Big News for Yahoo! Mail

August 27th, 2007 at 9:30 am

I don’t understand how you can take it out of beta when half the stuff under the “Mail Options” tab is still under contruction. A lot of it still redirects you to the “classic yahoo mail” options… Is this stuff getting updated in the latest release?

August 27th, 2007 at 9:49 am

Does this mean that finally all the bugs in the former Beta will be fixed along with all the little annoyances? PLEASE option out the stupid pop-up dialog confirmation boxes!!!

August 27th, 2007 at 9:50 am

Hi Pete,

There are still some finishing touches to be made, but we think people will be happy with the all new Yahoo! Mail. Don’t forget, not everyone will be out of beta right away either. The rollout will occur over several weeks, but the easiest way to check is to look at the Yahoo! Mail logo on the top left of your screen. If the word “beta” is no longer there, you are in the new release. If not you may have to wait a little bit.

-Ryan

August 27th, 2007 at 9:54 am

I hope they kept the original Y!MB color scheme in tact. I really
like that one. I’m surprised, and excited, that speed was once again
significantly improved. I knew the sms and WinLive chat was coming
;). Hey, they finally added the shortcuts (underlining) into the
new Y!Mail. It was in classic forever. Wow, I love the new icons. The old ones beat other mail sites, but these look even better. I’m glad the RSS folder got the standard RSS icon.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-Mail/message/12646

So, I think the million dollar question now is, now that Y!MB is out of beta, will it continue to be updated regularly? I’m guessing, and hoping, yes, because there are several anticipated features. I was expecting a chat archive to come soon -this release (Y! Mail Help said they’re working on it, and should release it soon). We’re also expecting an updated calendar (and maybe notepad). Also, now that the new Y!Mail isn’t in beta, there isn’t much of an excuse for the limited browser support. What I really want support for Opera.

Yahoo! Mail is once again the best Email site out there. Thanks for providing this great service.

August 27th, 2007 at 10:13 am

Its out..!! but what about calender and Options ? Two user interface to maintain..? Are you planning to stripdown these features ? YMail was not just used as just another email client. It was a organiser, contact manager and notepad too…I really enjoyed these services and thts only reason i still with yahoo..(Even with those flashy Ads). Most ppl around me switched to G*** and H****. What about POP…? All promises…no concrete action…

August 27th, 2007 at 10:45 am

OK.. so your PR m/c has done a great job and I want to use the TEXT/SMS functionality.

I don’t see it on my beta and i’ve spent 2 hours scouring the web to see how it’s done.

I think most people writing about it may not have actually tried it.

You guy’s should post a link (web demo on youtube or something similar). that way people can actually learn.

Product Vison: A+
Product : A
PR: A+
Implmentation (end user training and ease of information access) D

August 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am

Umm… this still does not work as far as my local carrier is conerned. I can send to Verizon, and ATT(Cingular), and TMobile.. I don’t think that Sprint gets the Yahoo! SMS at all and that means that my local carrier is left out in the cold. So much for adding new carriers all the time as advertyised on the mobile messaging page.

August 27th, 2007 at 10:50 am

I have used the IM and Texting with Y! Mail and have used the web version of the IM. There are no problems that I can see. It even works with my friends that are on a rival network.. you know… the hot place….

It would be nice to see the calendar and the notebook and options catch up.

August 27th, 2007 at 10:50 am

I’ve been back and forth between classic and beta many times. At this point, the only reason I transition back to classic is that there is no way (per earlier responses from Yahoo! to my inquiries) to align the font size (in the former Beta) of the directories and the directory contents to default to the size that is set in the browser (”view” menu/”text size” in I.E. 7.0.). Fix this and I’ll be with you. Right now the former “Beta” is a degraded product in this regard. I’m an old guy with trifocals and I need this fix! Thanks!

August 27th, 2007 at 11:12 am

Hi again,

Like I said, not all of you will be leaving the beta at the same time. It takes time to rollout to all the server farms. In the meantime you can check by confirming that the word beta is no longer visible in the top left corner, where the Yahoo! Mail logo is. If you confirm that you are out of the beta, there are two ways to initiate a text message.

1) If you click the “New” button you will have the option of creating a new email, Messenger session, or text message.

2) If you already have a tab opened for a specific contact you can look to the top right of the tab and see a 3 button panel. The buttons allow you to select Mail, Chat, or Text message.

I hope that helps!

