Introducing the all-new Yahoo! Mail

Posted August 27th, 2007 at 1:38 am by John Kremer, Yahoo! Mail

 71 Comments / Filed in: Trends & News

My kids, like most, love text messaging. But while their nimble fingers can easily navigate cell phone keypads at lightning speeds, I definitely prefer a full keyboard, and am much more inclined to use email than text messaging.

So I’m doubly excited to announce the launch of the all-new Yahoo! Mail today. Not only are we launching a brand new version of one of the most popular Web mail services in the world, but we’re unveiling a solution to my texting woes, and giving people around the world more ways to connect. With the new Yahoo! Mail, people can send and receive free text messages in their email to and from any mobile phone number in participating markets including the US, Canada, India and the Philippines.

It’s sure to come in handy for people like me who want to keep in touch with text-crazy friends and family. From my Yahoo! Mail window (and using my comfortably full-sized keyboard), I can type a note to my son, letting him know I’m on my way to his soccer practice, and send it straight to his phone. And he can send a text message right back to my email, letting me know where to meet him. The intuitive, chat-like interface makes it super easy, even if you’re a novice at text messaging.

We already have great integrated instant messaging features in Yahoo! Mail, so adding text messaging was a natural next step. It’s an increasingly popular way to keep in touch, especially among younger users. In fact, 69% of US mobile phone users between the ages of 18-39 use text messaging (Harris Interactive, June 2006), and half of Americans age 18-25 say they sent or received a text message over the phone in the past day (Pew Research Center, January 2007).

Today’s news doesn’t stop at text messaging — the all-new Yahoo! Mail also lets users send and receive instant messages in real-time to their friends who are logged into Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, without ever leaving the e-mail experience. You can even switch between emailing, instant messaging, and text messaging as your friends come online or go mobile. We want our users to be able to choose how they communicate with their friends and family, in the most appropriate method for the moment. By adding these new types of real-time communication into Yahoo! Mail, we’re laying the foundation for an even more social experience for our users.

For those of you who love the original Yahoo! Mail interface — not to worry. We’re keeping Yahoo! Mail Classic as well. Our goal is to provide the best email experience for everyone, whether that be familiar and comfortable or new and shiny.

To check out the brand new Yahoo! Mail, go on over to http://mail.yahoo.com. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Clarification that the new Yahoo! Mail will be rolled out globally over the next six weeks. You’ll know you have the new version because you’ll no longer see “beta” under the logo and you’ll find some helpful information within the product explaining the new features. If you’re a Classic user, you’ll be invited to try the new mail when it’s available to you.

John Kremer
Vice President, Yahoo! Mail

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71 Comments Add your own

Gabriel | August 27th, 2007 at 5:50 am

When will the SMS features be included in the UK? (i.e. with UK mobile phone operators)

Inge | August 27th, 2007 at 6:20 am

I’m wondering if Yahoo has considered the amount of spam that will be redirected to cell phones? I don’t have unlimited text messaging and pay for each e-mail that goes to my cell phone. I used to get inundated with junk mail at my previous carrier and now I have to worry about it happening again. I get an average of 50 bulk mails a day. This could cost me a lot of money once the spammers figure it out. I hope you have really good filtering software in place or some phone bills will run into the thousands in a month.

Scott K | August 27th, 2007 at 9:42 am

I’m still seeing the old mail beta. Is there anything I need to do to get this new release?

David Carr | August 27th, 2007 at 9:45 am

When I go to mail.yahoo.com, I’m still getting a beta-branded version, apparently without the new features. If there’s some action users are supposed to take to “switch” to the new non-beta version, it’s not clear from anything I’m seeing in the UI.

Dan | August 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am

Does this mean finally the bugs in the former Beta code will be fixed and the little annoyances will be improved?

