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

Here’s a reminder for all the fellas out there (like me); Don’t forget that Valentine’s Day is coming up this Sunday (that’s the 14th of February). And of course a big Happy Chinese New Year!! Seriously though, I had totally forgot until just the other day.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to go running around looking for chocolates, flowers or trying to score that 8pm dinner reservation. With the Yahoo! Greetings app in the all new mail, you can send a Valentine’s card without even leaving your Inbox.

Let’s give it a try. Just click on Yahoo! Greetings in the applications pane of your Inbox. If it’s not listed there, just click the little plus sign next to ‘Applications’ and you can add it to your list.

Once the application opens, you can find the right card to send. Select ‘love & dating ecard’ and click ‘go’ to see a list of possible Valentine’s cards. Scroll through the list of cards and click on the one that suits you. Fill in your details, give it the personal touch with your own message and then click send. That’s it, you’re done. Now you can go back to watching Sports Center highlights.

Flowers are great but emails are too, so send your love without the thorns. Be advised, I am still getting chocolates and flowers (I like to cover all the bases).

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Every now and again the need arises to send big files as attachments. Normally they never exceed 25 Megabytes, so you’re covered with Yahoo! Mail. But even in the case where you have one file, or even a bunch of files over 25 Megabytes, with the ‘Attach Large Files’ app by drop.io in the all-new Yahoo! Mail, you can attach files up to 100 Megabytes. So now there’s a way to share those home videos, large presentations and all your photos at once.

You can find the Attach Large Files app in the Applications section underneath your folders. (If you don’t see it listed, you can add it to your list by clicking the plus sign.) To get started just click on the ‘Attach Large Files’ app.

After you agree and then click to get started, you can right away begin using the app to attach and send up to 100 Megabyte attachments. It doesn’t have to be just one file, you can upload multiple attachments in a single go. Just keep selecting all the files that you want to attach and when you’re ready, click the ‘Upload and Compose Email’. The app will tell you how much more space you have available. It’s that simple.

Once the files have finished uploading, the Attach Large Files app will open up a new message with the files already attached. The files will be available for downloading for 30 days after you send them, and your upload history is saved so you can resend again if you like. And you don’t have to worry whether or not your recipient’s Inbox can handle these attachments because the attachment is stored over at our app partner drop.io.

It really couldn’t be easier. The only thing to note is for people that like to write emails in ‘Plain Text’. With ‘Attach Large Files’, you have to compose your emails in ‘Rich Text’, but the App will prompt you to change to ‘Rich Text’ if you are not already doing that.

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I am a firm believer in the old adage ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. That is why my colleagues and I write a lot of posts around online security, phishing prevention and spam. We want everyone to know how to recognize and avoid phishing emails, as well as share tips for staying safe online.

But I also recognize that even the best of us can get caught off-guard sometimes. Whether it happens by mistake or a particularly well done forgery, someday you may find yourself in the situation that you account has been phished. If you don’t realize it right away, you’ll know it when your friends start asking why you sent them an email to a strange online shop or whether or not you really are stuck in Chicago without your wallet and are in need of money.

If you do ever find yourself the victim of a phishing attack and think your Yahoo account has been compromised, here are some things you can do to help get your account back online and in your control:

Change your password immediately. If you find that your account is sending spam, and you are still able to access your account, login to your Yahoo! account and change your password. That will prevent the fraudster from entering your account again. (Tip: Also check that we have the correct alternate contact email address for you on file.)

Use our automated account recovery tool. Sometimes the hacker who stole your information changes your password so that you can no longer access your account. If that’s the case, our account recovery tool can help restore access to your account and change your password at the same time. (Tip: You will have to answer your secret questions to complete the tool. If you forgot, or haven’t set your secret questions/answers, you can do that here then click the link ‘Update password-reset info’.)

Contact our Customer Care Team. If you can’t remember or are unable to provide the information needed by the account recovery tool, you can always contact our customer care team. Have a look at our account verification help pages, and then click the ‘Contact Us’ link. They will help get access to your account.

Remember, prevention is the best medicine. So arm yourself with the knowledge to stay safe online, and make sure you are prepared in case you ever do find yourself the victim of phishing. To simplify the process and quickly regain control of your Yahoo! account, make sure you always have a current alternate contact email address, and know the questions and answers to your secret questions. You can update your Yahoo! account recovery information by logging into your Yahoo! Account.

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I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. I might have to loosen my belt one notch for a couple of days, or at least until next month when I make that New Year’s resolution to exercise. One thing I won’t have to worry about is what to do with all those holiday photos of friends, family and celebrations. Yahoo! Mail makes it easy to store, create and share all your photos right from your inbox.

