Yahoo! Mail Blog

Below is the complete transcript from the Yahoo! Mail Basics Workshop, held on 10/08/08. Be sure to check the Mail Blog for upcoming Workshop times and details.

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YahooModerator: Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us for the Yahoo! Mail Basic Workshop!
YahooModerator: Feel free to submit questions using the box below. Unfortunately, not all questions will be answered, but we’ll get to as many as we can in the hour allotted.
YahooModerator: Let’s get started.

LucianBT: hy there is there any way to read my yahoo mails from outlook express or any other program?
YMailRyan: LucianBT – Any YMail user can download the Zimbra desktop client and use that to access their accounts. Otherwise we provide POP support to Mail Plus users, and with POP you can use other desktop clients (like Outlook or Outlook Express) or web based email services.

Kay: How should I set it up to be able send and accept text messages using the phone line connection? Is the charge a different rate?
YMailRyan: Kay – If you are referring to the ability to send SMS/Text messages from within the All-New Yahoo! Mail, there is no charge for you to send. You also don’t need to worry about any phone line changes.
YMailRyan: The people you message may have restrictions on their phones, so keep that in mind. They won’t have a way to message you directly, but if they keep your most recent message and “REPLY”, you should get the message.

erica_the_great: What’s TrueSwitch?
YMailRyan: TrueSwitch makes it easy to transfer your information from one email account to another.
YMailRyan: To use it, just tell us the old account you want to switch from, and the new account you want to switch to! You can access it here: http://secure5.trueswitch.com/yahoo/

ArtGle: I have one e-mail address that I bought Mail Plus for. I added a more ‘professional’ address to the account, but it apparently doesn’t have mail plus? Do I have to purchase mail plus for each address? Even if they’re on the same account?
YMailRyan: ArtGle – If you are talking about an address you created by generating an alias within your existing Yahoo! account, that would be covered by the same Plus upgrade.

mariemorgan_tx: Where in New yahoo mail do I tell it to use my signature when i want to use it
YMailRyan: If you go back to the area in Mail Options where you created the signature, you should see the option to always include or always exclude the signature.

Mark2112: I HATE HATE HATE those damn click sounds. How do I turn them off?
YMailTeam: Hi Mark2112! Yep! If you’re using a Windows XP or 2000 system you can turn them off by going to the “Start” menu on your desktop > Settings > Control Panel. From here, pick the Sounds option. Scroll down until you see the “Windows Explorer” category, and then “Start Navigation.” Click to highlight. Then, open the “Sounds” pop-up, and select None.

G-342212729: Need to change my email address…how do I do that?
YMailRyan: That’s tricky. You can create additional aliases for any Yahoo! account, and one of those aliases can be used as a secondary email address for the same account.
YMailRyan: It’s kind of complicated to manage, so you might find it easier to create a new account and use TrueSwitch to migrate your email and information to the new account. It will even notify all of your contacts that your address has changed (if you want).

xchief52: How do I create a business card for my out-going emails?
YMailRyan: I think what you might be looking for is a signature that contains all of the information your business card would.
YMailRyan: Here’s how to create one:

1. Click Options in the upper-right corner of your Mail page.
2. Click Signature.
3. Before you start typing, choose if you want to have your signature appear in plain text or in color and graphics.
4. Now, add or change your signature by typing in the text area.
5. Select the option to add signature to all outgoing messages.

YMailRyan: Remember to click Save when you’re done. This puts your new signature into effect.

G-346073186: Whats limit for Email storage capacity?
YMailRyan: Whether you are using Classic or the All-New Yahoo! Mail, there is no limit.

chiyk86: Just a suggestion… for those users (like me) who have more than one Yahoo email address, there should be a feature that allows them to merge those email accounts or a way to copy old emails and folders into the new Yahoo email account they want to exclusively use from that day forward. Hope this makes sense. Thanks for reading.
YMailRyan: chiyk86 – I am in the same boat as you. I have more than one account that I use regularly, and have found that Zimbra is a great solution to access them all from the same place.
YMailRyan: We don’t support the merging of accounts, but another option would be migrate all of your older account info (emails, contacts, etc.) to the newer account using TrueSwitch.