James | August 27th, 2007 at 10:57 am

FYI: The new Yahoo! Mail is updated gradually, by farm. To check your farm, alt+click on the Y! logo in mail. In the popup, it should say “webXXXYY”. XXX is your farm number. If it’s 318 then you should have this update by now. If it’s 308 (me) then you should be the second farm to get the update, and should get it in a week or two. If it’s neither of those two, you’ll be waiting anywhere from a few weeks to months. If it’s in the 800’s, you’re gonna rip your hair out waiting. Sorry.
————————————————————————
I hope they kept the original Y!MB color scheme in tact. I really
like that one. I’m surprised, and excited, that speed was once again
significantly improved. I knew the sms and WinLive chat was coming
;). Hey, they finally added the shortcuts (underlining) into the
new Y!Mail. It was in classic forever. Wow, I love the new icons. The old ones beat other mail sites, but these look even better. I’m glad the RSS folder got the standard RSS icon.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-Mail/message/12646

So, I think the million dollar question now is, now that Y!MB is out of beta, will it continue to be updated regularly? I’m guessing, and hoping, yes, because there are several anticipated features. I was expecting a chat archive to come soon -this release (Y! Mail Help said they’re working on it, and should release it soon). We’re also expecting an updated calendar (and maybe notepad). Also, now that the new Y!Mail isn’t in beta, there isn’t much of an excuse for the limited browser support. What I really want support for Opera.

Yahoo! Mail is once again the best Email site out there. Thanks for providing this great service.

Anand | August 27th, 2007 at 11:10 am

David

Yahoo will roll out the new features to users over a period of six weeks. You do not have to do anything as it will appear when the time is right.

Scott

No you do not have to do anything. Just wait for it.

gag | August 27th, 2007 at 11:31 am

i want to use this all new yahoo mail.

Chris | August 27th, 2007 at 12:08 pm

Still blocking Safari. Seems a bit nutty, considering the iPhone deal and all. Once you guys support Safari and IMAP, I might be interested.

Qyreenia | August 27th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

Am not seeing any new SMS features in my beta version

jigar | August 27th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

Its out..!! but what about calender and Options ? Two user interface to maintain..? Are you planning to stripdown these features ? YMail was not just used as just another email client. It was a organiser, contact manager and notepad too…I really enjoyed these services and thts only reason i still with yahoo..(Even with those flashy Ads). Most ppl around me switched to G*** and H****. What about POP…? All promises…no concrete action…

Rick | August 27th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Well I’ve tried sending text messages several times but I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to get it to work!

Sha | August 27th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

switch back to the original yahoo mail then choose the new email option on top.

etro | August 27th, 2007 at 3:01 pm

On my phone, I used to be able to read Yahoo mail fine. It was a nice feature. But then I started seeing mail (classic) and mail (beta). I stuck with classic because beta did not work. Now classic is gone, and beta still doesn’t work. Now I cannot read my email.

Who do I call? Where do I look? The help on the Yahoo Mobile menu is a joke. HELP!

Jim Philips | August 27th, 2007 at 4:14 pm

It’s still bloadted with ads. Change that and I might prefer it over GMail. Until then…

Steve | August 27th, 2007 at 4:25 pm

I am trying to figure out where the new area is to send text messages on email site of Beta.. I don’t see it there yet. Can someone please help me out here ?

Steve | August 27th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

NOT SEEING ANY SMS FEATURE IN EMAIL OF YAHOO BETA VERSION ?

Alex Portnoy | August 27th, 2007 at 5:38 pm

When will SMS be available to Yahoo Australia?

Alex Portnoy
PO Box# 1048
Bondi Junction
NSW 1355
AUSTRALIA

John Kremer | August 27th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

Hello, thanks for your comments. I hope the summary below covers all of your questions.

First, we hope to make the text messaging feature available in additional markets, but are uncertain of the timeframe because it is dependent on the extension of our relationships with mobile carriers/operators around the world. We’ll let you know as we know more.

For people still seeing the Beta version of Yahoo! Mail, please be patient as we roll the new functionality out over the next 6 weeks. While it’s true that users can view the server farm number in their URL, it is not true that the higher number farms are last.

The SMS/texting feature is not available in the beta, only in the “all-new Yahoo! Mail” build.

In terms of additional browsers, we are working on Opera and Safari 3 support and hope to have news to share soon. Apologies that I don’t have a clear timeline to share.

In terms of updating Calendar and continuing to address issues the community has mentioned to us, please know that we are also working on these things, and you’ll see more enhancements from us in the future.

Best regards,
John Kremer
Yahoo! Mail

Revnon | August 27th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

Hello there …

I am just wondering, will Yahoo! Mail be looking into allowing SSL-encrypted session for it …

who | August 27th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Competing with gmail? Cool.

James | August 27th, 2007 at 8:54 pm

Note: You can’t check your farm number in the URL anymore. It says something like mg1 now. You have to check it in the Y!Mail info box.

