Creating a desktop shortcut for Yahoo! Mail
- Posted March 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm by Ryan
- Categories: General, Tips & Tutorials
I saw this tip on the UK blog, and at first thought that Andrew must be out of his head … but I checked with folks from this side of the pond and found that this behavior isn’t all that unusual.
It turns out that a decent portion of users don’t actually bookmark Yahoo! Mail, but instead carry out a few simple steps every time they want to login.
Open a Browser > Search for Yahoo! Mail > Click on Yahoo! Mail in the Search results > Login
This sounds like a lot of work (which is why I use the bookmarks toolbar in all of my browsers), and there are several easier ways. Andrew’s suggestion for his ‘mum’ (as well as for the UK blog readers) was to create a desktop icon to launch Yahoo! Mail. All you need to do is get to the Yahoo! Mail sign-in page any way you prefer. Once there don’t sign-in just yet. Then mouse up to the browser’s address bar (the part with the http:// stuff) and drag the little Y! icon from your browser to your desktop.
Depending on which browser you have, as well as whether you are on a Mac or PC, you’ll get a little shortcut graphic representing your browser. On the left you will see an example of Firefox on Windows XP.
You can also see that the name of the shortcut is based on the name of the page it is pointing to (apologies to Mac users who will have to settle for the URL). You can rename it with a good ol’ slow double click, and have it say whatever you like.
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Ryan K. Community Manager Yahoo! Mail |
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- 40 Comments
March 20th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I wouldn’t need a browser shortcut if you gave me desktop IMAP…
March 20th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
that’s really good news, i was wondering how to do that…
i do remember some time before when i had a separate messenger from yahoo, that it came with an icon for your desktop that you could also put in the “E-mail” section on your start menu (obviously for windows users only). do you think you can find out a way to add a Y! mail icon to the “E-mail” section of a start menu? thanks!
March 20th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I’m still looking forward to the day when I can click on an email link in my web browser (i.e. mailto:) and my computer knows to open Yahoo Mail in another tab because it is my default email application. When that day comes, I will happily remove Outlook from my machine.
March 20th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
You mean there are people who don’t have Yahoo Mail set as their home page for their browser? Or don’t use the Yahoo toolbar in the browser with a lovely Mail button to access their email?? I… don’t… understand…???
March 20th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Not to sound smart or anything but there’s a lot of easy stuff you can do with bookmarks.
In Firefox for example, if you right click a bookmark (Yahoo mail in this case), it would open in a new tab.
Another thing you can do is set a keyword for that bookmark (say ‘ym’) by right clicking on the bookmark, clicking properties, and entering something into the Keyword field. Type that keyword into the search bar and it’ll navigate you straight through that bookmark.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:08 am
I’ve created two desktop shortcut. One for Yahoo! Mail and one for Yahoo! Mail Blog. And since I’m a Mac OS X Leopard user, I drag & drop the desktop shortcut to my Downloads folder located on my Dock. This way, it will not clutter the desktop. Now, when I Fan up the Stack, with one click it takes me to my desire URL.
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Thanks Andrew for the idea and Ryan for sharing the tip!
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PS: I’m testing the spacing in this Comment box with a “*”.
March 21st, 2008 at 5:05 am
I tend to use AOL’s browser (sorry, I became hooked back in the days when I had dial-up). I still use Classic Mail - are you sensing a theme here? I don’t embrace internet change very well
- and I right-clicked on the bar at the very top of the mail page (I was already signed in). I then clicked on ‘Create Shortcut’ from the drop-down menu and got the IE shortcut on my desktop. Granted, that shortcut takes me to Yahoo Mail via IE rather than my AOL browser, but whatever works. 
Thanks for the tip!
