Instantly Email a Webpage URL from Safari or Chrome with a Keyboard Shortcut in Mac OS X
Anytime you find yourself reading something particularly interesting, worthwhile, or helpful on the web (like OSXDaily.com) you may find yourself wishing you could share the active URL quickly with someone else. While many users may manually copy and paste the sites URL to an email client, there’s a better way that is supported by both Chrome and Safari web browsers: an awesome keyboard shortcut to instantly share a webpage through email.
The instant email URL sharing shortcut is Command+Shift+i and it’s super easy to use, much easier than doing the copy and paste routine, here’s how it works:
1: Navigate to the Web Page URL to Share with Email
Browsing the web from Safari or Chrome as usual, just stop at any URL that you want to send along through an email. The example screenshot here uses this page to send to a friend to help them out, but you can choose literally anything page or site on the web to send along this way.
2: Hit Command+Shift+i to Include the URL in an Email
Hitting Command+Shift+i will instantly launch the default email client and have a pre filled new message composition with the URL’s title as the email subject, and the URL as the email body. Simply state who you want to send it to and add a message if you want, and send away.
What’s particularly awesome about this is that it works with whatever the Macs default email client is set to, whether that’s Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook, or even Gmail webmail, the Command+Shift+i shortcut will use it, regardless of whether it’s coming from Safari or Chrome.
Now just write and send the email as usual. Simple, easy sharing, and it’s much faster than copying the webpage URL, opening the mail app, and then pasting the link into the email and filling out the subject and what not, right?
This keyboard shortcut may even be supported by Firefox, but I don’t have it installed at the moment to test it out, let us know in the comments if you happen to know.
And for the Mac Safari users out there, don’t miss these 31 essential Safari keyboard shortcuts for OS X. Of course this is Mac only, as iOS already has these type of email sharing features built directly into Safari (and Chrome), as well as throughout the OS in general with the Share Sheets functionality.
Thanks, I don’t want to “share” using gmail, I want to use Mac, “Mail” How do I stop gmail from trying to open. I disconnected Crome hoping it would revert to using Mail. It still try to open and free me to use gmail.
Thanks, Larry
Your instructions do not work on High Sierra 10.13.3. Please update your instructions. I have always had the option of clicking the share icon in the top menu and selecting what way I want to send the web address. Twice now with High Sierra updates the email option has gone missing.
Don’t have a phone, have a PC and chrome, how can I do that? Use to be able to do it thru your mail system, not now. Can’t send web pages at all. Any help for us Senior PC users?
Don’t have a phone, have a PC and chrome, how can I do that? Use to be able to do it thru your mail system, not now. Can’t send web pages at all. Any help for us Senior PC users?
Sorry, it does nothing on Chrome, on Mac 10.11.6. Not selecting the menu item nor hitting command+shfit+I
Fantastic!!! works like a charm.
On OSx 10.9.4 this works from Safari but not from Firefox.
There’s also Safari’s Share button.
Doesn’t work for this 10.9.2 user, nor does the stuff under this link: https://osxdaily.com/2012/02/09/gmail-default-email-client-for-chrome-firefox-safari/
I assure you both the Gmail default email and this keyboard shortcut works in OS X 10.9.2 as well as every other version of OS X, it’s an old trick that is very useful, but what is possible is that your keystroke is set differently or being overridden. In Chrome, you can pull down the “File” menu to see the “Email Page Location” keyboard shortcut that is set, and in Safari you can also find it in the File menu. See what is listed there.
And command+i emails the complete web page as an HTML email