I assume you’re referring to my comment that people on farms in the 800’s will rip their hair out waiting when you said it’s not true that higher number farms are last. I know it’s not like that as a rule for all farms, however AT&T (and maybe other ISP members’) accounts are in the f800’s. These accounts are generally near the last to be updated. I used to use an ISP account, but I switched to a plain old @yahoo.com account because of the long waits for updates. I used to wait months for updates. Now I wait a couple weeks.

Please put effort at Opera support. This is a critical piece to Y!Mail.

Ashad Zaman | August 28th, 2007 at 12:07 am

I want to daily update worldwide news.

Ankur Banerjee | August 28th, 2007 at 12:10 am

Whoa, first integrated chat, then unlimited storage, and now free text messaging? What other goodies does the Yahoo! Mail have it store for us!

Stefano | August 28th, 2007 at 12:11 am

When will the SMS features be included in the IT? (i.e. with IT mobile phone operators)

ashish | August 28th, 2007 at 2:44 am

Great steps. Hope you beat gmail soon.

M | August 28th, 2007 at 4:51 am

You’re kidding, right? I just played with the beta last week and I found it to be so slow and cumbersome that it was unusable. Can we opt out of this new system? Seriously, it’s definitely not ready.

Sam | August 28th, 2007 at 5:09 am

Does this mean that yahoo mail messenger will work properly? ‘Cause in the beta version it sure doesn’t

Ajo Paul | August 28th, 2007 at 12:43 pm

Sounds cool, awaiting the same in India!!

=bg= | August 28th, 2007 at 5:43 pm

I had a post in here, but it appears to have been deleted. So, -I use the premium AT&T Yahoo service- can you make that large right band ad that pops back and forth go away? It showed up just as the unlimited storage went into effect.

Michael | August 28th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

I pay for mail plus. I don’t understand why people that pay for yahoo mail service should have to wait for the rollout. They should be the first ones to be converted.

donno | August 28th, 2007 at 7:37 pm

Is Yahoo Mail broken? At least a dozen times, I have marked email from Yahoo Marketing as spam, and each time I get a dialogue box asking if I am sure, and that if I choose Yes then I will never get another email from this sender again. Tonight I checked my mail, and it’s baaaack! (again - again - again)

Floyd | August 28th, 2007 at 9:17 pm

Still not interested. I get 50+ spams a day, 2-3 of which get past the filter each day. For the author above worried about spam to his phone, I’d say just check it from your phone like a website, don’t have it forward. The ads, particularly the lame layout, even for paid customers, are the service deal breaker. Still happier elsewhere. Keep trying though.

James | August 29th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

*=bg=… AT&T Y! Mail used to not have ads, but they slipped them in right as unlimited storage was being rolled out to try and minimize customer rebellion. I have AT&T internet, but now I use a regular Y! Email address. There isn’t much reason to use AT&T, especially w/out ads, and now I get updates far quicker.

*donno… Go to Options>Mail Options>Spam>Blocked Email addresses. Type in the address you want to block and hit [add]

James Yarbrough | August 29th, 2007 at 5:45 pm

Yahoo should have installed a never before tried by anyone mail service, called return to sender so we can send back all the unwanted emails from all the unwanted people, places, and things. I think it’s a good idea……A return to sender button and it plays the Elvis song when pushed,
“Return to Sender, tada, tada, tada, address unknown.”

Leo | August 29th, 2007 at 9:15 pm

good thing, this was added and it was free! though I just switch to new yahoo mail, I am still glad this was offered free.

Roxana | August 29th, 2007 at 9:35 pm

What about color schemes in the New Yahoo Mail?
I would love to customize it! =)

lezwon | August 30th, 2007 at 1:18 am

cool

Bran | August 30th, 2007 at 1:45 am

So long as the beta has that annoying vertical banner on the right, I absolutely must refuse to use it. It doesn’t help that you can temporarily hide it when, after clicking on something it comes back. The workspace is small enough as is and that banner vexes me to no end. So old version it is…

Joaquin | August 30th, 2007 at 10:00 am

I was wondering if it is going to be possible to create a folder inside another folder. This will help us organize better our e-mails.
e.g. one folder for university subjects and inside that one many sub-folders with the subjects divided in 1sr semester, 2nd semester and so on….
I would like to do that.
Thanks

Marjorie Bridges | August 30th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

We have a small non-profit office and the office manager was using the beta Yahoo. I told her to remove it because I was having difficulty getting access to read the mail from home. It wouldn’t let me in because my browser did not fit (I use MacIntosh). Are there plans for opening this up to MacIntosh users?

