Yahoo! Mail Blog

A while back I mentioned that we had an issue that affected some of you retrieving your mail using a POP mail client like Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora, etc. Even though we fixed that issue some time ago, it prompted us to take a look to see if there was any room to improve the POP/SMTP performance as a whole. As I’m sure you are aware by now, our team is committed to improving the performance of Yahoo Mail.

I can tell you, that after doing a thorough check of our POP server’s performance here in Europe, we came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t hurt to do a bit of an upgrade. And, if you’re a regular reader to the blog, you’ll remember we did a similar upgrade to our Webmail servers, which has dramatically improved performance across Yahoo Mail in the UK.

So, taking a page out of our own book, over the last month or so, we’ve been adding more hardware to improve the performance to our UK users that use an external mail client to access their mail. I can tell you now, that we’ve just completed installing brand-new hardware to process the mail that you send and receive. That means improved speed, fewer errors and an improved experience.

Take a look at the graph below starting at week 33 when the new hardware was installed. 100 is where we want to be (we’re not perfect yet as you can see at the end of week 35, but we’re getting there ;-)).

Happy emailing!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

I love the click and drag functionality of the all-new mail. It makes moving messages a snap. But if reaching for your mouse is too tiring, have I got a tip for you. This tip is squarely aimed at all you efficiency freaks out there – you know who you are ;-). Before we begin, I have to give credit where credit is due… I pilfered this tip from my colleague Ryan from the States who writes the US Mail Blog.

This tip allows you to move messages to your folders just by using a single keystroke. Let’s say you have your folders set up like mine displayed here. If I want to move a message to my folder “Accts” all I have to do is highlight the message and type “1″ on my keyboard. If I get my BT statement and I want to move it to “Bills” all I have to do is press “2″. I can do that for up to my first 9 folders.

What’s more is that you can utilize the keyboard shortcut whether you are viewing your inbox, or whether you are reading the actual email. For example, if I’ve opened up my BT bill and have finished reading it, I just type “2″ and off it goes into my “Bills” folder.

If you want to re-arrange your folders in order of importance, or if you can’t remember what number goes with what folder name, you can always rename your 9 most important folders – putting a number in front – so that you are always reminded which folder goes with which number. I’ve done it to my folders here. One obvious advantage with this method is that you can bring important folders up to the top of the list because they are sorted alphabetically starting with numbers. (You can rename your folders by right-clicking on them)

Incidentally, this is just one of many keyboard shortcuts you can use in the all-new mail. For more keyboard shortcuts, you can visit this help page.

Happy message moving,
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

I’ve been asked before about how to set Yahoo Mail as your default email. Up until now, the only way that I knew, was to download and install the complete Yahoo! Messenger client, and install the Yahoo! Extras that come along with it. But I’m happy to tell you that, since Firefox 3 was released recently, there’s a new and much easier way to make Yahoo! Mail be the default mail when you see those clickable email addresses.

Here’s how to set up Yahoo! Mail to be your default email application using Firefox 3:

1. Download and install Firefox 3
2. After installation and when you have Firefox 3 up and running, click Tools, then Options
3. In the options window that pops up, click the Applications Tab
4. In the box labeled “Search” type Mail
5. In the “Action” drop down box, select “Use Yahoo Mail”
6. Finally, click “OK”

Here’s a little slide show that shows you all the steps:

That’s all there is to it. The next time you click on an email address link (also know as a mailto: link) when using Firefox 3, it will take you right to the compose window in Yahoo Mail.

Happy emailing,
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

I get some comments on this blog, now and again, saying that “I have to sign in every time I want to get to my mail, even though I’ve checked the box…” It’s not many of you, but enough that I thought I would take this opportunity to see if I can offer some suggestions on how to keep yourself signed into Yahoo! Mail for up to 2 weeks.

So if it’s your wish to remain logged into Yahoo! Mail for two weeks, but are having difficulty doing so, I’ve created a help page for you in the Yahoo Mail Help pages. You can read the detailed instructions here: http://help.yahoo.com/l/uk/yahoo/mail/classic/account/account-20.html

Some of the instructions are a bit technical, so if you’re not technically inclined you might want to get your resident computer nerd to give you a hand. Here is the abriged version:

1. Check the box “Keep me signed in” on the login page of Yahoo! Mail.
2. Make sure you are using the correct URL/web address to access Yahoo! Mail.
3. Check your account settings to make sure that you have your account set to keep you logged in for 2 weeks.
4. Make sure that you have your Internet browser set to accept “cookies” from Yahoo.
5. Make sure that your anti-virus/firewall software isn’t blocking or deleting you Yahoo! cookies.

After confirming those five steps you should now be kept logged in for 2 weeks at a time. Remember – DO NOT do this if you use a computer in an Internet Café, or you share your computer with someone else. Finally, I know this is a pretty technical post, so I apologize if some of the instructions above seem fairly complicated.

Happy emailing.
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

Keeping safe online is an ongoing battle. By some accounts, up to 90% of all mail is spam. While we are always working hard to ensure most of the spam sent your way never enters your Inbox, there are measures you can take to combat spammers right from within your own Yahoo! Mailbox. In a recent post, I talked about blocking certain email addresses from sending you email. For today’s security tip I want to clue you in to our free (for UK users) Addressguard feature.

