Yahoo! Mail Blog
The latest scoop on Yahoo! Mail product updates, new releases, bug fixes,

As another year draws to a close, now may be a good time to reflect back on the year that was for Yahoo! Mail. I’ve only been here since July but exciting stuff has been happening all year. Here are some of the favorite highlights from folks all around the Yahoo! Mail team:

• Messenger and Mail…together at last! – The first really big news came in February, when we began rolling out an updated version of Yahoo! Mail Beta featuring integration with Yahoo! Messenger. The other Ryan K (Kennedy) provided a great screencast demonstration of the new feature.
• Infinity and beyond – Yahoo! Mail announces UNLIMITED STORAGE … email packrats around the world REJOICE!!!
• Big News for Yahoo! Mail – August featured a special delivery from the Mail team. The official rollout of the All-New Yahoo! Mail (translation: no more beta).
• Mail, Messenger, and now SMS … all in one place – One of the new features incorporated into the latest release of Yahoo! Mail is integrated Text/SMS Messaging. Now Mail users can easily send email, chat with a friend on Messenger, or send a text message to a friend’s phone, all from the comfort of their computer. Parents no longer have to try and type messages on their phones to communicate with kids. PARENTS REJOICE … but the kids still don’t consider them BFFs.
• Blocking out the eBay and PayPal Phish – Yahoo!, PayPal, and eBay announce that spammers will have a much tougher time reaching Yahoo! Mail users with fake eBay/PayPal phishing messages … thanks to a technology called DomainKeys. Spammers don’t rejoice.
• Yahoo! Mail Turns 10! – Many are shocked to learn that Yahoo! Mail celebrates its 10th Birthday in October. People aren’t shocked that Yahoo! Mail has been around that long … just that we are even that much older. I’m even more shocked that we didn’t get a mention during the 1997 episode of the I Love the 90′s marathon last week.
• Introducing the New & Improved Yahoo! Mail Security Site – Feeling that you just don’t know where to find the latest tips and tricks to protect yourself from fraudsters? Check out the New & Improved Yahoo! Mail Security Site (antispam.yahoo.com).
• Yahoo! Mail at 30,000 feet – JetBlue and Yahoo! announce the launch of a wi-fi enabled airplane dubbed BetaBlue. Users have even more ways to stay connected!

All in all it has been an exciting year for those of us on the Mail team, and we hope that it has been exciting for you too.

If you were already a Yahoo! Mail user, we would like to thank you for sticking with us. If you are a new user we want to thank you for coming aboard. Either way we are glad you’re here and hope you are looking forward to enjoying all of the new things that we will be working to bring you in 2008!

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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A lot of you may be off work this week (regardless of what you celebrate) and trying to remember all the great stuff that happened this last year while you get ready for 2008. Perhaps you are compiling a Year End Recap (like I am … be sure to check back next week ), or maybe you are trying to find a receipt from all that online shopping you have been doing recently (again … that could be me), or maybe it’s just like any other time of year and you are looking to track down a specific message.

Anyway … whatever your reason, the advanced search feature in the All-New Yahoo! Mail makes it REALLY EASY to sift through all that email you’ve sent and received to find the one you are looking for. Narrow down that search by a wide list of criteria (sender, recipient, subject, keywords, date, etc.) and find it fast. For our latest screencast I’ve staged a little search scenario to help demonstrate how it works.

You can check out the hi-res version here or view the embedded version below.

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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While the Mail team’s position on the holidays may be to have no official position on any specific holiday (like I said a few weeks back … whether you are into Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Soyal, Winter Solstice, Yule, or even Festivus we salute you), it appears that Liam may have other ideas.

I was unable obtain an official comment from the bespectacled Mail enthusiast, but some images floating around suggest that he may be having a jolly ol’ time!

And if any of you are planning to brave the day after Christmas sales tomorrow, I feel compelled to remind you of this great thing that my friends like to call “shopping on the internet“. They tell me it’s all the rage these days. You may want to check it out and avoid the crowds .

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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Neither rain, nor sleet, nor a persistently congested sounding nose could stop me from bringing to you the latest screencast demonstration.

