diff --git a/bin/wmail b/bin/wmail
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..27addc40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/wmail
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+case "x-$MAILER" in
+x-|x-browser)
+	# start mail in a new window
+	web 'mailto://'$1
+	;;
+*)
+	9term $MAILER
+	;;
+esac
diff --git a/plumb/basic b/plumb/basic
index a20d083d..464b954c 100644
--- a/plumb/basic
+++ b/plumb/basic
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ plumb start wdoc2txt $file
 type is text
 data matches '[a-zA-Z0-9_+.\-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9_+.\-]*'
 plumb to sendmail
-plumb start window rc -c '''echo % mail '''$0'; mail '$0
+plumb start wmail $0
+# plumb start window rc -c '''echo % mail '''$0'; mail '$0
 
 # image files go to page
 type is text