March 21st, 2008 at 6:51 am
To e_chin:
RE: Yahoo Mail default e’mail icon
See:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/settings/settings-10.html
March 21st, 2008 at 7:12 am
I use to have Yahoo!Mail as my home page, but since I travel a lot and several hotel networks require you to log in, not all of them recognize mail.yahoo.com as a valid address until after you’ve registered. So I’ve build a local .htm file and use that as my home page and when first connecting on a network click a link for http://www.yahoo.com and then after that has been done a the link for mail.yahoo.com works fine.
Now what I would like is the html code to allow me to prompt for my mail password and log me in directly from my page. I’ve tried lifting the code from the existing page, but it seems that changes from time to time and I don’t want to be continuously updating the .htm file.
March 21st, 2008 at 7:23 am
“How can I make Yahoo! Mail my default email application?”
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/settings/settings-10.html
“Are you not seeing Yahoo! Mail in your list of email programs? Download Yahoo! Messenger. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it puts Yahoo! Mail in your email application list.”
omg what? they tell me to install the whole yahoo-messenger package just to make yahoo-mail my default mail application..??!
this cant be right! pls tell me there’s another way to do this!
I know there used to be a very simple way.. back in the days..
March 21st, 2008 at 9:00 am
…I have a keyboard that allows me to configure a direct link with Yahoo mail..or any other email site you have…maybe this is an easier way when you purchase a compatable keyboard.
Cheers and kep your powder dry.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:14 am
Hi Missy,
) and I’ll have to give that a try.
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Thanks for the added tip for Leopard users. I’m still getting the hang of “Stacks” on my home machine (still waiting for our IT to roll out updates to employees
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Also nice to see your spacing tip. I’ve been using “-”, but I’m also looking into some blog design updates that would make that solve unnecessary.
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Ryan
March 21st, 2008 at 9:21 am
e-chin,
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I think I might have a solution that enables replacing the shortcut image with a Y! icon. I’ll see if I can track it down and post it in an upcoming tips post.
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Ryan
March 21st, 2008 at 9:52 am
Are you planning on offering small mail and calendar notifiers, independent from messenger? Something that runs in the task bar or menu bar (mac)? That’s about the only thing that’s really missing…
March 21st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I use the Yahoo mail widget on my desktop. It’s great as it not only functions as a shortcut, but lets you know how many new emails you have.
March 21st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
For all you Firefox users, there is an extension called Yahoo Mail Notifier that not only checks your email every minute (or whatever interval you want) but, by clicking on the icon it puts in the lower right hand corner of your browser, you’ll be taken directly to your inbox.
Also, as another poster mentioned, again in Firefox, right click on the bookmark once it’s established and select “properties”. Put whatever you want in the keyword field (ym for example). Then all you have to do is enter that keyword in the address line and hit enter and up comes Yahoo Mail.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
use the mail widget on Desktop. It’s great as it not only functions as a shortcut.
Comment by R.M — March 21, 2008 #
March 21st, 2008 at 7:50 pm
For those with Firefox, I have my Yahoo icon and direct link to mail sitting in my Bookmarks Toolbar folder, which I have activated - View > Toolbars > Bookmarks folder. Simple…. it is right there. I can drag the tab of any page onto that toolbar as either a temporary or permanent link.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 am
when yahoo mail will have the feature of single thread like gmail? I need this feature. I can’t maintain my mail box.there are too many mails.
March 22nd, 2008 at 3:48 am
Thak you for the best and easy solution to save time.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Sounds like a great idea, but how do you drag the “little Y” in the ‘http’ to your desktop, if you are already on a browser page? Where do you go with it-how do you deposit it on your desktop, once you mouse up to the “Y”? I don’t understand how you deposit it on your desktop, if you are on the browser’s page?
I know this sounds dumb, but I don’t understand.
Thanks. =)
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Well duh!!!!!!!!!!
wouldn’t it be a lot easier to make a spreadsheet filled with your mom’s favorite links, save it as an html file, and set her homepage to the saved file or put it up on a web server for her and set her homepage to the weblink?