Number two problem is, even without the beta version, our email account at the office is blocking emails sent to office@funeralconsumerinfo.org, the address we have had for probably 8 years. Mail does get through to the linked address of peninsulafca@yahoo.com, but the first address is written on all our literature, and we need it to work.

Number three problem, all of a sudden the attachments that come into my home Yahoo account all download as “SecureDownload” instead of the file name and this is a mess to straighten out on my desktop. I have to open each and see what it is and rename it. What is going on? Is it something Yahoo did, or something I did?

Hope you can forward this to someone at Yahoo who has the answers. I can’t find a phone number to call or email to write to, otherwise. You don’t need to post this to this site–I just need answers from Yahoo!

Thank you, Margie
Margiebr2002@yahoo.com

Dog | August 30th, 2007 at 1:52 pm

I think there are still some bugs in this offical release.

=bg= | August 30th, 2007 at 2:49 pm

So to not see the huge righthand ads, I would need to open another acct? Which wouldn’t work as I have had my current add since 97–or right about when you started. It would be interesting to find out who was the first Yahoo Mail user (post-Rocketmail) or what # you were in particular. For me it was May of 97 I bet.

=bg= | August 30th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

PS- the layout on the Mail Updates page is still outta whack when viewed thru IE6. IE right hand column beiefly appears top right justified when loading, then zooms to the bottom. Missing a table?

And I guess from what I read, (since I will be switching over to Mac come October) New Mail (since you can’t say ‘beta’ anymore) won’t work in Safari yet?

James | August 31st, 2007 at 12:26 am

*=bg=… I made a typo. What I meant to say is AT&T accounts have little advantage over free accounts since both have ads. For you to not have ads you would need to open a new account, and pay $20/month on it (or use ad blockers). As far as Y! Mail Updates, that’s strange that it isn’t rendering correctly in IE6. You should update to IE7, it’s much more feature filled and safer. Beta releases of Y!Mail supported only IE and Fx (so you could always get Fx for mac), however Ryan Kennedy (on Y!Mial team, used to post on Y! Mail Updates) says this latest (non-beta) release fully supports Safari :)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-Mail/message/12971

Ender | August 31st, 2007 at 6:37 am

Will you guys update Classic? It seriously needs an update, and sometimes Classic is useful.

Also, add grouped conversations like Gmail! :D

publicidad en yahoo mexico | August 31st, 2007 at 5:22 pm

I have been a yahoo mail user since 2000 and this is an excellent update, messages to cell phones is a cool improvement.

Thanks Yahoo! for all the good Stuff!

mido | September 5th, 2007 at 4:41 am

اود الاشتراك فى صندوق الرسائل الجديد

the wild wolf | September 5th, 2007 at 10:11 am

i hope i will get the full version soon because it sounds great. i still have beta :(( the new mail is totally better than the old one

Carol | September 10th, 2007 at 4:08 pm

This stinks, when I had my puter at home I had beta version, I now come to the public libraries and can only access beta now and again. Hope someone tells the libraries around to upgrade as members of the library we are not allowed to upgrade or switch any of the programs on the puters.

Brandon | September 12th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

I simply cannot stand the vertical banner ad on the righthand side of the interface. It is so intrusive. It does not help that you have to click to hide it only for it to come back if you click on something else. I will remain with the classic version so long as you continue with that banner.

Ganesh | September 19th, 2007 at 4:56 am

1. Yahoo India Mail — Still is in beta stage.
2. Its not only storage, but one need unlimited filters as well.
3. Like Gmail, getting mails from other accounts is not automatic but requires users input.
4. Yahoo mail beta - India.- is broken at several places….

It seems that Indian users gets last priority.

Maged | September 19th, 2007 at 4:43 pm

I want to get the new yahoo

Joyce | October 8th, 2007 at 2:20 pm

Dear Yahoo! Mail,

I love the Beta interface. I really do! However, it has been 7 weeks since this article promising updates “within 6 weeks” came out, and I am still in Beta mode!
Are you guys still continuing with the updates? Thanks!

rab | October 9th, 2007 at 5:44 am

Like the above comment, I too am still waiting. My farm # is 54407! I hope it isn’t rolling out in numerical sequence!!!