-Ryan K

August 27th, 2007 at 11:29 am

I didn’t ask to switch to the new mail, and it looks like I haven’t. However, on one of my Yahoo accounts, when I try to compose or reply to an email, I get a drop down box in the From and To windows. Interesting. However, when I try to send the message, at the bottom, above the toolbar, it says that there are “errors on page” and I can’t send the message. My other Yahoo account is working normally.

Anyone have any advice so I can send messages from my first Yahoo account? Is it due to the new Yahoo?

August 27th, 2007 at 11:42 am

I never got the beta, and my mail still looks the same. When will the non-beta users see the new yahoo mail roll out?

August 27th, 2007 at 11:46 am

Oh I got it! I just had to go to options and there was the option to go to beta… but it still says beta… I guess I’ll wait patiently then!

August 27th, 2007 at 12:15 pm

Ryan,

There are screenshots on the web, that indicate “Beta” yet the drop down on compose shows text?!!

My screen says beta, I’m a paying Yahoo Plus customer.

If what you say is true, then you need to get the word out.

BETA is being rolled out in phases, for those on the GA product.. text is available.

Hufff…..give me my 2 hours back!

August 27th, 2007 at 12:33 pm

Just moved over today and the first mail I opened didn’t fit the lower box. Makes it far too hard to read having to move the slider bar back and forth to see all the text and graphics. May have missed a way to get around this but if not, I will have to go back to the original.

August 27th, 2007 at 12:44 pm

Hey Bob, double-click messages (or hit enter) to give them plenty of room in their own tab. Want even more room? Double click a message while holding the shift key, then screen-size the new window (this is a little slow, though, so I don’t use it).

August 27th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Yahoo introduces their text messaging service today and already today (same day) I’ve received SPAM on my cell phone from some unknown yahoo account. Yahoo should be held accountable for the propagation of SPAM. This is so lame!

August 27th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

I have used the yahoo mail beta for several months, having switched back and forth .. what I like the best about the beta version — if I have an email in spam that is not spam I can click on not spam and it gets forwarded to my inbox. Why I switched back … in the original Yahoo mail I can hide my folders if I don’t want them listed. Have not figured out how to do that on the beta version, I have many folders and don’t need them all listed. In the beta if I go to print my email it prints all my folder names also using up a whole lot of paper printing useless information. I don’t like beta to keep asking me if I want to do something, like delete.
Thanks for being interesting.

August 27th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

I’m surprised if this has encouraged sms spam. There were already many free ways spammers could send text messages from PC’s. I’ve seen Firefox extensions, not to mention Yahoo! desktop messenger has long had this feature. I don’t see how this makes it any easier for spammers. Not that I don’t think this is big. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s awesome that sms texting has been integrated into mail.

August 27th, 2007 at 4:02 pm

I am in the same position as the post by Lolavix.
Cant send a reply comes up unloaded with errors!! But I can send from my other email companies………and the reply from Yahoo help has me checking my entire computer setup?!! What the……

August 27th, 2007 at 4:09 pm

Hi everyone,

It seems there is some concern about spammers exploiting the SMS feature. I did some checking and confirmed that there are safeguards in place to prevent abuse.

1) The first time a user messages another user the recipient will receive a message asking if they want to accept from that user. This is similar to what happens when a person tries to send you a message in messenger and you are asked if you want to add them.
2) If you choose to accept messages from the sender, the sender has a limited number of messages that can be sent until you send one back.
3) Users can’t send out to multiple recipients at the same time.

Hopefully this will ease some of your concerns.

-Ryan

August 27th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

And of course a party to go with it:
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/maillaunch/interesting/

August 27th, 2007 at 5:12 pm

If the new mail is anything like the Beta, I will switch email addresses. That thing was completely terrible.

Just because 69% of the population uses text messaging, does that mean you have to skew your whole website to that age group? I am an adult and I don’t give a whoot about all the ‘content’ and TM.

Lame

August 27th, 2007 at 5:32 pm

How do you turn off the annoying ads on the right. The “Classic” version was less intrusive.

This prevents me from using the BETA version, and I agree with Brian above… LEAVE IM OUT or let me ignore all features from this.

–Mike

August 27th, 2007 at 5:37 pm

How about a decent Calendar update to go along with the new Yahoo Mail? The Calendar application is long overdue for an overhaul! The display and methods for new entry and edit look like something out of the early ’90s! Thanks.

August 27th, 2007 at 6:18 pm

Any word on a Mac/Safari-compatible version?