Save more. With Yahoo! Mail you have unlimited storage. You never have to worry about having to delete photos because your mailbox is getting too full. Feel free to keep all those photos your friends and family send. Well, maybe you don’t need to keep that one of Uncle Joe napping on the La-Z-Boy.

Send more. Yahoo! Mail lets you send emails with up to 25 Megabyte attachments. You can send more photos at once. You can send 12 pics with just one email assuming that each photo is about 2 Megabytes. Just make sure your recipients can receive emails that big. If not, you should encourage them to switch to Yahoo! Mail.

Do more. With our Apps, you’re not limited to just sending and receiving photos in Yahoo! Mail. Be creative with your photos right from your inbox. Without a doubt, the Edit Photos application is my favorite app in Yahoo! Mail. The App created by Picnik helps you clean up your snapshots with the ability to crop, resize, and reduce red-eye. Once you’re done touching-up your photo, add effects, frames and text. Then, once your masterpiece is complete, easily save and share your photo.

You can even share your Flickr photos right from your Yahoo! Mailbox. Load up the Flickr App and you can view the photostream and photo sets of you and your friends. Plus, share your photos and photo sets with the click of a button. Congrats to the Flickr team for being first on Time’s list of the 50 Best Websites of 2009. Don’t have a Flickr account yet? Sign up to Flickr using your existing Yahoo! ID.

Yahoo! Mail makes it easy to be more productive and more social. And now that the holiday season has arrived, I know you’re going to really appreciate all those great photo sharing features.

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With more than 300 million Yahoo! Mail inboxes worldwide, we take our responsibility to keep you safe and your inbox free of spam, phishing and other online scams very seriously. Did you know that in 2008, Yahoo! blocked more than a billion spam messages each day?  And it doesn’t stop there. So far this year, we have reduced the amount of spam that comes to Yahoo! Mail inboxes by an additional 30 percent!

So how do we do it?  Our anti-spam efforts use a multi-faceted approach to protect your inbox including the use of enhanced technologies, industry collaboration, public policy efforts, and consumer awareness campaigns. Here’s a look at some of the latest advancements from the front lines of fighting spam:

Analytical analysis – Because spammers adjust their messages in subtle ways to evade detection, we’re using Hadoop, a supercomputer consisting of thousands of individual PCs, to look at hundreds of different elements in each message.  For example, Hadoop doesn’t just look for the word “viagra” or “v1agra” or “v.i.a.g.r.a.” to show up in the subject line, it also looks for extremely subtle signals like how many words are in the message, what time of day the message was sent, how different this message is from the last one we saw from that same sender, and so on.

The hunt is on – We welcome opportunities within both private and public sectors to eliminate spam and educate its users about phishing. For example, in 2008 we saw an increase in messages telling our users that they had “won” the Yahoo! Lottery.  Sadly, no such lottery has ever existed!  Yahoo! has formed a public-private coalition with Microsoft, the African Development Bank, and Western Union to allow victims of lottery scams to upload police reports that are used to track down these criminals and develop better ways of protecting people online, and filed a lawsuit directly targeting these criminal con-men.

Self defense – The old adage is true: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Through ongoing consumer education and awareness, we are able to provide you with tips and strategies to identify spam, phishing and other online scams.  Speaking of, the holiday season and “Cyber Monday”—one of the busiest e-commerce days of the year—are right around the corner.  According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, Internet fraud surges around this time because more of us are shopping online. Be careful of those deals that sound too good to be true, because they almost always are.  For more advice, be sure to check out our top tips for staying safe online and spotting online scams.  Also, check out the sidebar below for specific tips for Cyber Monday.  With a sharp eye and a little education, you can better protect your wallet and your identity this holiday season!

With Yahoo! Mail touching over 50 percent of U.S. email users, your protection online and the prevention of spam are issues that are always top of mind.  Whether it be phishing scams, lottery scams, fund transfer scams or other crimes, rest assured that we are behind the scene working diligently to protect you and your inbox. 

Happy holidays from me and my team as we protect you from spam, one message at a time.

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Tips for a Safe and Productive Cyber Monday!
As I mentioned earlier, Cyber Monday is almost here.  So be sure to use the following tips when you’re receiving emails from vendors on deals and bargains or shopping online at Yahoo! Shopping or any other online shopping store for that perfect gift this holiday season:

Stay updated: Make sure your anti-virus software, internet browser, and operating system are all up-to-date, to protect your computer against viruses and fraudulent websites.

