This Chrome extension saves you from default email app horror

There are two popular ways to get your website’s visitors in touch with you — and they both suck.

One of them is to create a contact form, which makes users go through the painful process of filling in a ton of boxes just to send a message. But there’s something worse, and it always gets me by surprise.

Whenever someone hides a mailto: link behind a set of words, clicking it means stepping into a horrifying portal to email hell. This tweet describes it all:

Clicks "contact us" button

Oh no. It's a mailto:

Apple Mail is opening

"Syncing 14,321 emails"

No, no, no, no, nooooo

— Mike Coutermarsh (@mscccc) October 31, 2016

Thanks to web developer Matt Downing, this never has to happen again. Inspired by this tweet, he built NoMailto, a simple Chrome extension that saves you from those pesky links opening up your default mail app.

Instead of the link messing up your workflow, you now get the option to copy the address to your clipboard or open the app on your own terms.

It’s a simple, but powerful, solution to an annoying problem we’ve all been dealing with for a while. As I use the web-based Google Inbox, I don’t need the links anyway, and copying the address to my clipboard is almost always the more convenient option. I’m never opening Apple Mail again.