Mail (Windows)

Last updated
Mail
Developer(s) Microsoft
Initial releaseNovember 30, 2006;17 years ago (2006-11-30)
Stable release
16005.14326.22082.0 / 25 October 2024;2 days ago (2024-10-25) [1]
Operating system
Predecessor Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail
Type Email client

Mail (later Microsoft Outlook) was an email client developed by Microsoft and included in Windows Vista and later versions of Windows. [2] [3] It is available as the successor to Outlook Express, which was either included with, or released for Internet Explorer 3.0 and later versions of Internet Explorer. It is set to be replaced by Outlook for Windows.

Contents

Windows Vista

A screenshot of Windows Mail displaying a user's Inbox folder Windows Mail Vista.png
A screenshot of Windows Mail displaying a user's Inbox folder

Windows Mail can be traced to a pre-release version of Outlook Express 7 included in early builds of Windows Vista (then known by its codename, "Longhorn"). Outlook Express 7 introduced various changes to the user interface [4] and relied on WinFS for the management and storage of contacts, email, and other data. [5] It supported Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) email protocols, but no longer supported Microsoft's proprietary mail-over-HTTP scheme, [6] an omission inherited by Windows Mail. [7] IPv6 is fully supported. [8]

Windows Mail was formally announced on September 16, 2005 at Channel 9 and positioned as the successor to Outlook Express. [9] Windows Mail is a fundamentally new application with significant feature additions (many which were previously exclusive to Internet Explorer or Microsoft Outlook) and fundamental revisions to the storage architecture and security mechanisms. Identities in Outlook Express are replaced with Windows user profiles. The storage of items is managed by a Extensible Storage Engine database — the same engine used by Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange — with messages and newsgroups stored as separate eml and nws files instead of in a single dbx file; the database is transactional and periodically creates backups of items to protect against data loss, which eliminates the single point of failure design of Outlook Express. Account configuration information is also no longer stored in the Windows Registry or in a single dbx file—instead, Windows Mail relies on XML files stored within a user profile alongside email, making it possible to simply copy an entire email store to another machine. Windows Mail supports the Windows Search platform, allowing communications to be searched directly from within the Windows Shell. [10]

Windows Mail is also intended to be a significantly more secure offering than Outlook Express by including Bayesian spam filtering, email attachment blocking, junk email filtering functionality of Microsoft Exchange, the Phishing Filter of Internet Explorer 7, and top-level domain blocking. [10] All of these features, excluding Internet Explorer Phishing Filter integration, were included in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 as part of Microsoft Office 2003. [11]

Windows Mail has a documented application programming interface (API) based on Component Object Model (COM). [12] Except for Simple MAPI messaging functionality, the API of Outlook Express was undocumented. [13]

Windows 7

Windows Mail is excluded from Windows 7 in favor of Windows Live Mail, part of Windows Essentials. Some files of Windows Mail still exist and there is a way to enable it.[ citation needed ]

Windows 8.x

Mail in Windows 8 and 8.1 is a completely new application based on the Windows Runtime, designed in accordance with Microsoft's Metro design language philosophy, as a Windows Store app that runs in either full-screen or split-screen viewing modes; many of its features are hidden in the charms or in the app bar (an initially hidden toolbar) at the bottom of the screen that is revealed by right-clicking or by swiping upward. Mail is updated independently from the operating system and is bundled with Calendar and People—it cannot be installed or uninstalled individually.

Preset server configurations for Outlook.com, Gmail, AOL Mail, and Yahoo! Mail are available; Exchange Server or IMAP accounts can be configured, [14] but Mail does not directly support POP3.

Windows 10 and 11

Mail in Windows 10 and 11 has preset server configurations for Outlook.com, Office 365, Gmail, iCloud, and Yahoo! Mail. [15] [16] [17] AOL Mail, as well as other Exchange Server and IMAP accounts, can still be added, and POP3 support has returned. [15] [17] [18] Newsgroup/Usenet support remains absent. [19] Mail and Calendar are still Universal Windows apps and are in the same app container, but their third sibling, People, is moved out of this container and is a standalone app by itself.

Users can set Mail to use the system theme or choose a custom accent color, background image, and light/dark preference. It has multi-window support and can open email messages in a new window. [20] Emails are listed in Mail's jumplist. Mail uses a settings panel, email sorting tools in the second pane, and a toolbar in the viewing pane. Like the Vista version of Mail, this version's important controls are readily visible. Accounts can be grouped and relabeled, and custom folders can be created, edited, or deleted within the app. [21] It is possible to use Outlook.com aliases and @mentions with Mail.

