We realize that AOL.com is not the only web site that you use and that you may, like many of us, have multiple email accounts with different providers. We received a lot of positive feedback from many of you on the AOL Mail Preview and the convenience of that experience. But to make us even more useful, we need to embrace reality that you visit other sites and become more of a launch pad to your other online experiences. With that in mind, we wanted to give you the ability to preview your e-mail from other providers like Gmail and Yahoo! directly on AOL.com. Why shouldn't you be able to preview all your e-mail accounts in one place?! And this is just the beginning - there are even more new features just around the corner that will let you access your news, your social networks and more all right from AOL.com!!
We're really excited about this new feature and we hope you are too. These enhancements to AOL.com are designed to give you options - not force you to change - so if you don't have multiple email addresses or don't think the feature is something you'll use often, no worries. You're not stuck with it. You can very easily change the pre-selected Preview Panel choices (those buttons that may be currently displaying AOL, Yahoo, Gmail and Weather) by clicking on the small triangle in upper right corner of each panel.
There are many, many other options available including eBay, Finance, Health, Movies, Music, and TMZ to name just a few. If you still haven't found what you're looking for, let us know what you would like to see!
Still with us?
Let's move onto how this new mail feature works.
In addition to being able to preview your AOL Mail, there are three email providers we've added to AOL.com: Yahoo!, GMail, and Hotmail. For each mail provider, when you mouse-over the Preview Panel, you'll find step by step instructions to guide you through the set-up process.
Each one is a little bit different so, here's a quick walkthrough.
Yahoo
To add a Yahoo account to your mail preview, simply place your mouse over the Y! icon. The panel will expand and you'll find a button prompting you to sign-in.
Once you click this button, you will go to a Yahoo! sign-in screen where you can enter your current Yahoo! username and password. Yahoo! will display their Terms of Service – essentially confirming that you are who you say you are and that Yahoo! can deliver emails to the AOL.com Yahoo! Preview Panel -- pretty standard stuff. After clicking "I Agree", AOL.com will then display with your new mail displayed in the Yahoo Panel. And you will continue to get your Yahoo! Mail preview on subsequent visits to AOL.com until you log out.
GMail
To add a GMail account to your mail preview, simply mouse-over the GMail icon. The panel will expand and you will see entry fields for username and password to sign-in.
For GMail, once you input your current GMail username and password and click sign-in, you will immediately see all of your unread email. Like with Yahoo, if you choose to "Remember me on this computer", you will get your GMail preview on subsequent visits to AOL.com until you log out.
Hotmail
We'd love to give you access to Hotmail also but unfortunately, Microsoft does not provide us the ability for you to access your account via AOL.com. Because of this, we've kept Hotmail as one of the other options that you can choose rather than preselecting it as one of the default choices on your screen – so if you want to access the Hotmail preview panel, you'll have to swap it out with one of the ones already there by clicking on the arrow in the corner. Keeping that in mind, we've done what we can for our Hotmail users and provided a link to Hotmail. Hopefully that will make it a little easier to access your account from AOL.com. If interested, feel free to send Microsoft some feedback to let them know you'd like to be able to do this on AOL. https://feedback.live.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-us&productkey=wlmail&scrx=1
So there it is -- a quick overview of our new mail feature. By being able to quickly glance at new emails you have for all of your accounts, we're hoping you'll save time by not having to navigate to multiple websites and sign-in over and over, and over again.
If you more questions, you can also check this blog post for some Frequently Asked Questions. If you have a question that we still haven't answered, leave us a comment and we'll be sure to respond.
So, whaddya think? We want to hear from you!
Reader CommentsRSS
Marlene G. Elton
Oct 20th 2008, 11:33PM
Had an e-mail acct with AOL and switched ISP to Yahoo in July 2008 and used same password. How can I access my mail in AOL? I have a hard drive that was owned by someone else who got a new computer in July 2008. A security certificate block comes on when I try to access old e mail in AOL. Can someone help me to tell me how I can access my e-mail and not get this block. I do not have a problem in Yahoo.
paul
Oct 21st 2008, 10:57AM
confusing
paul
Oct 25th 2008, 7:30PM
How do I go about getting yahoo, gmail & hotmail on aol.com?