First off, here is why using AddressGuard to create disposable email addresses is such a powerful line of defence against spam:

• Give them out when you don’t want to give out your primary Yahoo! Mail address
• Create disposable email addresses with ease
• Have messages delivered to your Inbox or a personal folder
• Simply delete them if they start receiving spam

Second, here’s a great video tutorial to give you an overview. Just click the “Continue” link in the image below:

Click here if you would like to see a full screen version.

Pretty cool, huh? Finally, if you’re ready to get started using disposable addresses, we have a more in-depth tutorial to help you get the most out of Addressguard. It doesn’t matter which version of Yahoo! Mail you use, we have a tutorial for each:
Addressguard tutorial for the all-new Yahoo! Mail
Addressguard tutorial for the classic version of Yahoo! Mail

If you’re new to the idea of using disposable addresses, it’s a great way to combat spam. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I’m sure once you start using it, you’ll never stop.

Happy address creating.
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

If you use the all-new version of Yahoo! Mail, then I’m sure you’ve come across the great new feature we’ve just added for when you compose a new email message (and it’s one that a lot of you have been asking for). If you don’t use the all-new Yahoo! Mail, then there may be a reason to switch now. What am I talking about? Well the new Yahoo! Mail stationery, of course.

From now on, when you compose a new email message, you’ll have the opportunity to add a special touch to your message. And an extra added bonus with the new stationery feature – there are no more ads to distract you when you compose your email.

We’ve added the ability for you to add a whole host of stationery designs to make your emails that much more special. To help you get the most out of the new stationery feature, I’ve put together a slide show that tells you a little more about how to use it. Just click the first image on the left, below…

Happy emailing!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

P.S. The stationery feature will be available free to all users that are using the new version of Yahoo Mail. If you are not seeing the possibility to add stationery to an email you might have to wait a short while before the feature is turned on for you. As with all of our feature releases, we do it in stages to make sure that it goes smoothly.

Originally uploaded by squirrelmonkey

If you’ve been walking around central London lately, you may have already seen this pictured here. The Yahoo! bus is driving around the major sites of London for the next couple of weeks. We’re trying to get the word out that there are millions of new email addresses out there and they are yours for the taking.

My colleagues and I had a chance to ride around on the bus, and I saw a number of people taking snaps like this one from my Flickr colleague Fiona. I posted some pictures to my Flickr account too.

Have you seen the bus recently? Maybe you were one of the ones that took a picture? Why not post it to Flickr with the tag “yahoo bus”?

Happy snapping.
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

So, were you successful in getting the email name that you’ve always wanted? That’s great news!! Now, are you trying to decide how to let everyone know that you’ve got a terrific new email address? And maybe you’re wondering if you can move all your mail and contacts over to that new ymail or rocketmail account. Well have I got a tool for!!!

How can I let people know that I have a new email address?
Whether you are coming from hotmail (yuck), gmail (blech) or even another yahoo (hooray!) email account, we’ve got tool that automatically moves everything from your old email address to your new ymail, rocketmail and/or yahoo.co.uk email address. It couldn’t be easier.

A little while back, my colleagues and I created a video that shows just how easy it is. I’ve included it on this post. But before you hit the play button, I just want to point out a couple of small differences from when we made the video (and believe me they are small).
1. You now have a choice to move everything to @ymail.com and @rocketmail.com
2. You can no longer move calendar items.
3. It can take up to 24 hours to move everything over (so keep checking)

Just take a look at this video (or click here for a full screen version)…

See how easy that was? Check it out for yourself

If you that can’t place where you know the music from… It’s “Maybe Tomorrow” by Terry Bush the theme song from the TV series “The Littlest Hobo”

Happy Switching!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

Hot off the presses…. We’ve just added two new domains to the Yahoo! Mail family. Now you can get that same top-notch Yahoo! Mail experience but with “@ymail.com” or “@rocketmail.com”.

What that means is that you have more opportunity to get the email address that you’ve always wanted. I’m sure you might be happy with bob1123322@yahoo.co.uk, but wouldn’t you prefer just plain bobby@ymail.com? Well, now you have the chance to get the name that you want.

Just go to www.yahoo.co.uk/ymail and register your new email address. I’m going to get mine right now.

Happy registering!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team

p.s. For you history buffs out there, Rocketmail was the creation of Four 11, the company that Yahoo! bought in 1997 that launched Yahoo! Mail.

Update: The upgrade went OK. Not without a hitch or two, so you may have experienced some strange behaviour this afternoon. If you find anything wrong with the blog, please post a comment on this post, and I’ll investigate.

Hi everyone. In order to patch some security vulnerablities on this blog, I’m going to perform some maintenance work tomorrow (19 Jun). There may be some time where the blog is down due to this upgrade. Fingers crossed it will only be for a short while, but I’ll have a “upgrade in progress” screen to let you know while it’s down.

Wish me luck!!

Happy emailing!
Andrew – Yahoo! Mail Team