Chat within Mail
October 29th, 2008 208 comments
If a new and sleek look, enhanced image preview capabilities, drag-and-drop and tabs did not seduce you to switch, here’s one more reason for you to try the new Yahoo!7 Mail: we’ve integrated Yahoo!7 Messenger into the new Yahoo!7 Mail. That’s right, and you can chat to people on Windows Live™ Messenger too.
Ok, what’s all this then?
Well, basically speaking, your Messenger list loads within your mailbox and can have a live conversation with someone from within your Yahoo!7 Mail mailbox. You can talk this way with anyone who has a Yahoo!7 or Windows Live™ Messenger ID. That’s almost everyone isn’t it?
Here’s how!
When you log into your mailbox you will see, at the top of the window, a status message and a drop-down arrow. You will probably appear as “Offline”, if you never used this option:
Once you set your status to “Available” your Messenger list will start loading automatically above your folder list. You can select anyone on the list and start a conversation with them right from the comfort of your own Mailbox window. The conversation will open in a new tab and it will look like this:
One thing to note is that if you sign into chat in Mail you will get disconnected from the Messenger application immediately, as you cannot be connected to Messenger through 2 different ways at the same time. The same applies if you log into Messenger while connected to chat within Mail. I know this sounds confusing but I assure you it’s not a problem at all, as you will be warned with friendly messages like the one below if that’s the case:
Wait, there’s more!
We’ve added a couple of other new ways to start a chat. Yahoo!7 Mail is more than just email these days, so if you click on the arrow next to the “New” button (top left) you can choose “Chat” to open a chat window and go from there. Or, if you want to be really flash, you can use the keyboard shortcut. Just hit “c” and you’re off.
We hope you find this feature useful and interesting. Have a go and let us know what you think!
Happy chatting,
Sabrina – Yahoo!7 Mail Team
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