sandyb214: Is it possible to use bullets, underlining and other fun things while composing e-mail?
YMailRyan: sandyb214 – As long as you compose your messages in Rich Text (instead of Plain Text), you should have a toolbar at the top of your compose window. You can change the color, size, style, add bullets, etc. Lots of options to choose from, for both Classic and New Mail users.

factotum: does yahoo operate, or hope to operate in the near future any form of whtelisting? thanks
YMailMaryn: Yes we do operate White Listing. You can submit a Whitelist application from our Help pages and one of our Postmaster agents will review the application and whitelist any approved senders. The whitelist application can be found here.

myprettybird21: i want to put the yahoo mail icon on the desktop how you do that
YMailRyan: myprettybird21 – That’s one is pretty easy to do. Just look up at the top of your browser for the Address Bar (where the http:// shows) and look for the favicon immediately to the left of it.
YMailRyan: Favicons are often icons representing the site, but sometimes are just blank page icons. Click on that and drag it to your desktop.
YMailRyan: Once it’s there you can rename it if you want. Hope that helps.

jws353: Will this chat be available later in text form for those of us who cannot attend?
YMailRyan: Within the next few days I’ll be posting a complete transcript to the YMail Blog (www.ymailblog.com), which by the way is an excellent resource for all things Yahoo! Mail related (hint hint hint).
YMailRyan: We’ll always announce upcoming events there, and always post transcripts there too.

donhburger: Can I switch back to Classic, I don’t like the new email? It runs slower and is not stable.
YMailMaryn: Yes you can switch back to the Classic Mail interface. When you are logged into your account, just click on the link labeled “Mail Classic” and follow the easy directions.

geenieinabottle: I get the message “your login session has expired.” Why?
YMailTeam: This happens if you’ve been logged in for more than 8 hours. This prevents people from logging in or using your account if you’re logged into a shared computer. You can also change your preferences by logging into your account, going to Inbox > My Account > Yahoo! Account Info > Edit > General Preferences and change the Prompt for Password settings.

donhburger: Why does Yahoo sell our email addresses to spammers?
YMailRyan: We absolutely don’t sell your addresses to spammers. No IFs, ANDs, or BUTs about it.

LiamsGirl: I LOVE Liam! How did he get his name? Can we see more of him! BTW I loved the ad that let you do things to Liam. Totally cool.
YMailTeam: We’re glad to hear you love Liam! We love him too! Liam is actually mail spelled backwards! You can check out Liam’s full story by going here: http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/2008/04/liams-life/

bainco2000: I’ve been using Yahoo for years. All of a sudden my emails to my friends at AOL are always returned as undeliverable. I have sent messages to Yahoo help 3 different time and I never receive a reply. This always went through before, but for the last couple of months they won’t. Can you help me.
YMailMaryn: Sorry you’re having problems sending emails to your AOL friends. You mentioned that you’ve sent emails to our Customer Care team. The best way to contact Customer Care is not by sending an email, but by filling out a Help Form. Here’s the form.
YMailMaryn: Make sure that you keep the bounced emails as that will help our agents trouble shoot the problem.

aizn_baybee: In new mail u can chat 2 ur msgr friends, rite? I used 2 be able 2 do dis, but clicked something and can’t get it back. HELP?!
YMessengerMelissa: hey aizn_baybee! Log into your All-New Yahoo! Mail account and click on the circle up at the top by your name. This will display a drop-down menu. From here, you can sign in/out, and select your status.
YMessengerMelissa: Just remember: logging into Messenger from Mail will automatically log you out of your desktop client, since you can only be logged into one location at a time.

imintrouble: My mom keeps emailing em but I never get it and usually it ends up in my spam box. Why? How do I make this stop? She’s getting pissed that I’m not replying.
YMailTeam: Oh no! Be sure your Mom is on your contact list– this should help keep mom out of spam box and put her back into your inbox.

peteyboyyyy: First off, I LOVE Yahoo! But I always see these weird flag things in my inbox. What do the backwards arrow, forward arrow, and flag icons mean?
YMailTeam: They’re there to show you what messages you’ve replied to (backwards arrow), what messages you’ve forwarded (forward arrow), and what messages you’ve flagged for follow-up.
YMailTeam: To flag a message, click the message you’d like to flag. Find the “More actions” button above the main Yahoo! mail window. Click it and select “flag for follow-up.” It’s as easy as that!

