Communicator Help: Using AOL<sup><font size=-2>®</font></sup> Communicator Mail

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Using AOL Communicator Mail

Managing Your AOL® Mail Messages

Account Style Options and Message Retention
Switching Between AOL Classic and Internet Mail
AOL Mail Expiration and AOL Communicator
Moving AOL Mail Messages
Changing Your AOL Mail Expiration Setting
Setting a Mail Away Message
Checking the Status of AOL Mail
Unsending AOL Mail
Permanently Deleting AOL Mail Messages

Account Style Options and Message Retention

There are two ways to view your AOL® Mail. In the default account style, called AOL® Classic, these folders are listed under your AOL account in AOL Communicator:

- New Mail: New, unread mail (same as New Mail tab in AOL® client software).
  Each new message is displayed in boldface with an orange icon beside it.
  After you read a message, the orange icon disappears and the message header is displayed in plain text rather than boldface. It is now considered "Old Mail," but remains in the New Mail folder until the next time you click the Read button to collect your mail.
  When you click the Read button, all read messages in the New Mail folder are moved to the Old Mail folder—unless they have been marked Keep as New.

About Keep as New: When you select a message that you've already read and click the Keep New button (or open the Message menu and choose Keep as New), it is marked with the orange icon and stored in the New Mail folder. The message header remains in plain text, not boldface. Only unread mail is boldface in an AOL account.
New Mail (including messages marked Keep as New) is retained for 27 days.

- Old Mail: Mail that you have read (same as Old Mail tab in AOL client software).
  Each old mail message is displayed in plain text, rather than boldface, and has no orange icon. If you select an old messages and click Keep New (see above), the orange icon reappears and the message moves to the New Mail folder the next time you read your AOL mail. The header remains in plain text rather than boldface.
  By default, Old Mail is retained for 3 days. You can increase this to 7 days if you want. For details, see Changing Your AOL Mail Expiration Setting.
- Sent Mail: Mail that you've sent (same as Sent Mail tab in AOL client software).
  Sent Mail is retained for 27 days.
- Recently Deleted: Mail that you've recently deleted (same as Recently Deleted tab in AOL client software).
  Recently Deleted mail is retained for 24 hours.

You can use the Options tab under Account Settings to change from the AOL Classic style to the Internet Mail style. In the Internet Mail style, these folders are listed under your AOL account:

- Inbox: Both your new, unread mail (New Mail) and the mail you have read (Old Mail).
  The Inbox displays messages the same way as in AOL Classic style: New Mail is boldface with a orange icon, Old Mail is plain text with no orange icon, and mail marked Keep as New is plain text with an orange icon.
- Sent: Mail that you've sent.
- Recently Deleted: Mail that you've recently deleted.

Mail retention times are identical no matter which account style you are using.

Related topics:

Archiving Messages
Switching Between AOL Classic and Internet Mail
AOL Mail Expiration and AOL Communicator
Changing Your AOL Mail Expiration Setting

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Switching Between AOL Classic and Internet Mail

There are two ways to view your AOL Mail: AOL Classic and Internet Mail.

To switch between these two account styles:

1. Open the Edit menu and choose Account Settings.
2. Double-click the name of the AOL account whose style you want to change.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Under Account Style, click the option you want.
5. Click OK.

Related topics:

Account Style Options and Message Retention

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AOL Mail Expiration and AOL Communicator

AOL client software lists AOL mail messages that you have read under the Old Mail tab and stores them for 3 days before deleting them.

AOL client software stores messages that you've sent under the Sent Mail tab, and messages that you haven't read under the New Mail tab. Sent and New messages are saved for 27 days.

In AOL Communicator Mail, the default account style allows you to view the contents of your New Mail and Old Mail tabs in separate folders. Alternatively, you can change your account style to display both New Mail and Old Mail in the same folder.

For short-term storage, you can mark messages unread to ensure that they are stored for up to 27 days.

To mark a message unread: Select the message, then open the Message menu and choose Keep as New.

To save AOL mail messages permanently: In the AOL client, you can use your Personal File Cabinet to save messages for longer than 27 days.

Your Personal Filing Cabinet is not accessible from AOL Communicator Mail. To save local copies of any messages, including AOL mail messages, drag them to folders in your Local Mail directory. For details, see Moving AOL Mail Messages.

To change your Old Mail expiration setting: You can increase the Old Mail expiration period from 3 days to 7 days. For details, see Changing Your AOL Mail Expiration Setting.

