How to Create a mailto Link With Subject, Body, CC and BCC

A mailto: link opens the visitor's email app with a message already addressed, and optionally pre-filled with a subject and body. It is the simplest "contact us" mechanism on the web, but the details of encoding trip up many developers. This guide gives you the exact syntax from the standard, tested examples and a troubleshooting list.

The basic syntax

mailto:name@example.com
mailto:name@example.com?subject=Hello
mailto:name@example.com?subject=Hello&body=Nice%20to%20meet%20you

The scheme is defined by RFC 6068. Everything after ? is a list of name=value parameters (the standard calls them header fields) joined by &. The address part can contain several comma-separated addresses.

All the fields you can set

Field	How to write it	Example
To	Address(es) after mailto:, comma-separated	mailto:a@example.com,b@example.com
CC	cc= parameter	?cc=manager@example.com
BCC	bcc= parameter	?bcc=archive@example.com
Subject	subject=, percent-encoded	?subject=Order%20question
Body	body=, percent-encoded	?body=Hi%20team%2C
Reply threading	in-reply-to= (rarely needed)	?in-reply-to=%3Cmessage-id%40example.com%3E

🔗mailto Link GeneratorA valid RFC 6068 mailto link with CC, BCC, subject, body and an HTML snippetOpen the tool →

RFC 6068 also allows a to parameter inside the query, but calls that form NOT RECOMMENDED because user agents handle it differently, and says an implementation must not produce two To: headers. Put every recipient in the address part.

Percent-encoding: the part that breaks links

URLs cannot contain raw spaces or reserved characters, so values must be percent-encoded. The standard says non-ASCII characters must first be encoded as UTF-8 and each octet then percent-encoded, that &, ; and = have to be escaped when they are not delimiters, and that all spaces SHOULD be encoded as %20:

Character	Encode as	Note
Space	%20	Do not use +; it is not a space in mailto
New line	%0D%0A	Carriage return + line feed; required in the body
&	%26	Otherwise it starts a new parameter
=	%3D	Otherwise it splits name and value
?	%3F	Otherwise it can start a second query
#	%23	Otherwise it starts a fragment
%	%25	Always encode the percent sign itself
+ in an address	%2B	The RFC says it MAY be encoded; encoding avoids being read as a space
Non-ASCII (Arabic, é, emoji)	UTF-8 percent-encoded	e.g. مرحبا → %D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AD%D8%A8%D8%A7

Do not try to do this by hand. In JavaScript, encodeURIComponent() already produces the right form for values (then replace the encoded @ back if you like):

const subject = 'Order #1234: where is it?';
const body = 'Hi team,\n\nMy order has not arrived.';
const href = 'mailto:support@example.com'
  + '?subject=' + encodeURIComponent(subject)
  + '&body='   + encodeURIComponent(body.replace(/\n/g, '\r\n'));
// mailto:support@example.com?subject=Order%20%231234%3A%20where%20is%20it%3F&body=Hi%20team%2C%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20order%20has%20not%20arrived.

Complete examples

Subject and body with a line break

<a href="mailto:support@example.com?subject=Order%20%231234&amp;body=Hi%20team%2C%0D%0A%0D%0AMy%20order%20has%20not%20arrived.">
  Email support
</a>

Multiple recipients, CC and BCC

mailto:sales@example.com,partners@example.com?cc=manager@example.com&bcc=crm@example.com&subject=Partnership%20enquiry

In HTML, escape the ampersands

Inside an HTML attribute write & between parameters. Browsers decode it to & before building the URL. The generator above produces the HTML snippet already escaped.

Why a mailto link does not work (and what to do)

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Nothing happens on click	The visitor has no default mail app configured (common on desktop browsers using webmail)	Show the plain address next to the link, or use a contact form
Body or subject is cut off	Some clients and browsers truncate very long URLs	Keep the whole link under about 2,000 characters
Line breaks are ignored	You used a literal newline or <br>	Use %0D%0A
Strange characters	The value was not UTF-8 percent-encoded	Encode the value with encodeURIComponent
The second parameter vanishes	A raw & inside a value, or & not escaped in HTML	Encode & as %26 in values
HTML formatting not shown	The body is plain text only	Do not put HTML in body
Attachment missing	The mailto scheme has no attachment support	Link to a download instead

Privacy, security and accessibility

• Harvesting: RFC 6068's security section notes that mailto URIs on public web pages expose addresses for harvesting. For a high-traffic page consider a form.
• No silent sending: a mail client SHOULD NOT send a message from a mailto URI without showing the user the full message first, so a link can pre-fill but not send.
• BCC leaks: the RFC warns that addresses in a bcc value may leak to others in the same value; use a single BCC address.
• Link text: use descriptive text such as "Email our support team" rather than "click here", for accessibility and clarity.

Practical patterns

Use case	Pattern	Tip
Support request with order context	?subject=Order%20%231234&body=Order%20number%3A%201234%0D%0A	Pre-fill the order ID so triage is faster
Share a page by email	?subject=Interesting%20article&body=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fpost	Percent-encode the whole URL inside the body
Sales enquiry to a shared mailbox	mailto:sales@example.com?subject=Pricing%20enquiry	Route to a role address so it survives staff changes
Feedback with a template	?body=What%20worked%3A%0D%0AWhat%20did%20not%3A%0D%0A	Keep it to two or three prompts

Keep pre-filled text short and neutral. Long drafts feel pushy, are more likely to be truncated and give visitors something to delete before they can write their own words.

mailto versus a contact form

Need	mailto	Contact form
Works with no server	Yes	No, needs a backend or service
Works if visitor has no mail app	No	Yes
Spam and harvesting exposure	Address is public	Address stays hidden
Structured data (order ID, category)	Only via pre-filled text	Real fields and validation
Attachments	Not supported	Possible

For a static site a mailto link is a reasonable first step; add a form when volume or spam grows. If you display the address as text too, check it is spelled correctly with the email address syntax guide.

Testing checklist

1. Click the link in the desktop mail app, in webmail registered as the handler and on a phone.
2. Check that spaces, non-Latin letters and line breaks appear correctly in the draft.
3. Confirm recipients, CC and BCC are in the right fields.
4. Check the total length of the link and keep it short.

If you collect these messages in a team inbox, set up proper authentication for the domain so replies and bounces behave: see the SPF, DKIM and DMARC guide.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add a subject and body to a mailto link?

Append ?subject=...&body=... after the address, with both values percent-encoded. In HTML write the ampersand as &.

How do I put a line break in a mailto body?

Use %0D%0A for each line break; RFC 6068 requires this encoding for line breaks in the body. Literal newlines or <br> tags are not reliable.

How do I send to multiple recipients with mailto?

Separate the addresses with commas in the first part: mailto:a@example.com,b@example.com.

Can a mailto link include an attachment?

No. The mailto scheme does not support attachments. Link to a download instead.

Is there a length limit for mailto links?

The standard does not set one, but browsers and mail clients may truncate long links. Staying under about 2,000 characters is a safe rule.

References & further reading

1. RFC 6068 — The mailto URI Scheme
2. RFC 3986 — URI Generic Syntax
3. MDN — Window.encodeURIComponent()