Pennyroyalnorwich: In New Mail, is there any way to prevent the constant monitoring for unread mail in the inbox? It uses too much memory.
YMailChris: I believe you’re referring to the auto-check mail feature. Our engineering team has worked hard to ensure memory usage is at a minimum when checking to see if you have new messages available. By checking messages on a regular basis (while logged in), you should never miss an email.

YahooModerator: Hey guys, we’re about halfway through the workshop– keep submitting your questions for the Mail team to answer!

Vox: What does “buzz up” mean? How do you obtain transcripts of prior workshops?
YMailRyan: Hi Vox – Buzz is a Yahoo! site that enables users to submit and vote on interesting content from around the web. Then other users can “buzz up” or “buzz down” stories, which impacts rankings. If you would like to try it out you should go to the Yahoo! Mail blog, and start buzzing up all of my posts!

GUESTUSER: My mail won’t work anymore. I have cookies disabled. Do I have ot have them on to make it work?
YMailTeam: Hey, GUESTUSER. Great question. To use Yahoo! Mail you must have cookies enabled. These cookies expire after 8 hours, but must be turned on to use Mail. Not sure how to turn your cookies on? Check out this help link for full directions for your browser.

alexandrojv: how come many of the options in the “New” Yahoo mail setting are still not availabel, and i have to switch to the old version to make some changes, if the “New” Yahoo mail has bee around for a long time already?
YMailRyan: We’re constantly working on improving the user experience for everyone. We hear your feedback and are actively evaluating improving the Options experience so everything is under one interface.
YMailRyan: Please stay tuned as you see new changes rolled out in the near future.

G-336875894: Is it possible to have more than one “identity” in order to your name appear differently according to whom you are writing. This would come in handy if you are using one email address for both businees and personal emails.
YMailMaryn: You can change your name on your outgoing messages – but unfortunately only one at a time. So here are the instructions on how to do that for both Mail Classic and the All-New Yahoo! Mail.

In Yahoo! Mail classic:

1. Click “Options” in the upper-right corner of your Mail page.
2. Click the “General Preferences” link.
3. In the “From name:” field, enter your name as you’d like it to appear in the “From: line” of your outgoing messages.
   Example: “Joe Schmoe”. This is the name people will see in their Inboxes when they receive messages from you.
4. Click “Save” to put your new settings into effect.

In All new Yahoo! mail:

1. Click “Options” in the upper-right corner of your Mail page.
2. Select “Mail Options” from the pull-down menu.
3. From the list on the left, click “Accounts.”
4. Click the “Add or edit an account” link in the middle of the page.
5. In the box on the left, click “Yahoo! Mail”.
6. Click “Edit”.
7. In the “From name:” field, enter your name as you’d like it to appear in the “From:” line of your outgoing messages.
   Example: “Joe Schmoe”. This is the name people will see in their Inboxes when they receive messages from you.
8. Click “Save” to put your new settings into effect.

gypsyhowl: when I save an email to drafts, then continue on to send the email, it now deletes the saved draft…?
YMailRyan: With the introduction of Auto-Save for all Mail users we needed to change the way that drafts are handled. Otherwise users would end up a Drafts folder that is a mirror of your Sent folder. I recommend saving templates either in Notes, or moving copies of messages to alternate folders. We know it’s not ideal for people who have grown accustomed to the old way, but with Auto-Save we needed to make some changes.

buergej: Just why do I keep receiving the same kind of spam from a series of what appear to be women day after day after day?
YMailCarl: Spam is, unfortunately a constant problem for anyone using email. The reason you are receiving these emails is because spammers have somehow gotten a hold of your email address and are mailing you their lovely messages. There are several things you can do to assist with this. First, continue to report these messages as “Spam” by clicking the button at the top of the email labled “Spam”. Note that you don’t need to actually look at the message to do this. When you report items as spam it lets Yahoo! know that messages originating from that person are likely spam. This not only helps you, but helps other Yahoo! users as well.
YMailCarl: Second, if the emails are from similar names, you can set up filters in your email account to block those names and send them to your trash or spam folder.
YMailCarl: Obviously these messages you are receiving are not from women trying to sell you products personally – the messages are typically generated by a script which will try to forge or “spoof” the originating address.
YMailCarl: We agree that Spam is a serious issue and have many resources dedicated to fighting this problem.
YMailCarl: You can find some additional information about fighting spam here:  http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/original/abuse/index.html

donhburger: Why does the Mail indicator say I have 27 emails but when I open mail it only as 11? People are saying that they einclud me in the copy list to receive an email but I nevver get it, WHy?
YMailRyan: donhburger – Are you sure that you don’t have any filters set up that route messages automatically to one of your folders? I often find myself confused by the Mail indicator because I forget about my filtered messages.

