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

I get a lot of email, and I mean a lot. Every once in a while I receive one that I find very annoying. Today someone sent me one in ALL CAPS. I mean there’s no need to shout, I’m a nice guy.

I’m sure that sometimes people are not aware that there are, in fact, rules when writing an email. And email to friends is usually different from business emails. But just like that old archaic form of communication the hand-written letter, there is a ‘netiquette’ to be followed when you compose an Email.

The email I just received prompted me to think about all the things that have annoyed me in the past. So these are what you voted as your biggest email pet peeves.

Which of the following would you rate as your top email bug bear:

• Use of text speak such as LOL and BTW (22.0%)
• Mass distribution emails to 5 or more recipients (16.0%)
• Use of ‘shouting’ CAPITAL letters (15.0%)
• No entry in subject line (12.0%)
• Read receipts (10.0%)
• Inappropriate flagging of emails as High Importance (7.0%)
• Smiley faces (6.0%)
• Excessive exclamation marks (4.0%)
• Kisses as a sign off from your boss or work colleague (4.0%)
• Formal sign off from a friend (3.0%)
• Informal sign off from a work colleague (Cheers) (1.0%)

Total Votes: 1,321

Happy emailing!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

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For all of those fans of Explorer, we have some fun news.  On the heels of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 launch today, we are offering a Yahoo!-optimized version of the new browser designed specifically for Yahoo! users. For Yahoo! Mail users, the Yahoo!-optimized version includes a cool feature called the Mail Web slice. The Web slice gives signed-in users quick previews of their Mail right from a drop-down page within browser, so no matter where you are on the Web, your Yahoo! Mail is right there with you.  To use this feature – after downloading the Yahoo! optimized IE8 – make sure you’re signed into Yahoo!, then just click on the Y! Mail button on the favorites bar whenever you want a preview of your Inbox.

In addition, the Yahoo!-optimized version also includes direct access to several other Yahoo! products like Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Toolbar, and the Yahoo! homepage.  For example, Visual Search Suggestions from Yahoo! Search allows for custom search experiences for specific content within the browser, including weather forecasts, movie review and stock quotes.  More details on the Search capabilities can be found on the blog post on the Yahoo! Search Blog.

As a reminder, we support a broad range of browsers in addition to Internet Explorer 8 and continue to look at adding Yahoo! functionality to new browsers as they come out.  A full list of download options are available here.

Enjoy!

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I just wanted to let you know that the maintenance is now complete and all Yahoo! Mail services are working normally.

If you are still experiencing difficulties, you can contact our customer care here: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/classic/forms_index.html

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I want to give a quick heads up that we are conducting maintenance this coming weekend that might impact some of you. The maintenance is part of our ongoing efforts to give you the best Mail service possible.

Beginning the night of March 13 (London, UK time), you may experience problems accessing your Yahoo! Mail account. If you are one of the very few affected, have no fear. It should be available again the mid-morning of March 14. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes you.

As always, please feel free to contact customer care for any concerns or issues. They can be reached via this link: http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/mail/classic/forms_index.html

Thanks for your patience.
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

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I want to give a quick heads up that we are conducting maintenance this coming weekend that might impact some of you. The maintenance is part of our ongoing efforts to give you the best Mail service possible.

Beginning the evening of March 13 (Pacific time), you may experience problems accessing your Yahoo! Mail account. If you are one of the few affected, have no fear. It should be available again the morning of March 14. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes you.

As always, please feel free to contact customer care for any concerns or issues. They can be reached via this link: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/classic/forms_index.html

Thanks for your patience.

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Our newest feature in Yahoo! Mail Classic has started rolling out to everyone. We’ve integrated instant chat messaging courtesy of our friends at Yahoo! Messenger. This is already a very popular feature in the new Yahoo! Mail, so popular that it seemed only right that Classic Mail users have the same, smarter and social ways to connect.

How does it work, you ask?
Well, when you sign into your Yahoo! Mail Classic account, your Chat contact list will appear on the left of your screen. You’ll see a list of all of your Contacts who are online and available to chat, just click on one of your contacts that is available to start a conversation.

