Relevant to
✅ App ✅ Website ❎ Capitec Widget
Fortunately, this is not a problem with EasyEquities, but rather a problem with the setup of your operating system.
We have embedded special code in the hyperlink so that when you click on the red "Generate Email" button (which will appear after you've clicked the "Mail invitation" button above it), an email should open in your default email program with a special link inside it. If your system isn't set up properly, your PC doesn't know what to do with it and so nothing happens. This is something you should definitely resolve as it won't only benefit you on EasyEquities, but will benefit you on many other sites as you navigate the internet.
How do I fix it?
Basically, using email you should fall into one of 2 camps. You either:
- Use a desktop email application like Microsoft Outlook or Apple mail, or
- Use a browser-based email application like Gmail, Yahoo etc which you access through a favourite browser like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari.
Setting up Microsoft Outlook as your default email app
The first thing you want to do is let Windows know you'd like to use Outlook as your default email application - unfortunately this explanation applies to Microsoft operating systems only, but the principles around associating your operating system and browser with your desired email client will be similar in Mac and other OS.
Choose default application
- Type the words "default app" into the search facility (little magnifying glass) in the bottom-left of the screen. Older versions of Windows may have a different method of finding default app settings.
- Click the "Default app settings". Doing so will cause a pop-up to open.
- A the very top of the pop-up, just beneath the "Default apps" heading, you should see "Email". If there is nothing directly beneath the Email header, or something other than Outlook, click on the item there and select Outlook from the options presented to you (please note you need to have a functioning license of Microsoft Outlook for this to work)
Choose default protocol
Next, you want to ensure that when you are browsing the internet and you click on a link containing an email address and using the mailto protocol, that Windows knows where to open that email.
- Type the word "protocol" into the search field in the bottom left of your windows screen
- Windows should display a "Choose a default app for each protocol" return in the search box above.
- Click on that option.
- This should open a pop-up window, divided into 2 columns with the "Name of protocol" column on the left, and a "default app" column on the right.
- Scroll down until you get to the Mailto protocol
- In the right-hand column alongside Mailto, you should see either:
a. No app associated with that protocol. In this case you can click on the "+ Choose a default" and then pick Outlook from the options, or
b. The wrong app associated with that protocol. In this case click on the app already associated and windows will present you with some options.
c. Select Outlook from the options presented.
Provided the browser you use is setup to also interpret the mailto protocol correctly, following the instructions above should correctly open all mailto links on the internet in MS Outlook for you.
Sometimes compatibility issues may arise, so if it is still not working, you may need to further configure the browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet explorer etc) you are using to navigate the EasyEquities website through. You can do this for the various browsers by following the instructions in the article listed under point 2 below.
Setting up a browser-based email application
If you use Gmail, Yahoo mail or another web-based email application that you access through a browser, then you need that browser to understand how to deal with mailto links.
While some the menu systems on some browsers may change slightly from time to time this article gives a good outline as to how to Set Gmail as your browsers default mail client.
While this article refers specifically to Gmail, the principles are identical for the setup of Yahoo and other web-based email applications, you would just choose the alternative email service from the options available.
Please Note
We don't claim this to be a complete list. With the myriad of different operating systems, email applications and browsers around these days, they sometimes don't work together exactly as we'd like them to.
But there is a wealth of information on the internet and if you search for terms like "How to setup my gmail / yahoo mail etc a default mailto protocol", you should find an article that helps you achieve this. Or ask a clever friend who is tech-savvy.