Vlad: I have a lot of international friends. How do I change my preferences so it recognizes these new characters?
YMailTeam: Hi Vlad, you can do this by going to the toolbar and clicking More Actions>Set Encodings. From the list, pick the language/encoding that matches what you’re looking for.
YMailTeam: Just remember: only one character encoding set can be used at a time.

BetsyJ564: What’s Mail Plus, and why should I pay for it?
YMailMaryn: Mail Plus is a premium service that gives you the following additional features: AddressGuard, Archiving, POP Access, 20MB message size limit (10MB in the free version), no advertisements, 50 filters (15 filters in the free version), and no tagline on outgoing messages. For more information and to sign up for Yahoo! Mail Plus, just go here: http://mailplus.mail.yahoo.com

tncandle2343: Who is this MAILER-DAEMON guy and who deos he keep emailing me?
YMailTeam: tncandle2343, this message means your email was considered undeliverable, or was “bounced.” To avoid these emails, be sure to read the MAILER-DAEMON email to see why your message failed. Usually, it has to do with a mistype in the recipient’s email or an incorrect domain. In some cases, this can occur when the recipient’s inbox is full. Hope this helps!

r5c2j: Why do I have to keep clicking on the Bcc when I didn’t have to before?
YMailRyan: r5c2j – We recently overhauled much of our Mail Options area in an attempt to streamline how the backend works…and to improve the overall experience for a lot of users.
YMailRyan: To do this we had to take a long, hard look at some of the options that weren’t being used. It turned out that the option to permanently display the BCC field was something was seldom used, and since there it can be revealed without forcing a full page reload, we felt it was one of the areas we could make a cut.
YMailRyan: We are sorry that this has upset some people who would like it displayed permanently, so I’m looking into other tricks we might offer to help.

AleBale: Hello. What is the attachment limit?
YMailRyan: AleBale – There’s no limit to the number of items you can attach. There is however a total data amount limit…which is 10MB for standard users, and 20MB for Mail Plus users.
Incredible: Help! I picked a stationary background and can’t get it to turn off. How do I make it go away?
YMailMaryn: It’s really easy to turn off the Stationary. In the All-New Yahoo! Mail version, just make sure the “Stationery Column” is visible on the right side of your screen. If it is not, just click on the “Stationery” button in the upper-right portion of the New Email Message screen. Then under the category listing in the Stationery Column, just click “None”.
In the Classic Mail interface, just follow these steps:

1. Click the button on the far right end of the Rich Text Toolbar. It’s the Stationery button that shows an orange and blue graphic.
2. A pop-up window will open showing a collection of designs in categories. Click on the category you desire.
3. Click on the desired stationery design.
4. Click “Done”.

spidermanRAWKS: I ahve SOOOOO many emails. I wanna put them in a folder. How do I create a new folder?
YMailTeam: To create a new folder, find “My Folders” in the folder list on the left side of your Yahoo! Mail page. “Add” is to the right of “My Folders.” See it? (Be sure you’ve got the right one: there’s another “Add” just above it, next to “All RSS Feeds.” This “Add” is how you add news and blogs and other content to the RSS pull-down menu in your folder list, which makes it easy to keep up on stuff right from your Yahoo! Mail window.) Anyway, find the “Add” next to “My Folders.” Click it.
YMailTeam: A new blank folder pops into the folder list under “My Folders.” See it? It’s called “untitled.” You can click to rename, and can create up to 256 folders.

Vox: How do you obtain transcripts of earlier workshops?
YMailRyan: When I post this transcript I’ll be creating a Workshop Transcripts blog page containing all previous events. In the meantime you can go here: http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/anti-spam-workshop/

Karen: Is there a way to see if a recipient opens the message you send them?
YMailChris: Today, there isn’t an option that allows users to see if a message that you sent has been read. We are always looking at new features that improve the user experience, so please continue to give us this feedback if this is important to you.