Like Microsoft Outlook, Mail allows users to set up Quick Actions, such as Delete, Set Flag, and Archive, to respond to messages from system notifications and swipe gestures. [22]

In December 2019, Mail added non-removable advertisements for the Microsoft Outlook mobile app. [23]

In 2023, Microsoft announced that beginning in 2024, new Windows 11 devices would be shipped with the new Outlook for Windows, and that the default Windows Mail and Calendar applications would be replaced by the end of 2024. [24]

Heritage

As with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, Mail uses Ctrl+E to invoke the search. All other Microsoft products use Ctrl+F.

See also

Related Research Articles

In computing, the Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a mail server. Today, POP version 3 (POP3) is the most commonly used version. Together with IMAP, it is one of the most common protocols for email retrieval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Email client</span> Computer program used to access and manage a users email

An email client, email reader or, more formally, message user agent (MUA) or mail user agent is a computer program used to access and manage a user's email.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Outlook</span> Email and calendaring software

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily being popular as an email client for businesses, Outlook also includes functions such as calendaring, task managing, contact managing, note-taking, journal logging, web browsing, and RSS news aggregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outlook Express</span> Microsoft e-mail client software

Outlook Express, formerly known as Microsoft Internet Mail and News, is a discontinued email and news client included with Internet Explorer versions 3.0 through 6.0. As such, it was bundled with several versions of Microsoft Windows, from Windows 98 to Windows Server 2003, and was available for Windows 3.x, Windows NT 3.51, Windows 95, Mac System 7, Mac OS 8, and Mac OS 9. In Windows Vista, Outlook Express was superseded by Windows Mail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apple Mail</span> Email client by Apple Inc.

Mail is an email client included by Apple Inc. with its operating systems macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and visionOS. Mail grew out of NeXTMail, which was originally developed by NeXT as part of its NeXTSTEP operating system, after Apple's acquisition of NeXT in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pegasus Mail</span> Proprietary email client

Pegasus Mail is a proprietary email client for Microsoft Windows. It was originally released in 1990 on NetWare networks with MS-DOS and later Apple Macintosh clients, before being ported to Windows which is now the only platform actively supported. Since its inception it has been developed by David Harris and is donationware after having previously been freeware.

The following tables compare general and technical features of notable email client programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becky!</span>

Becky! Internet Mail is an e-mail client software for Microsoft Windows developed by the Japanese company RimArts from Matsudo, Chiba. Becky! was originally released in 1996 as Becky! Version 1. That version was rewritten in the early 2000s and Becky! Version 2 was released in 2004 and is still the flagship product, receiving periodic updates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outlook on the web</span> Microsofts personal information manager web app

Outlook on the web is a personal information manager web app from Microsoft. It is a web-based version of Microsoft Outlook, and is included in Exchange Server and Exchange Online

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury Mail Transport System</span> Email server

Mercury Mail Transport System is a standards-compliant mail server developed by David Harris, who also develops the Pegasus Mail client.

Push email is an email system that provides an always-on capability, in which when new email arrives at the mail delivery agent (MDA), it is immediately, actively transferred (pushed) by the MDA to the mail user agent (MUA), also called the email client, so that the end-user can see incoming email immediately. This is in contrast with systems that check for new incoming mail every so often, on a schedule. Email clients include smartphones and, less strictly, IMAP personal computer mail applications.

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of notable webmail providers who offer a web interface in English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Live Mail</span> Email client, electronic calendar and newsreader, developed by Microsoft

Windows Live Mail is a discontinued freeware email client from Microsoft. It was the successor to Windows Mail in Windows Vista, which was the successor to Outlook Express in Windows XP and Windows 98. Windows Live Mail is designed to run on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, but is also compatible with Windows 8 and Windows 10, even though Microsoft bundles a new email client, named Windows Mail, with the latter. In addition to email, Windows Live Mail also features a calendar, an RSS feed reader, and a Usenet newsreader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outlook.com</span> Microsoft webmail service

Outlook.com, formerly Hotmail, is a free personal email service offered by Microsoft. This includes a webmail interface featuring mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks services. Outlook can also be accessed via email clients using the IMAP or POP protocols.

