Introduction
xdg-email opens the systems default email composer. This page describes how end users can set the default email composer to their preferred email application in the various desktop environments.
Gnome
[Verified on Fedora Core 5]
Go to the System menu at the top of the screen and select Preferences-->More Preferences--->Preferred Applications.
To make Evolution the default email composer set the Mail Reader option to Evolution Mail Reader and close the dialog.
To make KMail the default email composer set the Mail Reader option to Custom and as Command enter kmailservice %s. DO NOT set the Mail Reader option to KMail, this will incorrectly set the command to kmail %s which does not correctly process options that set the subject, add attachments or that add additional e-mail addresses.
To make Mozilla Thunderbird the default email composer set the Mail Reader option to Thinderbird Mail and close the dialog. Current versions (1.5) of Thunderbird are not able to automatically add attachments to e-mail messages.
KDE
[Verified on SUSE Linux 10.0]
Go to the menu at the bottom left of the screen and start the Control Center. Then select KDE Components and Component Chooser.
To make Evolution the default email composer select the Use a different e-mail client checkbox and enter evolution %u as command line and then click the Apply button.
To make KMail the default email composer select the use KMail checkbox and then click the Apply button.
To make Mozilla Thunderbird the default email composer select the Use a different e-mail client checkbox and enter thunderbird %u as command line and then click the Apply button. Current versions (1.5) of Thunderbird are not able to automatically add attachments to e-mail messages.