Vox: How do I increase the size of the font I’m now looking at
YMailCarl: Not a problem! If you want to increase the size of the font you are using in the New Yahoo! Mail, you simply click the arrow in the font-size pull-down menu in your Compose window. It’s just to the right of the pull-down menu where you select your font. 36-point is the largest font size you can select, and 8 is the smallest. (Note that this is only available while in Rich Text Mode, not in Plain Text Mode.)
YMailCarl: On the Compose page, above the upper-right corner of the compose window, there’s a link that either says Rich Text or Plain Text. Click this link to switch back and forth between the two. Since the link is the switch, you’ll actually see Plain Text when you’re in Rich Text. Once you are assured you are in the Rich Text Mode, click the button with two A’s on it to choose the size of type you want. Browse the menu and click the size you want.

donhburger: Why when I mark Emails as Spam do I continue to get emils from the same persons?
YMailMaryn: When you mark a message as “spam” from within your Inbox that moves the message to your Spam Folder. And all subsequent messages that are sent from that particular sender will not be delivered to your Inbox, but will be delivered to your Spam Folder.

mitchell: Why are messages with attachments routed to my Trash folder?
YMailTeam: Do you have a filter set up that’s sending emails that include “DVD” or “VHS” or some other non-word directly to your Trash? Unfortunately, short strings of letters like this are often also found in the encoding for attachments. As it processes masses of data, Yahoo! Mail sees the string of letters, matches them with your filter, and sends them to the Trash.
YMailTeam: Take a look at your filters: Do you think you have one or two that might be doing this? If so, the best way to start getting the attachments again is to remove these filters.

YahooModerator: Only ten minutes left! Be sure to submit those last, burning questions now!

r5c2j: I used that Bcc most of the time. If people didn’t want it they could have had set up so that they didn’t have to have it. It should be a choice by us saying we’re using it.
YMailRyan: r5c2j – I hear you, and you aren’t the first to ask me about it. Unfortunately when you pull back and look at the entire user base, the number of users who opted to permanently display was extremely small. I’m pushing for a solution that will make it easier for users to reveal the field without having to click, but also not having to add to the options area. Stay tuned to the blog and I’ll share any updates I have.

w0lfwoman: did you guys know that this many people are so fanatical about their email?
YMailCarl: Believe it or not we are just as passionate about your email as you are! With so many users, it isn’t surprising that people love Yahoo! Mail as much as we do…

Martin2521: How do I save an article from an RSS feed to a mail folder?
YMailTeam: Great question, Martin2521! Click and hold down the title of the article you want, and drag it to the folder of your choice. When the folder title lights up, un-click.
YMailTeam: You can also click anywhere in the summary of the article, and when a vertical bar appears to the left of it, click and hold down on the bar and drag it to the folder of your choice.

newuser: What is Ymail and Rocketmail?
YMailTeam: Ymail and Rocketmail are the latest domain choices provided by Yahoo!. To learn more, check out Ryan’s blog post, here: http://www.ymailblog.com/blog/2008/06/new-domains/

sexyat47: Why is it when I upgraid my mail from classic,the new mail runs slower,is it because my computor is 5 gigs and dont have the correct size
YMailChris: Try using Firefox/Safari and see if that helps improve your speed/performance issues when switching to the new Yahoo! Mail. Hope that helps!

simmiejoyz: I got here late, but would like to know if there is a solution around-the-corner for the login issue? I have to re-enter my password after several emails — but not on all my accounts, just a couple of them.
YMailCarl: This is an issue that we are aware of that is currently affecting some specific accounts. We do have people working on it now, but we are unable to give you a specific time or date that we will have this resolved completely. That said, please be aware that we are intimately familiar with this issue and working to get it resolved.