Rather than a handful of links in her ‘favorites’, requiring several mouse actions, she could have 40 - 50 of her favorite links in a very well designed homepage, just one click away…
I’d expect somewhat more efficiency from someone skilled in web surfing…
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 am
Hi and thanks for the tip!
I just wanna know if you’re still updating the Calendar? Don’t you think it’s out of date?
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 am
Ryan,we had the same thought but you beat me to the idea.Great.Any more of these shortcuts?Where we pay for internet service dearly the shorter the search the better.
March 23rd, 2008 at 5:35 am
Re: Making Yahoo Mail the default mail program …
This hasn’t worked for years. I’ve downloaded Y!Messenger but nothing happens re: the default mail options. This is the same for both Firefox AND IE under WinXP Pro.
It USED to work - in fact years ago there was an option/tip within Yahoo Mail itself (click here to make yahoo mail your default mail program). Can’t you just post the registry hack for it? Oh, and make it Vista compatible too please. My mum is quite annoyed and is still learning cut & paste, and trying to copy/paste an email address without clicking it (and opening windows mail) is difficult for newbies (her, not me!). I’d like it too tho! Thanx
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
Just a note — if you drag the little ‘Y’ icon in Safari on the Mac, you’ll get an icon with the site name, rather than just the URL as you apologize about. It’s only Firefox that misbehaves (or if you pull just the text of the URL to desktop, rather than the favicon).
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Enjoy!
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:19 pm
You can also drag anything from the Address Bar to your Bookmarks Toolbar (Firefox) or Links Toolbar (Internet Explorer).
Very slick.
March 24th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Thanks for all the great information, It makes moving around things so much faster! Thanks, Jimmie Spears! Have a blessed day!
March 24th, 2008 at 11:35 am
There’s also and easier method that was not mentioned… In Internet Explorer (booooo hisssss, Bill Gates!), just click File/Send/Shortcut to desktop.
March 24th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Hey everyone have a great spring break holla!!!!!!!!
March 25th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
The new Yahoo sucks! The Yahoo which I’ve been using for many years worked. This new thing-a-jiggy is ALWAYS slow to load, the mail when it works, is slow as hell. What the eff is going on? I thought selling out to MS was a bad idea, but now I’m not so sure.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
hi- i am not too computer-literate, so i don’t know what i did.
i created the desktop shortcut, but now for some reason when i go to the my yahoo page, it no longer says “new mail” in red and up by the envelope no number of new mails rcd is listed. i contacted yahoo and the email i got back said that service is not available. can you help?
thanks so much.
leslie
March 25th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
From my experience! MS/Yahoo ALWAYS has, had a time keeping up!Yahoo was not prepared for the overwhelming response, from so manny user’s in so short a time! Time, Time, I think time and time again. Then I think, again. What do you think?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:47 am
IMAP would solve the problem. Or something similar to the Gmail notifier. I’ve switched to Gmail for now with Yahoo forwarding over there and am considering not renewing my Yahoo Mail plus. Gmail gives me the ability to:
1. Automatically mark messages in the spam folder as read.
2. Spam filters work much better with pretty much 0 false positives.
3. Free IMAP.
4. Free POP3
5. Gmail notifier (I would use Yahoo mail still if they had something like this).
It also syncs better with the iPhone.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Hey Peter H. When you download/install YMessenger, you have to be sure and include “Yahoo Browser Services” in the download.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:44 am
I have just started using this site and am unsure hoe to blog so I would like some “How to” questions answered. Could someone shed light on this and include “rss feeds” too. Please put it in lament terms. I’m not computer illiterate but I am learning newer things as I go along. Thanks. Tammy
April 9th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I need all of the assorted vehicles inorder to move around and maintain the correct guide lines. Inorder to secure my status, I really don’t have the words to appreciate all the tools at hand. Thanks,Jimmie
April 19th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
ttttttttttttttttt
April 24th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
It’s really marvellous……
Thank you Ryan. Thank you very much.
Thiru.
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