Turn on, "Plug-in", Stay Tuned

More one-click access to content and features than ever.... including Yahoo!® Mail

Written by Roy Ben-Yoseph, VP, AOL Mail

The AOL® Mail team is pleased to announce today the launch of an updated version of our popular Webmail service, including a new look-and-feel; one-click access to relevant third-party content providers; and a Yahoo! Mail plug-in that will extend email aggregation within the AOL Inbox.



Designed to match the new AOL.com experience launched last month, this updated version of AOL Mail will offer users more choice, convenience and customization. For starters, a new third-party mail plug-in will allow users to access Yahoo! email services through mail.aol.com. Offering the same functionality the Yahoo! supertab offers through AOL.com, the Yahoo! plug-in on AOL Mail allows users to preview Yahoo! Mail within the AOL Mail experience, as well as take advantage of one-click access to their Yahoo! Mail accounts.

In addition, a series of new plug-ins added to the right-hand side of the screen are designed to deliver even more relevant and timely content, as well as provide immediate access to favorite sites across the Web, including AOL Finance, Mapquest, AOL Radio, TMZ and through November 4th, AOL Elections. Post-election season, this button will continue to deliver timely content on holiday shopping and other popular topics.

Over the next few weeks, expect to see more third-party content on mail.aol.com, as we continue to open up our service to offer one-click access to other popular sites, email providers and content. Our goal has always been to deliver the best of the Web by opening up our service, we can now offer users a one-stop destination for mail, messaging and content.

You’ve Got Drafts!

Written by Rose Kwok, Product Manager, AOL Mail

You asked for it. We heard it.

The WebSuite team has been working diligently to implement web-based drafts for our AOL users. You will now be able to start composing your message and save as a draft to be sent out in the future. You can also access these drafts on the go whenever WebSuite is available. Just follow these simple steps below to use drafts.

1. Click on Compose as you would normally to begin writing a message. You will now see a new “Save Draft” button. When you are ready to save, click on the button.

2. You will see that the Drafts folder now indicates that there is 1 draft saved in the folder. When you are ready to complete your message, click on the draft message to open and continue composing.

3. Your draft message will open, with the message you have previously composed. Make changes as you’d like. When you are ready, just click Send as you normally do.

Saving drafts is now as easy as counting 1, 2, 3. We’d love to hear your feedback on this new feature.

As always, enjoy and thanks for using AOL!

Rose

Got an iPhone

Written by Mac Atre, Principal Software Engineer, AOL Mail

If you do, check out the new made-for-iPhone AOL mail at http://m.webmail.aol.com.



Given the immense popularity of iPhone, we decided to build a webmail experience optimized for this device.

AOL Mail for iPhone is a full-featured, iPhone-optimized mail experience that’s blazing fast. Now you can get to your mail quickly, search for messages, and access your address book. The address book works with your iPhone’s native phone and maps applications.

So no more panning and zooming large, unwieldy pages. All the familiar iPhone application model features are there: painless navigation, portrait and landscape modes, and keyboard support.

Remember, you can put AOL Mail on your Home screen. Open it on your iPhone (or iPod touch), tap the plus sign, and then tap "Add to Home screen."

You may also want to check out the new AOL portal—simply go to http://www.aol.com on your iPhone.

The Wisdom of the Mail Community

Written by Tom Lynch, Business Manager, AOL Mail

In an effort to provide our users with more robust product support options, we are pleased to announce the recent launch of the Mail Community Help Center (CHC). Powered by Yedda's platform, the CHC allows users to pose questions directly to the AOL Mail community in an open forum. Once a question is posted, any AOL user can log in and provide an answer. Answers are then rated thumbs up or down by users. The best rated answers will be listed at the top.

Designed with users in mind, the site contains three easy to navigate pages, each dedicated to a different topic. The page topics are as follows:

- FAQs

- How to Get the Most Out of Mail

- Options for User Support and Assistance




Included on each page is a set of featured questions and answers which look to address the most common questions being asked. The pages can be accessed from the links listed here under the Favorite Sites section or through the Email section on AOL's online Help site.

So take some time to explore and enjoy the site. And while there, go ahead and answer a question or two if you're so inclined.

The Only Place You Can Send a 5GB Attachment!

Written by Rose Kwok, Product Manager, AOL Mail

Many of you may have read the article in USA Today (found here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-04-15-google-gmail-webmail_N.htm) on AOL Mail’s feature that allows sending of large attachments via email. Here are some more details on how you too can use Xdrive to send up to 5GB of attachments.

How can you start using Xdrive to send large attachments?

