Yahoo! Mail Blog, UK and Ireland

I don’t know about you, but I have this funny feeling that this summer is shaping up to be a repeat of last summer (not in a good way). Well, at least here in London, things have been grey as all get out. So to brighten your day, I thought I’d share with you, a new feature that’s recently launched in the all-new version of Yahoo Mail.

If you use the all-new version of Yahoo! Mail, and if you email a lot of photos, you probably have already seen this feature, but just in case you haven’t come across it, there is a new feature that was added that allows you to view the photos that are attached to your yahoo mail directly from your Inbox.

Here’s how it works (easy as 1-2-3):
For this example, I’m working with an email that includes three photos, but the same applies whether there are 2 or 200 photos attached. When I open up the message that has photos attached to it, the bottom of the message is going to look like this (without those crazy red boxes and numbers):

1. If you click ‘1’ you will be able to view the image directly from within the all-new Yahoo! Mail interface.
2. If you click ‘2’ you’ll start a slideshow that will allow you to scroll through all the images attached, which is very similar behavior to number ‘1’. (For more detail on ‘1’ and ‘2’, have a look further down this post to the next image where I’ll talk about the image viewer.)
3. But, after all the oohs and ahhs have worn off, this is what I REALLY like about this new feature… If you liked the download all feature, you’re really going to love this. ‘3’ allows you select from the attached pictures and only download the ones that you choose. All you have to do is put a check in the box of the pictures you want to download and then click the “download selected”. Of course you can still download all, but let’s face it I’m not that good of a photographer.

So what’s this image viewer all about?
If you’re still reading, let’s take a look at what happens when you click ‘1’ or ‘2’ from above. A sort of window pops up (it’s really an overlay) with the image you just clicked:

So here’s what you can do with the photo-viewer when it pops up (staying with the easy as 1-2-3 theme):

1. Whether you click on a picture or the slideshow link, you can scroll through the pictures that are attached to the image. So what’s the difference? Well if you click the slideshow link, then it starts with the first image, and if you click a specific image, you’ll then go to the next image.
2. Clicking ‘2’ will stop and start the slide show. If the slideshow is playing the text in the red box above will say “pause” instead of “play”.
3. Clicking ‘3’ does exactly what it says on the tin. To close your photo-preview or slideshow, just click the “close” button.

So that’s it. The beauty is in the simplicity, and I still think the ability to download selected photos is fantastic!! Unfortunately, this feature is only available to users of the all-new mail, so if you’re a classic mail user, feel free to switch.

Happy Photo Viewing!
Andrew – Yahoo Mail! Team

Reading through the feedback that you send us here on the Yahoo! Mail Beta team, I see a lot of comments/questions about how best to send photos through Mail. One suggestion that I can offer is – in fact – not to send Photos through mail. A much easier, robust and fun alternative exists, and it’s right at your fingertips. It’s called Flickr – the award winning photos sharing site – that just happens to be another great Yahoo! site.

So how does it work?
Simple really. Just log into Flickr with your Yahoo! ID. (If it’s your first time logging into Flickr you get to choose a screen name which can be different from your user ID). At this point you can upload a photo, or if you have a whole bunch of photos you can use one of the Flickr uploading tools. When you’re finished uploading, you can change the title, enter a description or add a tag.

Once you’re finished uploading, find the link on the bottom-right side of the page called “Send to a friend”. Enter an email address, or two, or three. Write a witty message. Then click send. That’s all there is to it.

So why is this good?
This way is an excellent way to share photos for so many reasons it’s going to be hard to list them all here. But what the heck, I’ll give it a go:

• Your photos aren’t constrained by size
• You don’t overstuff your friends’ inboxes (hey, we know not everyone uses Yahoo! with unlimited storage – but you’ll change that right? )
• One link gives them access to all of your photos
• Create groups in Flickr for your friends and family and when you upload new pictures they can be alerted right away.
• Your friends and family can leave comments and everyone can see the comments (sure beats reply-all)
• You can place your photos on a map (how addictive is that?!?!)
• And so much more

A fun way to get started with Flickr is by just exploring. It’s fun, addictive and a great way to share photos with friends, family and a world-wide photo community.

Happy snapping!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Beta Team

The next time you compose keep your eyes peeled for a little “present” from the Mail Beta team. Every once in a while, when you are composing an email you might see an ad that looks a little like this:

If you click and drag that Liam from the ad over to the email you’re composing it will add that Liam to your message.

There are three Liam’s to collect and share with your friends at the moment. There’s the boxer Liam pictured above and two others you’ll have to find on your own. So send a load of emails and see if you can find them all.

Happy Emailing
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Beta Team

Do you send a lot of attachments with your email? Then here’s a quick tip that I know you’ll like. When you need to add an attachment (photos, documents, etc.) to an email message while using Yahoo! Mail Beta, do you normally add the attachment as the last step? For example, you write the whole message and then you add the attachment.

Well, why don’t you give this a try…
Try doing it the complete opposite way. Upload your attachments first before you write your message. Then, after you’re done attaching, write your email. Try it this way just once, and you’ll never go back to the old way.

Happy emailing!
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Beta Team