# Open URL \[mailto:you@domain.com?replyto=diffaddress@isp.com\] ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031 "2007-10-25T21:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/1 "2007-10-25T21:09:25Z")
Does the standard mailto: URL schema provide any support for encoding a reply-to header, so that email can be sent from one email address but replies to that email will go to an address other than the addy that it originated from? If so, what’s the grammar on that? ETA: I"m talking about URLs like this: [mailto:you@domain.com](mailto:you@domain.com)?subject=hello [world&cc=someone.else@somewhere.com](mailto:world&cc=someone.else@somewhere.com)&body=this is a test hello howdy I can utilize such URLs in a variety of settings. I’m asking whether in addition to the To: address, the subject, the cc, the bcc, and the body, I can encode an reply-to ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2007, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/2 "2007-10-25T21:46:46Z")
It’s a standard function for any decent email client, and almost all would obey it. Check out the account settings on your email client, and read “REPLY-TO” in section 4.4.3 [here](http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/) if you want more info. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/3 "2007-10-25T21:52:43Z")
And while you’re reading RFCs (don’t you love doing that? :rolleyes: ), [here](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2368.txt)’s the one that deals specifically with mailto:. If your mail client is RFC2368-compliant, you should be able to add any header you want (as outlined in **Nanoda** ’s link, above). ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/4 "2007-10-25T22:32:51Z")
But wouldn’t that open up a can of worms, er a can of SPAM? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/5 "2007-10-26T02:31:38Z")
Eudora (generally a respecter of standards) is ignoring reply-to it in either of the following two formats: [mailto:email@domain.net](mailto:email@domain.net)?subject=hello&reply-to=reply@aol.com&body=hi [mailto:email@domain.net](mailto:email@domain.net)?subject=hello&replyto=reply@aol.com&body=hi In both cases the email does get generated. I can’t see all the headers on outbound email but I address it to myself, using a sending account that does not itself have a built-in Reply-to header specified, and when it comes back in I can show all headers. There’s no reply-to header. (In contrast, if I sent from an account that IS set up with a reply-to header, it gets honored) Will try Apple’s Mail and some other email clients, but I was hoping someone would give me an URL-string that they could say definitely DOES work. I still am not seeing at any of the links posted above a highly specific example of the grammar of a mailto: URL that incorporates reply-to. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/6 "2007-10-26T03:47:15Z")
I wouldn’t think it’s string-specific, it’s client specific. Is there even a setting in Eudora that lets you manually type the reply-to into a new email? I can’t even type the FROM in Eudora (have to select). I can’t imagine Eudora would let a browser edit something that is programmed into its settings. How would the browser be able to do this? Can you edit the FROM using mailto? That’d be about as unsafe as being able to change the reply-to. Is there a reason you can’t use a form to send this mail? Most mail objects let you specify the reply-to, and a whole mess of other fields. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-url-mailto-you-domain-com-replyto-diffaddress-isp-com/424031/7 "2007-10-26T04:21:04Z")
a) You can’t edit the FROM in a mailto: url. It goes out from the account that the user is using, or, if they’ve got multiple accounts, from the default account. b) Eudora lets you edit the FROM header if you if you install the plug-in EMP Headers, which gives several extra preference panes one of which is EMP Switches. That’s less useful nowadays, as it’s strictly an aesthetic change (the actual account, and the login to the SMTP Server, is not going to change; which means that in today’s world most SMTP servers are going to spit it back and say “uh, I don’t think so”. But it would let you click right there on the FROM header and type something else, and (assuming the SMTP server didn’t stop it from going through) that’s how it would appear to the recipient. c) Another EMP pane, Personality Headers, lets you specify headers of your own choosing per each personality, and it does let you set up a Reply-To. This is more useful. You can send from one account and have replies come back to a different account. d) None of which has any bearing on whether or not a mailto: URL can specify a reply-to header. I am not claiming that it can, I am curious to know whether or not it can. If it can, I want to know the syntax. I can’t get it to work, which could indicate that it simply isn’t supported.