Exchange ActiveSync is a proprietary protocol designed for the synchronization of email, contacts, calendar, tasks, and notes from a messaging server to a smartphone or other mobile devices. The protocol also provides mobile device management and policy controls. The protocol is based on XML. The mobile device communicates over HTTP or HTTPS.

EmailTray is a lightweight email client for the Microsoft Windows operating system. EmailTray was developed by Internet Promotion Agency S.A., a software development d.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mailbird</span> Desktop email client software app

Mailbird is a desktop email client for Microsoft Windows and MacOS, compatible with Windows 10 and Windows 11, and with Ventura or higher for Mac devices. Mailbird is offered via a paid subscription, but also includes a free version for both Windows and Mac users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calendar (Windows)</span> Application of Microsoft windows

Calendar is a personal calendar application made by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows. It offers synchronization of calendars using Microsoft Exchange Server, Outlook.com, Apple's iCloud calendar service, and Google Calendar. It supports the popular iCalendar 2.0 format.

The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) is a set of related open Internet Standard protocols for handling email. JMAP is implemented using JSON APIs over HTTP and has been developed as an alternative to IMAP/SMTP and proprietary email APIs such as Google's Gmail and Microsoft's MAPI . Additional protocols and data models being built on top of the core of JMAP for handling contacts and calendar synchronization are meant to be potential replacements for CardDAV and CalDAV, and other support is currently in the works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outlook for Windows</span> Proprietary email client

Outlook for Windows is an email client developed by Microsoft. It is a replacement of the preloaded Windows Mail and Calendar apps on Windows 10 and 11, and will ship as default with Windows 11 from late 2024 onwards.

References

  1. ↑ "Mail and Calendar". Microsoft Apps. Retrieved 2024-10-25.
  2. ↑ Branscombe, Mary (3 July 2013). "Mail in Windows 8.1: how Microsoft is finally giving it some power". TechRadar . Future US . Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Warren, Thomas "Tom" (22 April 2015). "Windows 10 preview now includes new Outlook mail app and theme tweaks". The Verge . Vox Media . Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Thurrott, Paul (October 6, 2010). "Windows Longhorn Build 4051 Gallery 3". Supersite for Windows. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  5. ↑ Jennings, Roger (February 1, 2004). "Get a Grip on Longhorn". MVP Magazine. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  6. ↑ Lee, Wei-Meng (May 18, 2004). "A First Look at Longhorn". WindowsDevCenter.com. O'Reilly Media. Archived from the original on 26 August 2004. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  7. ↑ Microsoft. "Windows Mail: Setting up an account from start to finish". Archived from the original on October 11, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Guidance for configuring IPv6 in Windows for advanced users". Microsoft. September 8, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  9. ↑ "The new Outlook Express: Windows Mail demoed". Channel 9 . Microsoft. September 16, 2005. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Piltzecker, Tony (April 11, 2007). "Vista Mail vs. Outlook Express". Datamation . Retrieved February 9, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Product Guide". Microsoft. September 2003. Archived from the original (DOC) on November 4, 2005. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Windows Mail Programmability". Msdn2.microsoft.com. 2011-06-30. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  13. ↑ "Developer Support Limitations with Outlook Express". Support.microsoft.com. 2005-06-25. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  14. ↑ "Set up iCloud mail account on the Windows 8 mail app". 19 June 2013.
  15. 1 2 "Set up email in Mail for Windows 10". Office.com . Microsoft . Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  16. ↑ Casey, Henry T. (10 February 2016). "How to Set Up iCloud Email and Calendars on Windows 10". LAPTOP.
  17. 1 2 "A closer look at the new Mail app on Windows 10". MSPoweruser. 7 April 2015.
  18. ↑ Stobing, Chris (14 August 2015). "How to Configure a POP3 Email Account in Windows 10". How-To Geek.
  19. ↑ "Windows 10 Mail + Newsgroups". Microsoft.
  20. ↑ Foley, Mary Jo (25 October 2016). "Newest Windows 10 'Redstone 2' test build adds new Outlook Mail features". ZDNet . CBS Interactive.
  21. ↑ "How do I add or remove folders in Mail for Windows 10? - Outlook".
  22. ↑ "What's new in Mail and Calendar for Windows 10".
  23. ↑ "Ads are back in Windows 10 Mail and Calendar Desktop app (and there are no way to remove them)". MSPowerUser. December 14, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  24. ↑ "Outlook for Windows: The Future of Mail, Calendar and People on Windows 11". Microsoft Support.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.