Don | October 10th, 2007 at 9:44 am

I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting to get rid of the “beta” version from my mail. I really needed to text my daughter yesterday at school and it would have been so handy to have had the ability to do so as the cell phone was in wife’s purse! Hopefully, the full version is about to finish rolling out.

Thanks, Yahoo!

Taresh | October 10th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

Since last 8 weeks I am waiting for my yahoo mail beta tag to go but its not happening yet. Yahoo you are toooooooooooooo slow in rolling out the changes. From last 8 weeks I was waiting to send SMS from my yahoo account to my friends in india but you are disappointing me yahoo. Do soon yahoo.

trunkx | October 14th, 2007 at 9:02 am

Yersterday, my yahoo mail beta suddenly was the all new yahoo mail. I was really excited but after like 30 minutes when I restarted my browser it was beta again. The same happened this morning, first it just became the all new yahoo mail (which looks much better imo) and then after about an hour it went back to beta…..

puckrazy1 | October 20th, 2007 at 5:49 am

FYI…Yahoo is excluding AT&T Yahoo subscribers from the full Yahoo Mail version who PAY for the service with their DSL account. The only offering remains the Yahoo Mail Beta application.

If my fellow AT&T Yahoo subscribers feel that this is as wrong as I do, please contact Yahoo customer support and voice your displeasure on this issue. This can be done via online chat as that is the easiest and quickest way to contact them. The more they hear from us the faster they may change this ridiculous exclusion.

An exerpt straight from a chat session with Yahoo support on 10/20.

“Yahoo Support: Actually AT&T Yahoo only covers the new Yahoo Mail Beta and not the other services for Yahoo itself. ”

“Me: so if I just had the free yahoo email account it would be using the new mail? ”

“Yahoo Support: Yes, you are correct.”

nirav | October 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 am

plz new yahoomail

David Martinez | November 24th, 2007 at 6:39 am

You have done a great job with the new yahoo mail. I like the new features like txt and instnt messenger. Now I don’t have to downlaod it either
Thanks yahoo
sincerly
David Martinez

mary joy prospero | November 27th, 2007 at 4:51 am

i want more and new……..

vishal chhabada | December 2nd, 2007 at 11:12 pm

Dear guys
pls pls revert

i am trying for new yahoo mail but not successful
i am trying for beta mail but not successful

Kindly help me I am Bored/suffered by yahoo classic mail

frances daniels | December 28th, 2007 at 11:22 am

hi this is frances i need my mial box thanks i like yahoo mial

Aung Myint Myat | December 29th, 2007 at 5:18 am

I’d like to open new account from Yahoo Mail.

margaret endres | January 6th, 2008 at 10:39 pm

This is the worst email service ever. I have had the same email address and the same password for over two years now and I have had to change either my ID or my password three times to even read my mail. Now I can’t even do anything to retrieve my mail. I am so mad and have never had so many problems.

david tuson | January 12th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Big mistake, From Basic Yahoo e mail I clicked on the All-New-EMail and ended up with a page that displayed the new In Box and all it’s contents but all other headings, columns, and scroll downs, were frozen leaving me unable to sign-out or do anything other than to close the page and return to Desktop. Now I have no way to return to Basic or access any of my Yahoo folders.
Yahoo was not telling the truth when they claimed it would be ‘Easy to Switch Back’ to Basic.

Ralph Confidential | January 24th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

I just received an email with some graphics and a photo of John Kremer and his title at Yahoo. It explains to me that I’ve won money. All I have to do is submit my personal information to Africa.

I’m sure there are suckers out there.

elijah | March 24th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

thank the lord its free cuz i have to pay for my txting on my phone and i get grounded so im so happy that i can txt my gf and friends for free now

Jess | April 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 am

i still have the old yahoo mail, but would like to have the messaging feature from the new yahoo. How can i get that upgrade without creating new account? Thanks.

Nicki Dugan | April 25th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

@Jess - To upgrade from Classic mail to the New Yahoo! Mail, click on the Options link in the upper right corner. Then click on the Purple “Try New Yahoo! Mail” link in the upper right corner. Note that you can switch back and forth between Classic and New at any time.