Default Email Client not being called

[mps803]

POP Peeper running here on Win10 22H2 x86.

In Options > General > EMail client, I can read 'Leaving this field blank will use the default email client'.

Unfortunately, leaving Email client text box empty doesn't work as described on my system

My default email client currently is 'eM Client', installed from Microsoft Store (so there's no way of selecting path & EXE), but the same is true for Windows Mail included in Win10.

Is there anything I can do (except registering POP Peeper as default, or changing to 'traditional' clients like Thunderbird et al.)?

[mjs]

Welcome to the forum mps803,

My first thought is - are you sure you've got "eM Client" set as your Windows "Mail" default where you can choose your Windows default apps? (you might want to double-check to make sure your "Mail" default is in fact "eM Client").

That said (as far as taking the approach of entering a path in the POP Peeper "Email client" setting to your "eM Client" path location, instead of leaving the value blank), try simply doing a right-click on the "eM Client" desktop shortcut icon and select "Properties" to find the "exe" target location (TB example below) assuming the install placed a shortcut on the desktop - if not read further down in this post for an alternate method to find the "target path" for the "exe" file:

then right-click copy the "Target" path and enter (paste) that "Target" path in POP Peeper (w/out the quotes) for the "Email client:" path setting (from the "Properties" window) to see if this works for you.

You mentioned quote: "My default email client currently is 'eM Client', installed from Microsoft Store (so there's no way of selecting path & EXE), but the same is true for Windows Mail included in Win10.". While you're correct to say there is probably an issue with "Windows Mail" because by design there is no .exe file extension for the app but rather an .mui extension is used (i.e. C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Mail\en-US\WinMail.exe.mui), I don't see why there would be an issue with "eM Client" since it does use a standard "exe" file (see below).

In regards to the "eM Client" - you should be able locate the "MailClient.exe" executable that the "eM Client" uses which should be located in a subdirectory of "C:\Program Files".

If you don't have an "eM Client" desktop icon you can do the following (alternate method to get the executable path):
1) Look in your “Start” menu for your "eM Client" app and do a Right-click on the “Start” menu shortcut for the application.
2) Then select "More" > "Open file location".
3) This will open a File Explorer window that points to the actual application shortcut file. Right click on that shortcut to select “Properties”.
4) This will provide you with the "Target" path you can enter (copy/paste) into the POP Peeper "Email client:" path setting (w/out quotes).

Let us know if any of the above helped to resolve the POP Peeper Email Client issue.

[mps803]

For the first, thanks mjs for your effort

And yes, eM Client definitely is my standard mail handler.

Unfortunately none of your suggestions will work for me.

To make things short, Win10 and above do handle Store apps in a totally different way than previous OS versions before when no Store apps existed. Since Win10, this sort of apps is stored in a secure place where no access to their files - including EXEs - is possible, thereby preventing users, and malicious attackers from outside as well, from causing damages to the entire app installation.

In consequence, all files including EXEs belonging to such an Store app installation cannot be located the usual way such as using Explorer or standard File Open dialogs. It follows that, (1st) shortcuts cannot be created, and (2nd) EXE paths cannot be extracted from such shortcuts. So I'm afraid your first suggestion rules out.

In your second suggestion, enumeration's #2 doesn't work, too, since I don't see any ListItem "Open file location". This is true for all Store Apps on my system, while "legacy apps" from previous OS Versions such as Win7 actually do have this ListItem.

In conclusion it seems to me that POP Peeper simply lacks the ability of calling the standard mail handler, should the latter be a Store app. Guess it would be a good idea to close this breach in future versions.

By the way, POPMan, a competing product from Germany, shows the same effect which was the reason for me to change to POP Peeper.

[mjs]

Hmm, wasn't aware of all this (you've mentioned you used the "Microsoft Store", so then this raises the question; would this intrusive approach on their "Store apps" also apply to the "Google Store" as well?) -- in that case (the way "Store apps" work) I would download from the "eM Client" website: https://www.emclient.com, instead of using a "Store app". I've actually never used a "Store app" for anything and instead have always used a "conventional" install from an apps download site that wouldn't have all of these issues getting to the executable. I definitely want shortcuts and feel comfortable depending upon my security software (which should be sufficient) to protect the app as opposed to going the "Store apps" route with all the limitations they impose for the sake of (they say) "security" . I use Rambox (for a number of fully encrypted Email Service accounts, among others, that can be problematic in Email Clients) which would presumably have issues the way your describing how the Microsoft "Store app" imposes an overzealous security mechanism on their "Store apps" (my cynical side ponders the possibility that part of their goal is to perhaps enforce more control over software installed via their "Store app").

[mps803]

Didn't realize yet that there's a "traditional" version of eM Client as well. I was so focused on that Store app 'cause I urgently wanted an email client launching quicker than my sluggish Thunderbird. Store apps usually start extremely fast though eM seems to be an excemption, but it's much faster than Thunderbird was. So I'm going to remove eM Client's Store app and try its conventional counterpart. Agreed, this should finally solve the problem. I'll report here when the time comes.

And yes, you're right: Store apps may offer more security against viruses and other threats from outside, but using them - especially Microsoft's - means to hand over control about one's software inventory to the company. By the end of the day it's the company that decides if, in which extensive, and how long one will be allowed to use their software products. You may remember to Microsoft's tablet model "Surface S" that was entirely and exlusively supplied with software from Microsoft Store. After users realized this constricting limitation, sales dropped quickly, and as with Windows Phones before, Microsoft took it out from the market.

Dwindling control is actually true for Google Play Store, too - with one big difference: Unlike Microsoft, they've got tons of software products there for almost every requirement plus countless developers worldwide who constantly add and modify pretty much cool stuff (useful apps meant, but not those threatening things "phoning home" or so). So, if one specific product gets the axe by vendor, it won't be too difficult finding a replacement: done by user, not by company...

[Jeff]

I would agree that installing the non-Store app is probably the best solution.

However, just in case anyone wants to use a MS-Store app (e.g. Mail), there is a work-around:
1) Create a link to the app on your desktop (one way to do this is to drag the program from the Start Menu onto the desktop)

2) Set POP Peeper to use this link as the email client. Unfortunately, you will need to type this manually as trying to use the "browse" button doesn't work very well. But let's say you've created the shortcut on your desktop as "MailApp", the default filepath to set for the email client would be:
C:\Users\{username}\Desktop\MailApp.lnk
You should be able to move this link to a different folder if you want, but I haven't explicitly tested that; just make sure you update the filepath in PP's settings.

Also, this method won't work for everything that PP supports, but if all you want to do is to be able to easily open your email client from PP, then this method should work.

[mps803]

... 1) Create a link to the app on your desktop (one way to do this is to drag the program from the Start Menu onto the desktop)...

Works (can't believe I didn't find out this by myself ).

...You should be able to move this link to a different folder if you want, but I haven't explicitly tested that ...

I did and it nicely works, too.

Big thanks to you folks for your helpful assistance

[Jeff]

You're welcome