Yahoo! Mail Blog, UK and Ireland

I wanted to share one more new feature of the all-new mail with you. It’s something that you may have noticed already, but if not I thought I’d let you know that it’s there. First, a question (not applicable to you Apple users)… How many times have you been working on that all-important document, and all of a sudden - ZAP - your computer crashes and you lose all of your hard work?

Well with the all-new Yahoo! Mail, you never have to worry about that with your Yahoo! emails. As you type and the minutes tick away, the all-new Yahoo! mail is working in the background to help make sure that power failures and other niggly computer problems don’t make you lose that important email you’re writing. Of course I’m talking about the “auto-save” feature, which saves a copy of your email to the Drafts folder at regular intervals. You can tell your message has been saved into your Drafts folder as pictured here:

Of course you can always use the “Save Draft” button at the top of your message if you want to save it to your drafts folder more frequently.

So if you didn’t have time to finish your message or if you just needed to step away from the computer, not to worry, we’ll save your message to your Drafts folder and you can continue it at your leisure. And in the event when your computer should crash (I’m sure you Apple users are laughing at us Windows users) we’ve got you covered with the Auto-save feature.

Happy emailing!
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Team

We’ve been listening to your feedback over these past months since the all-new mail came out of beta. One of the features that you asked for was a way to download multiple attachments at once. Well, we heard you loud and clear.

So, over the next few days we will be rolling this feature out. Here is a screenshot of how it will look in your message. So when you receive a message that contains more than one attachment, you’ll see this:

All you have to do is click “Download All” to get all at once!

(Note: Occasionally, you may not see the Download All link above a message with multiple attachments. Sometimes the manner in which an individual file is named prevents it from being grouped together with other files. In these cases, you’ll need to download attachments the old way, one by one.)

As with many of our enhancements to mail, not everyone gets the new feature at once. So if you don’t see the “Download All” link, be patient, everyone will have this feature soon.

** Please note… The download all feature will download all the files into one compressed (.zip) file which then needs to be unzipped in order to view all the files. Windows XP and Vista both deal with .zip files as part of the operating system. If you are having trouble with the “download all” feature, you may need to install Winzip or another file compression software.

Happy emailing!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

Today, I thought I’d share a personal experience on how something that’s so second nature to me, is perceived so differently through the eyes of someone else. To encourage you to read this post, I’ve put a tip at the end.

Here’s the scenario: I was setting up a new Yahoo! Mail account for my mum the other day. I KNOW!! She doesn’t already use Yahoo! Mail?!?! Well the answer is no. In fact, she doesn’t really use the Internet at all, until now. My dad got her a new laptop for Christmas and she’s just getting around to using it now.

At the moment, she’s just going to use it for email, and maybe some Web surfing. She wants to be in touch with her book-group and another group she meets up with. So while setting up the account, it got me to thinking what’s the easiest way for my mum to logon to her new email account? And as I was saying, “Click this picture, also known as an icon (BTW – I like Vista for the option to have those huge icons), then go to bookmarks, then click on this one that’s called Yahoo Mail, and then login.” I was thinking there’s got to be easier way, and then I was thinking how do other people logon to their mail?

So I asked around the team, and what I’ve found a large percentage of users do… They open an Internet browser, and then search for Yahoo Mail, and then click the Yahoo Mail search result. I’m going to assume that it’s mostly Internet explorer for the browser and mostly some other search engine I’m not going to name ;). But then that’s probably what my mum would do too, whereas I would never think to do that. But since my mum doesn’t know what a URL is or what http:// stands for, it makes more sense to me now. I’ve been immersed in this stuff for so long now, what seems second nature to me is completely foreign to someone like my mum.

So the next time the next you’re trying to explain something to someone, think about whether or not my Mum would understand it.

