The new AIM Panel

Hi everyone,

Have you noticed the new, subtle, but convenient changes in the Web Suite? There was a new update recently that contained a bunch of new features as well as the new AIM Panel. When I say the Web Suite released an update, that means that our web site was updated, so that your browser runs new software when you access your account—no software is installed onto your computer.

If you want to check out the new beta AIM Panel, you have to use a different web address to see it. It’s an open, public beta, and you can give it a try without virtually any risk. It is at: http://beta.webmail.aol.com. The normal version of the Web Suite is still at: http://mail.aol.com. The two versions are almost identical, but the beta version has the AIM Panel turned on and you can switch back and forth between them whenever you want. I wrote about the AIM Panel in more detail here.

Below are some of the highlights included in the new update that everyone got:

• New separate AIM Panel (in beta version only for now).
  
• The rest of the features below are in the normal (aka new or standard) version of the Web Suite too.
  
• AIM-branded and My eAddress accounts now have unlimited storage (was 2 GBs before).
  
• More ways to get to your emails. FREE POP3and IMAP access to your account so that you can use an email program, such as Outlook or Thunderbird to get to your emails. Under Settings | General.
  
• Can sort by various columns in the Contacts list (in the full Contacts list on the left side). Click on any column to sort by it.
  
• Ability to right-click a column heading in the message and contacts lists to select desired columns to display and change its width that’ll remain even after re-logging in. See the following screen shot of the columns available in the message list:
  
  
  
  
• As you can see above, we’ve re-added the email size column in the Inbox (some of you really wanted this back).
  
• Easily transfer email and addresses from other email services to your AOL/AIM account. Under Settings | Accounts.
  
• An indicator (buddy icon) in relevant places, so that you can see whether the sender is online and available to chat instead of email.
  
• A new setting to always show full headers in the Read Message window. Under Settings | General.
  
• Enhanced and improved keyboard shortcuts (CTRL and ALT keys no longer required in most places). Detailed list can be found here.
  
• Improved context menus (right-click menus).
  
• Remembers the settings for re-located or width adjusted columns in message lists (such as Inbox, Sent). Drag a column to change its positionor adjust its width.
  
• Closing the Panel on the right side, will keep it closed, even when you log in again.
  
• Shift-clicking a range of emails now selects all of them in between (put a check mark in the first one before shift-clicking). CTRL-click pops open the email in a new browser window. Handy, huh?
  
• The print icon is back in the Read Message window for some browsers that were missing it before. We just couldn’t squeeze it all into the previous release.
  
• Improved handling of freezing browsers with a recent Microsoft Windows update and improved experience of popup windows when a popup blocker is found.
  
• In printed emails, show any attachments that were included.

I, and the entire mail team, hope you enjoy the new version as well as check out the new AIM Panel. If you have any suggestions on the AIM Panel or any of the new features, please let us know. Please provide beta feedback here.

Thanks for choosing AOL.

Tae
"The Mail Blog Guy"