September 4, 2007 on 12:48 pm | In Features, Web version | 14 Comments
Last week, the new Yahoo! Mail officially dropped its Beta moniker. Accompanying the general audience release was a new feature: the ability to send text messages (SMS) to friend’s cell phones, right from your Yahoo! Mail account.
SMS is the latest improvement to the integrated Yahoo! Messenger that’s available in the new Yahoo! Mail. We first told you about it in a February post when it was added to the Mail Beta. But now anyone who has a Yahoo! Mail account can get this new version that includes instant messaging and SMS.
If you’re on the old version of Mail and want to try the new version with these enhanced messaging features, just go to the “Options / Mail Options” menu in your account and look for the link “The new Yahoo! Mail has arrived! Try it now!” Note that the rollout of the new Yahoo! Mail to all users will take a few weeks, so if you don’t have access to it yet, keep checking.
To use the instant messaging and SMS features in Yahoo! Mail, you’ll need to be signed into Messenger within Yahoo! Mail (doing this will sign you out of the full version of Yahoo! Messenger if you’re already using it). To get started, be sure that your status next to your name in Mail says “Available”. If it says “Offline”, just click the status menu arrow to change it.
Once you’re signed in, click a contact you want to message from your “Contacts” list on the left side, then click the email, chat or SMS icon in the upper right corner of the message window:
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For a list of countries and carriers that you can SMS from Yahoo! Mail, go to:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/context/context-13.html
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
July 30, 2007 on 9:11 pm | In Web version | 15 Comments
Back in May, we launched a brand new version of Yahoo! Messenger for the Web. Whether you’re on dial-up, just don’t like downloading, or you’re on the road away from your regular PC or Mac, it makes it fast and easy to IM with your friends from any web browser.
We initially launched the product in a handful of countries, and with this latest release, Yahoo! Messenger for the Web is now available in 18 countries and 9 languages:
Americas
Argentina – Brazil – Canada – Canada (in French) – Yahoo! Telemundo (in Spanish) – Mexico – United States
Asia Pacific
Australia & New Zealand – Hong Kong – India (English) – Korea – Malaysia - Philippines - Singapore – Vietnam
Europe
France – Germany – Italy – Spain – UK & Ireland
Tell a friend! 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
July 13, 2007 on 9:58 am | In Features, Web version | 26 Comments
Checked out Yahoo.com lately? We launched some improvements for the Yahoo! Messenger personal assistant (or PA as we call it here in Sunnyvale). The PA is a module on the Yahoo! homepage that gives you a glimpse into your Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger friends, local weather and more. To get the most from the PA, you need to be signed in to the Yahoo! network.
The Yahoo! Messenger PA shows your list of friends that are currently online, along with their status (including sorting by group). You can then just click on a friend to start an instant message. Shock and surprise – I have Yahoo.com as my homepage so when I fire up my browser in the morning, I hover on the PA to preview my new Mail messages and to check which of my Yahoo! Messenger friends are online.
And don’t worry – viewing your list of friends in the PA does not mean you appear online to them. You still need to sign into Yahoo! Messenger to be online and to send or receive messages. Checking your PA can be a handy way of seeing who’s at the party before you join in, so to speak.
Other new PA features include the ability to collapse your groups (click the “Collapse All” link), viewing of friends’ status messages (sorry, no hyperlinks), and a scrollable interface to easily view your whole friends list instead of clicking through page by page. There’s a bug with this version – an idle icon will appear next to a friend, but the busy icon is not yet showing up. We’ll get that fixed in the next couple of weeks.