So here’s the tip, which is my solution to the “easier way” from above and how my mum gets to her mail each day. I put a shortcut on her desktop that goes directly to Yahoo! Mail. Here’s one way that you can do it for your mum (although I know that there’s a number of ways to do it):

- All you need to do is click and drag this link – Login to Yahoo Mail – onto your mum’s desktop.
- Make sure her desktop is clutter free so that it’s easy to see the shortcut, and if you have Window’s Vista you can turn on those really huge icons, which my mum really likes.
- The shortcut icon you get may look like one of the two shortcuts above. I thought that it has to do with which browser you have set to be the default browser, but my tests have proved inconclusive.

Now this tip is not meant for my mum, it’s meant for people like me who want to help their friends and family get the most out of their Internet experience. But I promise, mum, I’ll get working on some tips just for you!!

Happy emailing!!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

Quite often in this blog, I like to offer some tips and suggestions about how to get the most out of mail. So for today’s tip, I’m offering an alternative to checking your mail from an internet browser, plus a whole host of other fun and useful applications.

I wanted to introduce you to the Yahoo! Widget Engine (I’ve been using it since it was called Konfabulator). For those of you who don’t know what a widget is, it’s a small little program on your computer to complete a specified task. There’s an introductory video that explains it better than I can. Of course, I’m sure that you Mac (and now Windows Visa) users know what widgets are already.

After you download and install the widget engine, within the suite of incredibly useful widgets that comes with the application is the Yahoo! Mail Checker. With that widget you can have a notification of when you receive your Yahoo! Mail and you don’t even have to open a browser to find it.

Unfortunately, the Yahoo! Mail Checker is on the second page of the dock. So one really useful suggestion I have is to right click on the widgets that you don’t think you’ll need and delete them from the dock. Keep doing that until the Yahoo! Mail Checker is on the first page of the widget dock (for example, I don’t need the CPU monitor). If anyone on the widget team is reading this, maybe you can let us reorder the default order of the widgets that get installed.

Now that you have the Widget engine installed, I hope you have fun playing around and finding out all the useful widgets that are out there. My all-time personal favorite is widescapeWeather for its simplicity and functionality (exactly what a widget is supposed to be).

Happy emailing!!
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Team

I always like to end things on a high. That’s why I love being able to add a special signature at the end of my emails. Just a little something that’s all mine, with some contact details thrown in for good measure. You can do it too. Add a saying, a proverb, a phrase that sums you up. It’s up to you how you sign off.

It’s easy to do, just start by click on Options, then selecting Mail Options. Then from the list on the left click on Compose. In the centre of the page after “Signature:” select “Show a signature on all outgoing messages”. On the far right of the message window above the text area click either Plain Text (yawn) or Rich Text (cool and colourful stuff) before you start writing your signature in the text area. Finish off by clicking Save Changes.

There you go. Time for me to sign off.
Happy emailing!
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Team

In today’s tip I wanted to draw your attention to a feature of the all-new Yahoo! Mail that – by reading through your feedback – you either love or you find a real pain ;-). Today’s topic is the reading pane.

What is it?
The reading pane allows you to preview messages without having to double-click on them to open them in a new tab or window. When you log into the all-new mail for the very first time, it’s turned on by default. Most people really like it, however there is a small number of your fellow users that think is takes up too much screen real-estate.

Do you love the reading pane?
If you do, here are two tips to help you get the most out of the reading pane.

First you can resize the preview pane to make it suit the size of your screen. Just put your mouse over the dividing line between your message list and the preview pane. When your mouse pointer turns into an up-and-down arrow, click and drag the line to make the pane bigger or smaller. Just like in the screenshot to the right.

Second, for a little more advanced tip for the reading pane, click on the “Options” menu in your Inbox (hint: it’s the link labeled “Options” in the picture below for those folks who aren’t favourable about the reading pane). Then click on “Mail Options”. On that screen you’re going to see this option that let’s you set what happens to the mail message when you look at it in the reading pane:

So if you don’t want the message to get marked as read when you’re viewing it in the reading pane, just select “Never” from the pick-list.

Do you hate the reading pane?
If you do, and I know there is a small minority out there that really doesn’t like the reading pane. Here’s a quick tip I know you’re going to love. Take a look at this picture of the “view menu”. See that “v” next to the menu item “Reading Pane”. That’s a short cut key to show or hide the reading pane at the touch of a key. Try it out. When you’re in your Inbox, just hit the “v” key and see what happens.