Know whom you’re buying from: Make sure you understand something about the company you are making a purchase from, and be familiar with their practices and policies. While there are many perfectly-reputable online merchants, there are also scammers out there, so be wary of deals that seem too good to be true. Check out their return policies, shipping procedures, and packaging timeframe. Be comfortable with the website and confident that you are going to be protected in the event an issue arises.

Keep your password to yourself: Most websites will require a log-in to make a purchase. Create a secure and unique password, with a combination of letters (uppercase and lowercase), numbers and symbols. If you need to, it’s much better to pick strong passwords and write them down in a secure location than to reuse the same, simple password on multiple sites.

Look for the padlock: When you’re entering sensitive data – such as passwords or credit card numbers – you should always look for the locked padlock symbol at the bottom of the screen or in the web address toolbar.  If the lock isn’t there, it means the site is not securing your information and the site should definitely not be trusted (unfortunately, just because the lock is there doesn’t mean the site is legit, but if it’s not there you know something’s up)

Use your better judgment: You know better! If that Cyber Monday deal sounds too good to be true, chances are that it is. The same can be said about e-mail. While our spam filters work hard to weed out the bad from the good, never click on links in unsolicited or untrusted messages; doing so exposes you to the fraud and also encourages spammers to send more spam.

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Today’s post comes from reader suggestion (who will have to remain anonymous, because I seem to have misplaced his email, ping, message from Facebook, LinkedIn etc.), who reminded me that, ‘with all of the fantastic new updates we’ve been releasing lately, like the new social features and Apps in Yahoo! Mail, we sometimes overlook the great features that have been around for ages.’ Features which make Yahoo! Mail the best (not just my opinion) email service around. One such feature is the ability to add an extra mail address to your Yahoo! Mail account.

You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers…

What is it?
An extra mail address is a second Yahoo! email address that is linked to your existing Yahoo! Mail account. It’s another email address, just like your primary one, that you can use to send and receive mail from, while using the exact same Inbox you’re used to. You can even make it the default address that you send email from if you want.

Why do I want one?
I can think of a number of things that you could use the extra mail address for. Here’s just a couple:

• Let’s say you’re looking for a new job. If you originally signed up for a mail address like barry_manilow_fan@yahoo.com, you might think twice about putting that at the top of your resume. You can create an extra mail address that is more appropriate for a job search or other business correspondence.
• Maybe you just want to have a second email address. There’s a great deal of convenience in being able to check for new mail without having to login and out of two separate accounts.

Sounds good, how do I get one?
It’s easy to set up and start using. From your Yahoo! Mail account click ‘Options’ then ‘Mail Options’ in the upper-right part of your Mailbox. From the Mail Options screen click ‘Accounts’ then ‘Add or edit an Account’. At the bottom of the new window click the ‘Get Started’ link under ‘Extra Mail Address’.

That sounds easy, but I’m still not sure. What else?

• You can easily send from this extra email address by selecting it from the pull-down menu when you compose a new message.
• You can sign in to your Yahoo! Mail (or anywhere else on Yahoo!) using the extra email address with your existing password.
• You can even make the extra email address the default for sending new mail. Just set it as the default in the ‘Mail Accounts’ section of Mail Options.

I really hope you try out this feature. If you get stuck, or want to find out more information about extra email addresses in Yahoo! Mail, take a look at our help pages.

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Yahoo! web lifestyle editor, Heather Cabot, was a guest on the Martha Stewart show last Friday. You might remember Heather from her appearance on The View from the Bay last year. Martha’s show on social networking and technology featured guests David Pogue from the New York Times and Biz Stone from Twitter. Heather was on to highlight how Yahoo! makes it easy to bring everything that matters to you in one place.

The beginning of Heather’s segment includes a tour of our newly designed Homepage. But I’m probably a little biased in thinking the best part was when Heather and Martha opened up Yahoo! Mail to highlight some of the open and social features that help you to be more productive and stay better connected. I have to agree with Martha that Picnik is a really great Yahoo! Mail App.

Here’s a link to the videos available from the show on Friday. http://www.marthastewart.com/show/the-martha-stewart-show/the-tech-show. Heather’s segment is number 4.

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The all-new version of Yahoo! Mail is full of time-saving features that make your life easier and more productive. Today I want to share a quick tip for adding new Contacts that I find very useful. Let’s say you receive an email from someone that’s not already in your list of Contacts, to add them to your Addressbook is easy. Here’s how…

There are actually two very easy ways to add new Contacts using any email message that is in your Mailbox. This first one is my preferred method. All you have to do is click the email message and drag it across over the ‘Contacts’ folder on the left side of your Mailbox.

An alternative way is to right-click on the email message and select ‘Add Sender to Contacts’ from the short-cut menu.