After reviewing some of the email suggestions, and circling up with some of the folks here, it became clear that not enough users really understand the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) feature. And while we’re on the subject … what’s with the whole “carbon copy” thing anyway? I’d like to nominate that for inclusion on the list of “things we’ll have to explain to the next generation, because the origin no longer exists”. (Seriously, are today’s children going to intuitively understand why we “roll up” power windows, or why we “rewind” a song on our iPods?)

Anyway, I could go off on that subject forever. In the meantime, check out the video! You can check out the hi-res version here or view the embedded version below.

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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Well it’s that time of year again. Time for yuletide cheer, mince pies, caroling, decorating trees with lights and baubles and Nigella Lawson’s goose fat roasted potatoes. Oh and the madness of the Oxford Street Shopping circus (pun intended), last minute running around like a headless chicken looking for that perfect gift, and putting on the inches due directly to Nigella’s potatoes.

Photo by Flickr Member fdecomite


Well, to get yourself through all these Christmas parties, I had a couple of thoughts. This first one comes off as being somewhat of a shameless self-promotion. But why not treat yourself to the gift of Mail Plus? Here’s why… Mail Plus comes with some great hang-over blocking features. Just think of it… a clean, no-stress, ad-free environment to ease you into the day after you wake up from that last-call pint. Plus, with Spamguard Plus, you have more protection from those headache causing spam messages. Finally with larger attachment sizes, you’ll never have to bang your head against the table because that great snogging shot of your boss at the Christmas party is too big to send to all your friends.

Second, and only somewhat less of a shameless self-promotion, what about a Flickr Pro account? Unlimited bandwidth to upload photos, unlimited storage, permanent archiving, and much more are the features that come with a Flick Pro account.

Whatever you do to help you make it through the hectic holiday season, me and the entire Yahoo! mail team, wish you the very best this Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas!!!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

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Just as I promised last week, I was back with some “breaking news” on Tuesday … however now I’m back again with some more stuff for all of the new readers. But unlike before, this is actually relevant to both! Longtime readers are likely aware that from time to time this blog features screencast demonstrations. The Ryan who used to blog here posted one introducing the chat feature within All-New Mail. More recently I posted a demonstration on the addition of SMS Text Messaging to Yahoo! Mail. Well, despite having a voice that was made for print media, I would really like to forge ahead with the whole screencast thing. What I would like to know from you guys is what types of stuff you would find valuable. What are the things that you find most confusing? We’ve got great tutorials, but I know some people just prefer seeing it to reading about it.

Let me know, via comments or email (ymailblog1<at>yahoo.com) and I’ll do my best.

And don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS Feed, or even better you can add it to MyYahoo by clicking and you can see updates there! I look forward to seeing you back here in the future.

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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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

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As promised, I’m back with some actual news. Earlier this morning passengers embarked on a special preview voyage from NYC to SF on the all-new BetaBlue (from JetBlue). The special Airbus is especially notable given that is equipped with in flight Wi-Fi access to Yahoo! Messenger and Mail. That’s right … you’ll be able to stay connected even when you are in the air! If you look really close at the Blackberry you can almost make out the BetaBlue startup screen.

Reports from media on the flight are already starting to circulate, so be on the lookout. Below is a Yodel post from SVP, Brad Garlinghouse, that gives more details.

Here are some photos of the launch event at SFO (courtesy of Jeremy Johnstone):

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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Yahoo! Mail and Messenger fly sky high
by Brad Garlinghouse

If you thought surfing live TV with a seatbelt securely fastened about your waist was cool, try popping off an instant message, SMS or email at 30,000 feet! Yahoo! is partnering with JetBlue, RIM, and LiveTV (the JetBlue subsidiary that makes that seatback entertainment possible) to take our global email and IM leadership (and our promise to keep friends and family connected) to new heights – literally.

You might have heard the news by now, but as we speak, JetBlue Flight 641 is flying from NYC’s Kennedy Airport en route to San Francisco, equipped with an onboard wireless network that lets passengers use Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger in flight for free. Known as BetaBlue, the Airbus A320 is the first domestic plane to offer such a service. And it’s a six-month test we hope will expand.

