Special links
What are special links and protocol handlers?
Special links are links that open certain programs when clicking on them. For example, when you click on a link with an email address, it launches an email program and creates a message with this address as a recipient.
Special links use the following protocols:
- mailto — for opening an email application;
- webcal — for adding events to a calendar.

Protocol handlers are programs or web services that open when you click special links.
Protocol | Protocol handler | |
---|---|---|
Program | Web service | |
webcal | Outlook | Yandex.Calendar |
mailto | Outlook, The Bat! | Yandex.Mail |
Protocol | Protocol handler | |
---|---|---|
Program | Web service | |
webcal | Outlook | Yandex.Calendar |
mailto | Outlook, The Bat! | Yandex.Mail |
You can set the default web service for email and calendar in the Yandex Browser beta version .
How can I set Yandex.Mail as the mailto protocol handler?
- Log in to Yandex.Mail.
- On the right side of the SmartBox, click
.
- Select Allow.
- Click Finish.

If there is no icon in the right part of the SmartBox, use the JavaScript console to assign Yandex.Mail as the mailto handler:
- Go to the Yandex.Mail page.
- Press the Ctrl + Shift + J keys to open the JavaScript console.
- In the console, enter the following command:
navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto", "https://mail.yandex.com/compose?mailto=%s", "Yandex.Mail");
- Press Enter.
- In the dialog box that appears, select Allow.

How do I change the assigned protocol handlers?
To view the list of assigned protocol handlers:
- Click .
- Open Websites.
- At the bottom of the page, click Advanced site settings.
- In the Protocol processing section, click Sites advanced settings.
A window will appear with a list of assigned handlers:

In this window, you can:
Hover your mouse over the handler and click Use by default.
Hover your mouse over the handler and click Delete.
Prohibiting protocol handling
If you do not want a program or web service to open when you click a special link, prohibit protocol handling on all websites:
- Tap .
- Open Websites.
- At the bottom of the page, click Advanced site settings.
- In the Protocol processing section, select Forbidden.