August 27th, 2007 at 6:58 pm

My school system’s filter started blocking Yahoo’s graphics about 6-8 months ago, but not text…this has also disabled the “send”, “fwd” etc. command buttons in the mail module, rendering it useless at work…really wish you hadn’t farmed out your graphics to somebody our filters don’t trust!

J

August 27th, 2007 at 7:06 pm

I tried Beta, didn’t like it. I own 4 Yahoo groups, moderate 4 more, and belong to 22 others, most of which I take as individual email. I expect this to be a nightmare.

August 27th, 2007 at 8:19 pm

[…] keeping the “classic” version around too), which is cool, except that it seems like every blog is talking about it like some giant bespectacled mutant trodding through your […]

August 27th, 2007 at 8:24 pm

Hey Brant, according to the other Ryan (Kennedy), another Yahoo! who used to post on this site, this latest version of Y!Mail IS Safari compatible :).

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-Mail/message/12971

What I’m waiting for is Opera compatibility, though.

August 28th, 2007 at 1:45 am

[…] | Reuters - Yahoo! Mail Blog PUBBLICITÀ PUBBLICITÀ postato da D@di il martedì 28 agosto 2007 […]

August 28th, 2007 at 3:42 am

Can we expect the new mail to work on Safari ? Are you still forgetting the Mac folks ?

August 28th, 2007 at 4:58 am

[…] capito bene! Tra le tante novità di Yahoo mail c’è anche questa novità che rappresenta un balzo avanti per trasformare il servizio in un […]

August 28th, 2007 at 5:24 am

netster007x -
I’ve tried to log into Y! Mail thru Safari 3 several times. I’ve even cut and pasted the URL from Firefox into the Safari browser. It still won’t load the new Yahoo mail…

August 28th, 2007 at 8:04 am

I have switched back forth between Beta and Classic several times because I keep running into conflicts with Firefox. I agree with comments about text messaging…never use the stuff, but then you take away Yahoo Photo Mail, one of the best and easiest ways to attach pics to e-mail. Now I have to struggle with other programs to reduce pictures to the right size for e-mail and then attach them. Why not just offer a way to reduce photos as they are attached in Yahoo Mail?
Joy

August 28th, 2007 at 8:31 am

Soooo let me see if I understand this….I am still on the antique “classic” yahoo mail which I love and will have to switch to the “new”yahoo mail w/ beta and that is changing to the “new’ yahoo mail w/o beta but w/ text messaging option……so I can’t text to a cell phone form the “classic’ yahoo mail???? correct???? I’m soooo confused!

August 28th, 2007 at 8:38 am

Hi everyone,

We are definitely working on expanding to additional browsers (especially for Mac), and will let you know more as soon as I have any more information. In the meantime, the latest version of Firefox should work for Mac users. I, myself, am on a Mac and any bugs I used to experience in the beta seem to be resolved.

-Ryan

August 28th, 2007 at 8:40 am

Mike,

The SMS/Text option, as well as the Chat function, are only available as features in the All-New Yahoo! Mail.

-Ryan

August 28th, 2007 at 8:57 am

Hey Ryan if I switch over and don’t like it is there a switch back button to return to the classic? And how do I get to the new yahoo mail? When I click on the link above it takes me to my classic mail and the new mail option still is in beta. Thanks for the help!

August 28th, 2007 at 8:59 am

I tried the beta on a couple of occassions. Found it to run very slow on my machines also it wanted me to switch resolution which would mess up a lot of work I do.
Rather happy with the original and hope to stay with it, may give new mail a try sometime in future but no time soon and would I be able to stay with the original? Or will all accounts be switching over at some time?

August 28th, 2007 at 9:26 am

Mike (and anyone else curious about trying the new Mail),

If you want to try it out, you do have the option to switch back. To switch back just look for a link immediately under your User ID (top of the window, just to the right of the Mail logo). It will either say “Mail Classic” (if your server is already out of beta) or “Switch Back” (if still in beta). You can also find another link under Options menu.

-Ryan

August 28th, 2007 at 9:34 am

I went to yahoo beta mail and now have no chat options. Dont have switch back options on my welcome “my name ” How can I get back to old Yahoo mail Thank you

August 28th, 2007 at 9:58 am

I am really happy with the news because the beta version never was working good in my phone i always was asking for bringme back the classic version and i think with this new yahoo mail will be better i do’nt have yet but i will wait with no problem. Thanks yahoo for listen to us.

August 28th, 2007 at 11:21 am

I think Yahoo Mail beta is overall nice and polished, and a worthy upgrade from the old Yahoo Mail.