To check out the Yahoo! Messenger PA, go to http://www.yahoo.com and hover your mouse on the “Messenger” tab on the right side. Be sure you’re signed in so you can see your friends list.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
May 8, 2007 on 1:58 pm | In Web version | 23 Comments
Thanks to those of you that have tried the new Yahoo! Messenger for the Web and provided feedback. It’s helpful to hear from you what’s working and what’s not, as well as what you like and don’t like. Here are some notes on the main feedback we’ve received so far:
Stealth settings: Yahoo! Messenger for the Web does offer stealth settings, but they are not as extensive as in the full version. You can start out in stealth mode by clicking the “Sign In as Invisible” link below the sign in button. And when you’re signed in, you can change your status to “Invisible” which will hide you from all your friends. Setting individual stealth settings is not yet available, but we do honor your settings from the full version. So if you set yourself to appear permanently offline to a friend in the full version, when you sign into the web version, that setting remains.
Web vs. Full version: We’ve seen some comments saying “I want the old one back!” or “I want to switch back”. Rest assured that the full, downloadable version of Yahoo! Messenger is here to stay and you can continue using it. There’s no need to uninstall or reinstall the full version if you want to use it again. Just launch it from your desktop Programs menu. And when you need the web version – perhaps when you are away from your computer - just visit http://webmessenger.yahoo.com (or http://web.im).
Window size: If you’re finding the full browser window is a little big for you, you can resize the window and the interface will adjust. You can also adjust the width of the contact list window by clicking and dragging on the handle to the right of the list.
New IM alerts: There are built-in alerts to let you know when a new IM has arrived. There’s a sound that plays (make sure your volume is turned up!) and the Yahoo! Messenger for the Web browser taskbar button at the bottom of your screen will display scrolling text from the new message.
Offline messages: You can send and receive offline messages. When you sign in, new offline messages will be waiting for you, each as separate tabs. Click on the tab to view the whole message.
Message history: This feature is one advantage that the web version has over the full version. All of your message history is easily searchable in Yahoo! Messenger for the Web, from any computer you sign in from. When talking to a contact, click the “View more history” link, or click the “History” link up under the search bar to access your conversation history. Conversation archiving is on by default but you can turn it off by clicking the “History” link, then “Options” and removing the check mark next to “Enable Message History”.
And a couple of last tidbits… If you want to change or create your Avatar, just visit http://avatars.yahoo.com. If you want to display or change a photo or other image, you’ll need to sign into the full version of Messenger to access that feature. And to add friends in the new web version, click on the “Add” button just below your contact list to add both Yahoo! and Windows Live™ Messenger friends to your contact list.
We hope you’re enjoying the new Yahoo! Messenger for the Web. It is a Beta and we’ll continue to improve the product with the help of your feedback. To provide feedback about your experience, just click the “Feedback” link below the search box in the upper right corner when you’re signed in.
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
May 2, 2007 on 5:41 pm | In Web version | 64 Comments
Ever wish you could use Yahoo! Messenger without having to download or install anything? Well, today is your lucky day: please give a big Yahoo! welcome to the all-new Yahoo! Messenger for the Web.
Now you can sign in from any web browser (PC or Mac!) and immediately start IM’ing with friends. This is great for when you’re on someone else’s computer or traveling and need to stop in an internet café.
Plus, time at work just got a lot more fun. If you or a friend is prevented from IM’ing at the office due to firewalls or other IT restrictions, you’ll love this new version. Because Yahoo! Messenger for the Web runs in a regular web browser window, it sidesteps these obstacles and lets you connect easily with your friends.
This is also the first version of Yahoo! Messenger that we’ve ever offered in Vietnamese (yeah!). It’s also available in Portuguese and Traditional Chinese, and we’ll continue adding more languages over time.
Check out the full article about the new Yahoo! Messenger for the Web over on our corporate blog, Yodel Anecdotal. Or watch the brief movie below to see it in action.
When you’re ready to take it for a spin, head over to http://webmessenger.yahoo.com and just sign in. Your full contact list will be waiting for you, including your Windows Live Messenger friends. (Tip: Type web.im in your browser to get there even faster).
Congratulations to the Yahoo! Messenger for the Web team on the launch of this great new product. We hope you enjoy it! 
Sarah Bacon
Product Manager
P.S. – Like the Messenger integration in Yahoo! Mail, you can’t be signed into the full version of Messenger and the web version at the same time. If you sign into one, you’ll be automatically signed out of the other.
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