For the last couple of months the Yahoo! Mail and Messenger teams have been working hard to develop custom, lightweight versions that perform particularly well with the bandwidth considerations of a high-altitude network. If you have a WiFi-enabled laptop, you can log on and find all of the basic email and messenger functionality. You can also check your Address Book, send text messages, and connect with your Yahoo! contacts as well as those using Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger. You can even have your Messenger status link to a map that lets friends on the ground track exactly where your flight is at that moment!

The other big news, especially for Crackberry addicts like me, is that, on BetaBlue, you’ll be able to check Yahoo! Mail and Messenger on your WiFi-enabled BlackBerry (the 8820 and Curve 8320) — though you still need to turn off the cellular transmitter.

How does it work? The service uses an FCC-licensed air-to-ground spectrum owned by LiveTV. It provides coverage in the continental U.S. above 10,000 feet and connects with 100 air-to-ground communications towers.

Last week I had the chance to take BetaBlue for a spin to preview our project with JetBlue founder Dave Neeleman, LiveTV CEO Nate Quigley, folks from RIM, and a handful of media. We headed off from JFK, got up to cruising altitude, and fired off some messages. As this is still a beta service, we are excited to work with our partners to make this an ideal consumer experience and look forward to hearing what BetaBlue customers have to say.

Unfortunately you can’t request to book passage on BetaBlue — it’s luck of the draw. But if you arrive at your gate and see our logo emblazoned on your plane, you’ll know you’re in for an entertaining ride.

Brad Garlinghouse
SVP, Yahoo! Communications & Communities

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If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll have noticed that I’ve added a couple of sections for tips to get the most from Yahoo! Mail. There’s a section for Yahoo! Mail Classic as well as the all-new Yahoo! Mail. Right now, it’s just a few, but over the coming weeks, I’ll be adding more.

But I don’t want these tips to be a one way street. And since I know that everyone reading this blog is a Yahoo! Mail power user ;), I bet you have some tips that could help your fellow Yahoo’s. So in a “by the users, for the users” spirit, I’d like to call on some (or all) of you to share some of the features and functions that help you use Yahoo! Mail better.

I’ve created a form for you to share your tips with other readers of the blog. So if you feel like putting pen to paper, and maybe even getting your name in print, fill out this form. Your tip can be about the all-new Yahoo! Mail or Classic Mail or both. It’s up to you.

Our crack editorial team (read me) will go through all the submitted tips and pick out some to feature on the blog. But you’re not doing this just for fame, but for fortune too. So if your tip is featured on the Blog, we might even have some small token of appreciation for your efforts.

Happy emailing.
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

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I guess it turns out that Field of Dreams wasn’t entirely on point with the whole “build it … they will come” stuff. Blog stats over the last week have given me a strong indication that the movie should have added “and provide a link” to the famous phrase. That being the case, we are in fact seeing a lot of new visitors to the blog, so I’m going to take another opportunity to ask you to bookmark, subscribe, make this your homepage, or if you want to be really nice … just never leave.

This is VERY important for you folks who check that box, during sign-in, that keeps you signed in for two weeks. If you are signed in for two weeks, that means you probably won’t be seeing that sign-in page for two weeks. And since the link is pretty much only on that page (fear not, I’m working on that!) you need to make sure you know how to get back here. Rest assured, there are also links in the “other blogs” areas on other Yahoo! blogs, but why not just save yourself some trouble and jump on board while you are here? You’ll be glad you did.

Repeated apologies to those experienced readers who have already seen this stuff, but fear not I will try to find you guys some breaking news next week. On that note I’m going to leverage some content from my post last week…

Whether you are looking for the:

• latest news about Yahoo! Mail,
• tips from users, or from Yahoo! staff,
• links to the latest tutorials,
• screencast demonstrations,
• a peek behind the scenes here at Yahoo!,

… or what have you, this is where you can go to find it. You can also subscribe to the RSS Feed, or even better you can add it to MyYahoo by clicking and you can see updates there! I look forward to seeing you back here in the future.

Ryan K.
Community Manager
Yahoo! Mail

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