But I have one complaint - Beta is a lot more heavy on resources, so I have a problem when I sometimes need to check my mail from older computers.

Is there an easy to login to the OLD interface, on a one-time basis? Because I don’t wanna use the “switch back” function to permanently switch. Just login one time on the old version.

August 28th, 2007 at 11:24 am

I was on vacation for 2 weeks where I did not use this beta yahoo email account for 2 weeks. I had about 150 emails that were added. This Beta version could not load or page through these emails; it just had the busy cursor and just stayed that way. I switched back to the classic version and had no problem paging through the emails. After I deleted most of the additional 150 emails, I was able to switch back to the beta version. Now it works. I really hope the new version has fixed this problem.

August 28th, 2007 at 11:51 am

Hey IJ, you can temporarily use the old mail interface. Follow the simple instructions here to bookmark the temp classic URL.

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-Btg2SgQodqdcRLTprcmBAQ–?cq=1&p=45#comments

August 28th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

Why won’ty my mail show me pictures when they are sent??

August 28th, 2007 at 7:43 pm

My problem with beta version is not being able to turn off my signature by just checking a box as I do in Classic. Will this be corrected in final version?

August 29th, 2007 at 4:24 am

I sure hope you keep the Calender. It is great and I depend on it.

August 29th, 2007 at 6:08 am

I don’t see any improvement. The mail system still refuses to load folders, it hangs up on other menu operations, the font is way too small, and none of the instant messenger options appear to work. All you did was remove the “beta” label without making any improvements.

August 29th, 2007 at 9:53 am

Hello,

I just noticed something when using the IM chat in Yahoo! Mail Beta that is pretty awesome but I have no idea how it’s happening. Usually when your friend is typing you back it will say Joe Schmoe is typing…but now I’m seeing some other things down there, like “Joe Scmoe is in the zone, prepare yourself for an AHA moment…” that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in IM chats! I’m tired of all the smiley faces, but this is genius. So here is my question, can you change that manually, or is it only automated and if so, how does it work????
Thanks

/Johan

August 29th, 2007 at 10:42 am

For a few years now, I have been receiving emails of which I have considered as spam that Yahoo Mail will be soon charging for the service to individuals and commercial concerns. Is this true when the beta is released to the general public?

August 29th, 2007 at 12:45 pm

Johan,

I’ll see what I can find out about the typing notification.

Carey,
I’m not sure which emails you would have been getting. There is a pay version of Mail, but there are no plans to require all users to pay, beta or otherwise.

-RyanK

August 29th, 2007 at 1:04 pm

Is it possible to use the apostrophe in the final version? It is really helpful for contractions and indicating dimensions in inches.
It is rather ANNOYING when you keep typing and the quick find is operating instead. Sort of hard to keep up standards of language when you don t have the full set of punctuation. DAMN. it happens in your form too. Is this a feature or a bug?

August 29th, 2007 at 2:30 pm

Johan,

I saw the same thing with the typing notifications. Pure genius. I laugh out loud everytime one of them pops up. It’s not on every message, just every once in a while. However, if you could control it, then you lose the “ingredients” which makes it so clever: that it’s unpredictable and occasional. I think its better the way it is now.

August 29th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

How do I hide email addresses in a mass mailing? I have tried BCC and it still shows ALL addresses. I don’t want ALL of those addresses to be visible, just show one recipient.

August 29th, 2007 at 10:38 pm

Ryan,

Why did you limit the array of available fonts when the Beta was introduced? Are there plans to expand the font options or ways for users currently add them? Bring back the fonts!

It would also be nice to have the signature/no signature boxes available. Currently, one must go into ‘options’ to make the change each time (or select the signature text and delete it) … TOO cumbersome & time consuming!

August 29th, 2007 at 10:53 pm

Ryan,

I hope you actually read my post.

Your post in your own blog http://ymailupdates.com/ has a screen shot that clearly shows

1. BETA
2. Drop down selected & shows a text message option.

What’s up, either clean up the image or get a real answer as to when this is going to be available.

August 30th, 2007 at 4:31 am

Ryan,
Do you know when Australia will have the sms function in Yahoo Mail?
Thanks

August 30th, 2007 at 8:22 am

I’m experiencing repeating problems, especially last two days I’m not able to download (POP) the mail and often even to login.
I hope it all will be fixed really soon.

August 30th, 2007 at 8:23 am

Hi R,

Good catch. That screenshot was prepare