround until Chrome bug is fixed:

$.browser.chrome = /chrom(e|ium)/.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase()); 

if($.browser.chrome){
     myWindow=window.open("mailto:"+eml+"?subject="+msb,'','width=50,height=50');
     myWindow.close();
} else {
    window.location.href = "mailto:"+eml+"?subject="+msb;
}

For Chrome, make instance with window.open() method and close that instance immediately. Small window will "blink" for a short period but will do the job. It is "dirty" solution but as much as Chrome's bug.

For other browsers window.location() method can be used.

Obliging answered 22/10, 2013 at 12:47 Comment(0)

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