G-347799028: What is the Max # of folders one can have in YMail, and does it increase for Plus members?
YMailRyan: All users get the same number of folders, regardless of being Plus, and that number is currently more than 250. We hope that is enough, but if not we can try to add more.

donhburger: Maryn that is not true, i still get email from the same people
YMailMaryn: Hmmm… Once you mark a message as “Spam” you should not be receiving messages in your Inbox from that exact sender. I would suggest that you contact our Customer Care team. Just go here and complete the form and one of our Technical Agents will look into this for you.

dkjflakdidfk: Why do I get a “Failed Delivery” message?
YMailTeam: When you get mail from a “MAILER-DAEMON” or a “Mail Delivery Subsystem” with a subject similar to “Failed Delivery,” this means that a message you sent was undeliverable and has been “bounced” back to you. These messages are produced automatically and usually include a reason for the delivery failure.

robertmendel: Can I archive mailboxes in free yahoo mail? What application opens and reads them if so? Or do I need to pay $ and use a client mail application for this? Thanks
YMailCarl: I think what you are trying to do is get a backup of your mail to your hard drive? If this is the case, you would need to pop your mail with a POP Client such as Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. However, POP is currently only available to Mail Plus subscribers. So you would need to subscribe to Mail Plus and then set up a client to download the mail to your computer.

G-347797529: Are there any fancy ways of putting mail on the desk top that announces you have mail like they do in the movies?
YMailRyan: Not sure if you are talking about that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie…but our version doesn’t come with an audible alert. What you can do is download the Messenger desktop client and receive notification in the corner of screen.

techgirlguru: I keep getting “unresponsive script” warnings in Firefox. How do I get rid of them?
YMailTeam: You can solve this problem by raising the default script execution time. Don’t worry! It’s not as hard as it sounds. To do this:

1. Type “about:config” in your Firefox address box.
2. Below the address box you’ll now see another long, empty rectangle – the Filter box. Here, type “dom.max_script_run_time”. Or just copy and paste it from here to there – but without the quotes.
3. Right-click on this row, and select Modify.
4. Replace “5″ with “30″ to raise the default maximum to 30 seconds.

Lifer: Been a yahoo mailer since like 95 or as early as it was available if a later date. the single feature I am still waiting for is free pop3/smtp access so I don’t have to use the web interface. no, I won’t pay the 19.99 a year for it, since all the other services give it for free. so the question, will we ever get that for FREE?
YMailMaryn: Hey Lifer! Sorry, POP Access is part of our Mail Plus features and we do not have plans to offer that for free anytime soon. It’s only $19.99 per year.

lianawestbrook: I am also a hotmail user. that was my original mail but now I also use Yahoo. I want to transfer my contact list from hotmail to yahoo and I can not seem to find how to put it in to my data in yahoo. I already e-mailed it to my self from hotmail to yahoo, but that is as far as i seem to be able to get. I am working during your workshop so I will not be able to attend . Can you help me ??
YMailChris: If you have already downloaded the list of contacts from your Hotmail account (.csv file), it’s easy to upload this list into Yahoo!’s Addressbook.
YMailChris: Go to http://addressbook.yahoo.com and on the top right-hand side click on Import/Export and you will be able to browse for the file on you computer, click on the file, and then click “import now”.

kussman: I would like to insert/embed a pdf document (or jpeg) into an email. Is that possible?
YMailCarl: While it isn’t possible to “embed” the pdf document into the email, you can include it as an attachment. To do this, while you are composing an email, simply click the “Attach Files” button just above the compose window, then select the file you wish to attach. Free Mail accounts have a limit of 10MB attachments, while Mail Plus accounts have a limit of 20MB attachments.

jtrotter: When are we going to get IMAP-ever?
YMailChris: We offer IMAP today for our mobile users (iPhone/Blackberry) as well as those who download the Zimbra Desktop client.
YMailChris: Go here to download the latest version — http://www.zimbra.com/products/desktop.html

G-347799028: When are you going to have another one of these workshops? :)
YMailRyan: As you may have heard today, we just announced a new Beta version of our Calendar. I’ll be trying to get the Calendar team together for a workshop in the next month or so…stay tuned to the YMail Blog for updates. www.ymailblog.com

YMailRyan: Alright, that’s about all the time we have! Thanks so much for participating!
YahooModerator: Be sure to check the Yahoo! Mail Blog (www.ymailblog.com) for the complete transcript– Ryan will post it in the next few days.
YahooModerator: Thanks again for all your great questions, and for being a Yahoo! Mail User!