What if I don’t feel like Chatting?
I’ve been reading and listening to all of your comments, and a common question is, “How can I turn chat off?” The answer of course is, “Easily”. Here’s how…

All you have to do is click the drop-down box and select “Sign out of Chat”. Once you do this you will be signed out of Yahoo! Chat and Mobile Text. That’s it – you’re done. And, the next time you sign into mail, we’ll remember your status and you won’t be logged back into Chat until you set your status back to “Available”.

What else can I do?
Don’t forget to check out the ‘Settings’ menu too.

From the settings menu, you can customize some of the Chat & Mobile Text features to suit your preferences. You can change whether a sound should be played when you get a new Chat. And you can even move it down underneath your folders if you’d like your folders to appear above the chat module.

The new chat feature is rolling out to all Yahoo! Mail Classic users over the next couple of months, so please be patient if you don’t see it right away. We’ll get to you soon, I promise.

I encourage everyone to try out this terrific new feature of Yahoo! Mail Classic. It’s already a very popular feature in the All-new Yahoo! Mail. I’m sure that once you start using it, you’ll ask yourself how you lived without it before.

Happy chatting in Yahoo! Mail!!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

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Back in January, Brandon Savage told you about the great new feature that integrates real-time Chat & Mobile Text from directly within Yahoo! Mail Classic. Back in January it was a sneak peak, but now more and more of you are now able to use this great feature.

What if I don’t feel like Chatting?
I’ve been reading and listening to all of your comments, and a common question is, “How can I turn chat off?” The answer of course is, “Easily”. Here’s how…

All you have to do is click the drop-down box and select “Sign out of Chat”. Once you do this you will be signed out of Yahoo! Chat and Mobile Text. That’s it – you’re done. And, the next time you sign into mail, we’ll remember your status and you won’t be logged back into Chat until you set your status back to “Available”.

What else can I do?
Don’t forget to check out the ‘Settings’ menu too.

From the settings menu, you can customize some of the Chat & Mobile Text features to suit your preferences. You can change whether a sound should be played when you get a new Chat. And you can even move it down so that it sits underneath your folders, if you’d like your folders to appear above the chat module.

I encourage everyone to try out this terrific new feature of Yahoo! Mail Classic. It’s already a very popular feature in the All-new Yahoo! Mail. I’m sure that once you start using it, you’ll ask yourself how you lived without it before.

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This week we have a guest blogger. So let me take a moment to introduce you to Rick Pal. Rick is the Senior Product Manager for our smarter, more social Yahoo! Mail. He’s got some exciting info to share about some changes to your smarter Inbox

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Hello everyone! As you may know, the Yahoo! Mail team has been pretty busy lately – adding Apps, strengthening our anti-spam, integrating IM into Classic Mail – and of course we’ve also been listening intently to you! Of course, not all of you have the new social features, but based on feedback from those that do, I’d like to talk about some upcoming changes we’re making.

You: Updates rock! Keep em coming.
Us: You might notice that your “Welcome” page in Yahoo! Mail has a new look and feel. For those using the social features in Yahoo! Mail, we’ve brought updates to the forefront and we now integrate non-Yahoo! sites directly in Updates — places you regularly visit such as YouTube, Blogger, Yelp, Picasa, and more. And there are many more Yahoo! sites now live, including Yahoo! Sport and Flickr. By adding more places to sites from which you can see Updates, we hope to make it easier for you to stay in the loop with the people that matter.

You: News over Connections Suggestions, please
Us: We’ve moved the entire connections module (invites, suggestions) to the right so you can continue to see the news and weather higher on the page.

You: I want to manage my connections inside of Mail
Us: We’re rolling out a brand new Address Book (what we’re now calling Yahoo! Contacts) that integrates contacts and connections (we’ll do a separate blog post on these features). The new Yahoo! Contacts will only be available to social users for now but it will be made available to all Mail users in the coming months. Stay tuned!

You: Holy Batman! I don’t want this thing!
Us: It is your Mail! Some of you just prefer the old welcome page and don’t want connections features. Here’s how to go back.

You: Holy Batman! I really want this thing!
Us: We are adding several new features that make it even easier to communicate and share before rolling it out to more users. Don’t have it yet? To get to the front of the line when we add more users, please create a profile.

Thanks again for all the helpful feedback.  And thank you for continuing to use Yahoo! Mail!

Rick Pal
Sr. Product Manager

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