Over time, emails have become part of our everyday lives. We use them for work, to stay in touch with friends, and even receive offers from our favorite brands. Back in the 1990s, when the whole emailing revolution began, Yahoo!, Inc. was one of the first companies to provide this service. That is when Yahoo! Mail was created.
This popular electronic mail service provided by Yahoo, Inc. was launched in 1997 and soon became one of the most popular providers among users, together with Hotmail. Despite being one of the most popular email service providers in the world, Yahoo! Mail has now been surpassed in popularity by other providers, such as Google, with Gmail, and Microsoft, with Outlook.
Functions of Yahoo! Mail
Just like most email providers, Yahoo! Mail has basic features that allow you to send and receive emails, but also some enhanced functions that aim at providing the users with a better and simpler experience. Here are some of the key features provided by Yahoo! Mail:
- Customized inbox
On Yahoo! Mail, you can customize your inbox by, for example, adding a theme, which allows you to add color or a background image to your home screen. You can also customize the inbox spacing, that is, the distance between emails, to have a clearer vision of the emails listed in your inbox. Moreover, you can add a message layout, which adds a preview pane next to the list of emails to be able to take a quick look at your emails without having to open each one.
- Automated tools
These tools help you to keep your inbox clean. For example, you can use filters to sort your incoming emails into folders automatically. This will keep your inbox tidy and organized, and will make it easier to prioritize emails that require more urgent attention. You can also archive emails, that is, store the emails that you do not want to delete yet, elsewhere. Moreover, the Conversations view groups emails belonging to one conversation together to make the whole conversation easier to follow.
- Yahoo Calendar
With Yahoo Calendar you can arrange meetings and events, and receive reminders about future activities. It also allows you to have an overview of all your appointments, which provides a clear vision of what is coming up in your life.
- Security and privacy
Yahoo! Mail is equipped with phishing alerts, which let you know when an email that has been sent to you does not look quite right. It also provides spam alerts and reply-to alerts, which inform you when you are about to reply to an email address that could put you at risk.
Smart features of Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail also integrates some smart features that elevate the user experience:
- You can add an invitation to your calendar automatically when Yahoo Mail detects one on an email.
- The subscriptions view allows you to see all emails belonging to subscriptions together and unsubscribe from each with just one click.
- The Photos and Documents views allow you to see all files that you have received and sent together in one place.
- The advanced contact settings extract your contacts' phone numbers and physical addresses automatically when they are detected in an email. That way, you can have your contacts' information complete and updated easily and effortlessly.
Yahoo!+ and Yahoo!+ Fantasy
If you are an individual, you can create a Yahoo! Mail account for free and you will get all key features available. There is also the possibility of paid subscriptions, which provide a few additional features: Yahoo!+ and Yahoo!+ Fantasy.
Yahoo!+: This paid subscription is add-free and provides 24/7 customer support to its members. It also provides Yahoo Plus Protect Home.
Yahoo!+ Fantasy: This membership is intended for sports lovers who can profit from draft, trade, and research tools that can be used on platforms of fantasy games, such as football, basketball, hockey, and baseball.