Which ever method you choose a new dialog box will pop open with the name and email address pre-populated with the information contained in the email. Just confirm that it’s correct and click ‘Save’. Now your new contact is added to your Addressbook.

It’s just that easy.

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With Yahoo! Mail offering unlimited storage, I find myself using the delete button less and less these days. And with the ability to move messages to folders with one keystroke (in the all-new version of Mail), it’s more important than ever to be able to easily and quickly find messages.

Simple Searching
With just a simple keyword search, like “orders”, we give you the option to filter search results by a whole host of options. Whether you want to narrow your results by Date, Folder, Sender etc. they are all listed for you in a very nice, clickable, list (right-hand side in the new Mail, left-hand side of Classic Mail). But that just scratches the surface of what you can do.

Shortcuts
For the more advanced searchers of the world (plus those who prefer typing to clicking), you can filter your searches from directly within the search box. Think of the filters as little search shortcuts for your Mailbox.

Let’s take a look at an example:
Say you want to find all of your emails in your Mailbox with the subject pictures?
- In the search box, type: subject:pictures

But you have a ton of emails with pictures. You want to find that fantastic picture from Dave and you remember he called it cool.
- In the search box, type: subject:”cool picture” from:dave

On the other hand, if lot’s of people send you cool pics, but you’ve never really liked the ones that Dave sends you, you can hide Dave’s messages from the search results using the ‘-’ (dash) to omit his results
- In the search box, type: subject:”cool pictures” –from:dave

Attachments
Did you know that you can search for different types of attachments using search in Yahoo! Mail? And even better, you can search INSIDE attachments. Yes, that’s right, I said inside. I know what you’re saying – “That’s not possible from a web mail provider.” Well it is possible, and you can do search inside Word documents, Excel and PDFs with Yahoo! Mail. I’m not aware of any other free Web mail provider that does that!

Let’s use one of those shortcuts.
- In the search box, type: from:dave attachment:”restaurant list”

Why do I care about this? Well, since Dave sends so many emails with attachments to me, being able to search inside attachments I can find the document he sent me with his restaurant recommendations. And we even give a little preview and highlight the part of the document with the search terms.

More with Attachments
There are plenty of other things you can do with the attachment shortcuts. You are able to search for an attachment name, type and number of attachments. Want to see a list of boarding pass PDFs you have received from American after checking in?
- In the search box, type: from:american attachmenttype:pdf

Further reading
If any of this is slightly confusing or you want to learn more, we’ve created some tutorials. Tutorial topics include: Quick Searches, Searching for Messages, Narrowing Search Results. And there is a complete list of these Yahoo Mail search shortcuts in our help pages.

Now if only I could find my car keys…

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Last week we took a look at some of the keyboard shortcuts available in the all-new Yahoo! Mail. We looked at the basics: opening and closing a message, composing and sending, etc. Today I wanted to dive a little deeper and look at some shortcuts that really make Yahoo! Mail great and you incredibly productive.

Moving messages with a single keystroke:
Do you use personal folders to keep your mailbox organized? Did you know that the numbers 1-9 on your keyboard correspond to the first 9 of your folders? So when you’re finished reading a message, just press the right number and off it goes. No need to click and drag.

Here are some other quick tips for moving messages:

• You can see which number your folder is by clicking the ‘Move’ button at the top of your mailbox. Your folders are listed in numerical order
• If you want to make it even easier, just rename your folders and put a number in front of the folder name (i.e. 1 Family, 2 Orders, etc).
• If you like the idea of renaming folders use the F2 key to rename a folder
• Finally, 0 (zero) moves a message from any folder back to the Inbox
• We’ve stopped at 9. So if you want to move a message to the 10th folder in your list, you’ll have to grab that mouse.

Navigate your mailbox without a mouse:
One of the features that I think makes the new Yahoo! Mail so great is the ability to have multiple messages (tabs) open at the same time from right inside your mailbox. Using CTRL+] (that’s the right bracket key) will move from one tab to another (going from left to right). Need to go the other direction CTRL+[ (that’s the left bracket key).

No need to stop there. Hitting TAB will let your navigate all around your Mailbox. This time SHIFT+TAB sends you the other way around. Looking at your Inbox? Need to perform a search? Just hit SHIFT+TAB and your cursor goes into the search box. Type your query and hit Enter.

Just a reminder that the complete list of shortcuts can be found on our help site. And don’t forget you can always look at the tool-tips when you mouse over a link.

I hope you find these features as useful as I do. Every time I find that I have to use an email that isn’t Yahoo Mail (for testing purposes only, of course) I’m always disappointed when I can’t use my keyboard.

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