Learn to Send Email from Web Map Pop-Ups

The main purpose of authoring and sharing a web map is to communicate information. But did you know that people can also communicate directly with your organization using email embedded in an online map?

Web map pop-ups can be configured to display data-driven text, links, and photos and, yes, even send email. Email can be sent directly from configured web map pop-ups. Which configuration approach is best will be determined by how the email addresses are stored in the layer attributes. This tip shows you how to send an email directly from a pop-up and covers one example of how the email might be stored—as an email address (somebody@company.com). To learn how to store it as a mailto link (mailto:somebody@company.com?subject=Hello), read this blog.

You can follow along using a sample web map. Save a copy of the map in your ArcGIS Online account before you begin.

The map contains two layers: Office Location (original) and Office Location (configured). The original layer does not have a configured pop-up; it’s the default and unimproved display of attributes. Use this layer to follow along with the instructions below. The configured layer has a configured pop-up using all the email options described in this tip.

The unconfigured pop-up

Click the symbol on the map to display the pop-up. In the original pop-up shown below, the email address is stored in two ways. The Email field stores the address as a string in the format somebody@company.com. The Mailto field stores the address as a string in the format mailto:somebody@company.com?subject=Hello.

Note that both are displayed as text strings rather than links. Using the techniques described below, the pop-up can be configured to use both email string formats as clickable email links in the layer pop-up.

To configure the pop-up, click Content and move your mouse pointer over the layer name to highlight it, then click the layer context menu (the dots) to reveal More Options.

Choose Configure Pop-up from the options list. This will display the pop-up properties.

Email stored as a mailto link

The Mailto string can be configured as a mailto link in the pop-up by either of two methods using pop-up properties:

Method 1—Using a custom attribute display

1. From the pop-up properties dialog box, choose A custom attribute display.
2. Click CONFIGURE.
   
3. Along with other desired text and attributes, enter a text string to use for the email link and then select it.
4. Click Create Link to add a link to the selected text.
5. In the URL text box, enter the field name containing the mailto string enclosed in the curly braces—in this case, the field name is {Mailto}.Note: You can add the Mailto field to your custom attribute display, then copy and paste it into the URL text box instead of typing. A warning will appear, but you can disregard it.
6. Click the Set button to the link properties.
   
7. Click OK, then save the pop-up configuration and map. The pop-up now includes the mailto attribute as a clickable link.
   

Method 2—Using an image link

1. Open the Configure Pop-ups dialog for the same layer. From the Pop-up Media section of pop-up properties, choose ADD Image.
   
2. In the Configure Image dialog box, add a title and caption as desired.
3. Choose a field name for the URL. This field contains the URL to an image that will be displayed. In this example, it is of the symbol for an envelope.
4. Add the field name containing the mailto string to the Link text box.
5. Click OK.
   
6. Save your pop-up configuration and your map. The pop-up now includes an image that can be clicked (or tapped, if using a device) to send an email.
   

For more information, see Configure pop-ups.