Please note: I am a novice & need explicit explanation in layman's term
Mayrinavaccarezza
Oct 21st 2008, 12:14PM
I just want my aol email. I don't want the other providers. How can I get just what I want and not have to go through all this.............all the time.
Mayrinavaccarezza
Oct 21st 2008, 12:50PM
I just want my aol e=mail. I don't want all these other providers.
How can I get what I want and not have to go through all these other channels?
Sanjay
Oct 21st 2008, 2:30PM
Hi - if you only use AOL mail and would rather not have Yahoo and Gmail you can definitely remove those and replace with other choices. Just click any of the little arrows in upper right of each of the four panels and choose a new option from the drop down menu. Theres a whole bunch of other options, so hopefully you can find ones you you like better.
You can find more details on how to change your options here:
http://portalblog.aol.com/2008/09/09/replacing-email-previews-with-other-options/
Hope this helps!
Sanjay
QUIXMAR
Oct 23rd 2008, 5:39AM
Let me see if I get this straight now. AOL HOMETOWN (which I used much) and JOURNALS (which I seldom used)is being discarded and now I'm going to be able to see my YAHOO! (which I seldom use) and G-MAIL (which I do not use) accounts? Why stop there? I also use Excite (like Yahoo!, very seldomly) and have 3 HOTMAIL accounts. What about them?
Does not seem like a good trade off to me.
I have often heard the complaint of how AOL takes over your computer and I'm really starting to believe this. Honestly fellas, if I want to see my emails from other services, I'll sign on to them directly.
You should really consider leaving HOMETOWN available to us PAYING subscribers -- What's the incentive for me to keep on paying you?
Tech support? I can get that for free from Verizon and the last two times I had issues I talked to them.
David
Oct 27th 2008, 4:12PM
wunder schön= beautiful idea
David
Oct 27th 2008, 4:15PM
schön
Daniel
Oct 31st 2008, 12:09AM
cool pages and colors.
alicia
Nov 1st 2008, 11:51AM
like your new aol like it
Munna
Nov 2nd 2008, 1:16AM
Life Is A Game. We Are All player.
Munna
Nov 2nd 2008, 1:18AM
Love Is All Of My life.
pat
Nov 3rd 2008, 5:26PM
REALLY GREAT IDEA,
KEEP WORKING HARD"ER"
I'LL KEEP BEING HAPPY"ER"
THANK YOU
pat
Nov 3rd 2008, 5:28PM
YOU KEEP WORKING HARD"ER"
I'LL KEEP BEING HAPPY"ER"
GOOD WORK IT'S LIKE 3 IN 1
THANKS
aahoojan
Nov 5th 2008, 6:10AM
good news with luck
ok
casey mcfarland
Nov 5th 2008, 8:22PM
I am needing to know, we have highsped with our cable company and are in the process of getting ready to cancel aol. Can I still keep my aol address when we cancel or will I need to get another one with yahoo, hotmail, etc.
Sanjay Nayar
Nov 11th 2008, 3:55PM
Hi - even if you cancel your paid AOL account, you can absolutely keep your AOL screenname and still use AOL.com, webmail, and all the AOL channels for free.
You can get more info from this link: https://bill.aol.com/SPortal/jsp/reminder.jsp?pricePlanSelected=3829
Sanjay
shavongeorge7
Nov 6th 2008, 10:18PM
This is a good feature because alot of people do have multiple accounts for business and personal reasons. I have multiple email accounts that I use to email people. This is why I switched my yahoo homepage to the AOL homepage. Alot of people my use this feature too.
michael w farmer
Nov 8th 2008, 2:47PM
great idea, love the user friendly program, the more themes the better, change is a good thing, we all get bored with the same old front, need change and colors to add for the screen front. keep up the good work , job well done. i look forward to the future of aol.com.