Love it or hate it. Those are some quick tips to help you use it the way that suits you best. If you love it, which is most of you, those tips should really come in handy. If you don’t love it, use that “v” key tip to hide and show the preview pane. I think if you use the reading pane more, you might just grow to love it.

Happy emailing,
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

Are you like I was? Always sneaking back to your Mailbox to check if you’d got any messages. Well, if you’ve got a Yahoo! Toolbar, all that hassle can be a distant memory.

Mail Alerts
Looking at the feedback that you send us, it seems that you’re on the lookout for a way to be alerted when you get new mail in your inbox. So for this tip, I’m suggesting the Yahoo! Toolbar if you’re looking for a way to get notification for the arrival of new messages.

The Y! Toolbar has got lots of cool features, like blocking pop ups and a box to search the web from. But, for me, the best thing is the Mail button. Because, wherever you are on the web, the minute you get mail a little alert will pop up on the Toolbar to let you know. From there, it’s one click to your inbox.

Want the Yahoo! Toolbar? It’s free, find out more here. There’s a version for IE and Firefox.

If you’ve already got it you can add the Mail button (if it’s not there already). All it takes is one click here.

One Toolbar is plenty
By the way, one toolbar is enough – if you’ve got a bunch of the things, which you don’t use, just get rid of them. Ther’s a couple of ways to do that (on Windows at least), navigate to the control panel (from the Start Menu), enter Control Panel, open Add/Remove Programs and REMOVE the toolbars you don’t want.

Alternatively, you can click View, then click Toolbars and un-check the ones you don’t want to see. Amazingly it works the same for Firefox and IE. Good riddance.

Happy Emailing!
Andrew - Yahoo Mail Team

I love the features of the all-new Yahoo! Mail. But reading through your comments, I see a number of you prefer the classic version to the all-new version. It’s easy to switch - just do the following:

Take a look at the image above. When you’re logged into mail, just click the link to “Mail Classic” at the top of the page. Then just click the button called “Switch to Yahoo! Mail Classic”. When you switch back, you’ll be asked to send us feedback. You don’t have to, but we love to hear what you have to think.

Happy emailing!
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Team

NOTE: Thanks to a comment from Lee Fuller, I’ve amended this post to account for the different versions of Yahoo Mail…

There’s lots of reasons to get a second email address. You’ve got a special project going that needs a special address. You want all those emails about online purchases going to one place. You want to keep one for friends and family and one for everyone else. Or, you could be like me and just like the extra flexibility it gives you.

For the all-new Yahoo! Mail:
It’s a piece of cake to get set up. Just click Options, then select Mail Options. Go to the list on the left then click Accounts. You’ll find the bottom half of the page is cunningly called “Extra Mail Address”. Just click Get Started and follow the instructions. Couldn’t be simpler.

For the classic version of Yahoo! Mail:
It’s still a piece of cake to get set up. Just click Options, then select Mail (if it’s not already selected). Go to the list on the right then click Mail Addresses. You’ll be able to add, edit and delete the extra addresses from there. Just like above, it couldn’t be simpler.

Happy emailing!
Andrew - Yahoo! Mail Team

There’s nothing more annoying than losing an email. We do have a very powerful search engine in Yahoo! Mail but sometimes the phrase you’re searching on is so vague and general that you end up trawling through masses of messages, even after you’ve filtered your inbox with a search.

Our engineers have delivered a great solution to this. Now, when I type a term (”golf” in the example below), not only do I get the mass of messages matching that term in the inbox view but I also see a breakdown of all matching emails categorised by sender, folder, date, attachment type and message status.

Click this image to see a full-size version:

So now, if I’m looking for the photos my dad sent me from our last game of golf, I just type search for “golf”, then hop to the category box and look up emails from my dad as the sender. Or, I could choose only photo attachment types. Either way, I find what I’m looking for, double quick.

Happy email finding
Jon, Yahoo! Mail Team