First, Xdrive is only available in Beta for now, so access your AOL Mail account at http://beta.webmail.aol.com.

Start composing email as you normally would by clicking on “Compose.” After you click on “Attach file” browse and select your attachment. You will notice an updated dialog box:






If you would like to upload via Xdrive, simply select the check box towards the bottom of the dialog. For files over 16MB, your attachments will automatically get uploaded via Xdrive. If you don’t already have an Xdrive account, you will see a brief confirmation dialog. Be sure to click “I Agree” to create a new account. When you are done, click Send and your attachments will be sent along with your email.

When your recipients receive the email, they will see the attachment(s) as a link. All they need to do is click on the link to retrieve the attachment(s) via Xdrive.

What is Xdrive?

Xdrive is a 5GB personal hard drive on the Internet. You can get easy backup and secure storage, just like an external hard drive, but without the worry of losing or damaging a piece of hardware. You can simply upload files to Xdrive and securely access your files anywhere over the web. You can even share your files with your friends and family by allowing them permission. All this, for free.

Enjoy,

Rose

Tired of Repeatedly Logging In?

Written by Tom Lynch, Business Manager, AOL Mail

To provide a more streamlined and convenient webmail experience, we are pleased to bring you a new user option that will allow you to stay permanently logged in.

This new user option is offered just beneath the Password field in the Sign In box. Simply check the box next to "Stay signed in until I sign out." and you're done.




Once checked, you can immediately access your Inbox without having to log in every time you come to an AOL property.

However, please be aware of a couple things. First, once selected this will override your Auto Sign Off setting. Second, be careful on enabling on a shared computer. Enabling this feature on a shared computer would allow anyone using this same computer to access your email account.

To learn more about how this new feature works, simply click here.

See What's New in WebSuite "Goa"

Written by Rose Kwok, Product Manager, AOL Mail

We know how much you rely on WebSuite for Mail, Calendar and Address Book. That's why we want to keep making it better for you. After months of hard work, the WebSuite team is excited to launch another release of Websuite Standard and WebSuite Basic, codenamed “Goa.” (Did you know Goa is a coastal, tropical island and the smallest state in India?)

Here’s a preview of the new things you will find in your Inbox:

Safer Mail

For your protection, WebSuite has been blocking images from unknown senders. We have now added link blocking as well. No more worrying about clicking a link that could take you to inappropriate content or a phishing site.

Performance

We know you want things fast, and making WebSuite faster was the focus for "Goa" – from loading WebSuite to reading and sending messages. For the techies among you, we've upgraded the entire Standard application to the 1.0 version of the Dojo toolkit for snappier performance! You also may have noticed that the “Unsend” and “Status” features were removed from this WebSuite release. Because of the way these features were implemented, they were preventing us from achieving the best product performance. So, we made the difficult decision to remove them from WebSuite. If you are a hardcore “Status” user, or have an “Unsend” emergency, you can still find these features in our integrated clients (AOL 9.1 and AOL Desktop).

MapQuest

Love MapQuest? We do too. That’s why we’ve put WebSuite and Mapquest together. Need directions to your next party? When you add a location to a new event in Calendar, we will parse your address and show you where it is on a map from Mapquest. Voila!
(Feature currently not available in Basic version)

AIM Integration

The IM windows you minimize within WebSuite will now flash when you have new incoming IMs so you will never miss a message again. We also added a new IM button to your read and compose mail views that alerts you when your friends are online. When you start writing a new message, WebSuite will check whether your buddies are online and the button will light up if they are, allowing you to IM with them in real time.
(AIM currently not available in Basic version)

Calendar

You asked for it, we’ve got it! For those of you who love and use our Basic version, you will be glad to hear that we added AOL Calendar to the fast product many have come to love. Just as in the Standard version, you will be able to view your personal calendar in month, week or day view. Make it even more fun by sharing it with your friends and family. Best of all, AOL Basic Calendar is fully accessible.

For those of you using the Standard version, we’ve got something for you too. AOL Calendar now supports importing calendars from any iCal (.ics) URL and similarly exporting any public calendars as iCal files.

AOL Journals

Do you use AOL Journals? If so, WebSuite now provides 1-click access straight to your Journals page. Start sharing your stories with the world!
(Panels not available in Basic version)

And more…

Safari 3 users will now be able to use the Rich Text Editor to make all their emails colorful and pretty. More features (including Drafts for AOL accounts and a “Keep Me Signed In” option) will be coming in the next few weeks, so please stay tuned.

Hope you love “Goa” as much as we do. Enjoy and let us know what you think.

Rose