Expiration of messages in the Spam folder for AOL client software: Spam filtering for AOL® 9.0 Optimized and later versions is completely separate from spam filtering in AOL Communicator. Messages that AOL client software identifies as spam are placed temporarily in a Spam folder that is visible only from within that software. Such messages don't show up at all in AOL Communicator Mail.

When you first launch AOL Communicator, you'll see a warning message if the Spam folder for your AOL client software contains unread messages.

If you see such a warning, you should check the Spam folder right away to make sure that the messages are indeed spam. Messages are retained in Spam folder for AOL client software for five days before being deleted automatically.

Related topics:

Account Style Options and Message Retention
Archiving Messages
Unread Messages in AOL Spam Folder
Host-Based Versus Local Spam Filtering

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Moving AOL Mail Messages

You can easily create local copies of all sent and received messages for an AOL account by turning on mail archiving for that account. For instructions, see Archiving Messages.

You can also move AOL mail messages from folders under the AOL account to folders under any other account, including the Local Mail storage folder, POP account folders, or IMAP account folders.

To create a folder in the Local Mail directory:

1. On the left side of the AOL Communicator Mail window, select Local Mail.
2. If you can't see the folders inside Local Mail, click its triangle to open it.
3. Open the File menu, then choose New, then Folder.
4. Type a name for the folder you wish to create, such as "Old AOL Mail".
5. Make sure "Create as subfolder of" is set to Local Mail, and click OK.
   Your new folder appears under Local Mail.

To move AOL mail messages:

1. On the left side of the AOL Communicator Mail window, make sure Local Mail is open, so you can see the folder you created for copies of your AOL mail messages.
2. Identify the AOL mail account whose messages you want to move.
3. If you can't see the folders inside the AOL mail account, click its triangle to open it.
4. Click the AOL mail folder containing the messages you want to move.
5. Select the messages you want to move.
   Shift-click to select messages next to each other, or hold down the Ctrl key and click to select separate messages.
6. Right-click the one of the selected messages.
7. Choose Move to or Copy to from the pop-up menu.
8. Choose the destination folder you want from the submenus.

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Changing Your AOL Mail Expiration Setting

By default, AOL client software lists AOL mail messages that you have read under the Old Mail tab and stores them for 3 days before deleting them.

You can change the storage period for old mail if you want to. The minimum is 1 day and the maximum is 7 days. Follow these steps:

1. From the main AOL Communicator Mail window, open the Edit menu and choose Account Settings.
2. Double-click the name of the AOL account for which you want to change the mail expiration setting.
3. Click Options.
4. Locate the option about halfway down labeled Keep my old mail online __ days after I read it.
   If you haven't changed this setting before, the number of days is set to 3.
5. Click the drop-down list beside the number field to select the value you want.
6. Click OK to confirm the new setting.
7. Click OK to close Account Settings.

Related topic:

AOL Mail Expiration and AOL Communicator
Account Style Options and Message Retention

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Setting a Mail Away Message

If you know you can't answer your AOL mail messages for a period of time, you can set a Mail Away message that will automatically be sent once to each person who sends mail to your AOL account.

To set a mail away message:

1. Open the Edit menu and choose Account Settings.
2. Double-click the name of the AOL account for which you want to set an away message.
3. Click the Set Mail Away Message link near the bottom of the window.
   If it isn't already open, the AOL client software on your computer launches. If you haven't stored your screen name and password, you will need to sign on.
   The Mail Away Message window opens inside the AOL client software.
4. Under My Mail Away Message Is, click On.
5. Under My Mail Away Message Says, click the option you want:
   Hello, I am unavailable to read your message at this time: This message will be sent once to each person who sends you mail until you turn it off manually in this window.
   Hello, I am away until: This message will be sent once to each person who sends you mail until the date you select.
6. Click OK.

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Checking the Status of AOL Mail

When you send a mail message from one AOL account to any other AOL account, you and all the recipients of the message can check its status to see who has read it.

This feature only works between AOL accounts; you can't use it for mail sent from a non-AOL account, or from an AOL account to a non-AOL account.

To check AOL mail message status:

1. Open the Sent folder for the AOL account from which you sent the message.
2. Select the message whose status you want to check.
3. Open the View menu and choose Message Status.
4. Click OK.

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Unsending AOL Mail

When you send a mail message from one AOL account to any other AOL account, you can choose to "unsend" the message if the recipient hasn't read it yet.

This feature only works between AOL accounts; you can't use it for mail sent from a non-AOL account, or from an AOL account to a non-AOL account.

To unsend an AOL mail message, follow these steps:

1. Open the Sent folder for the AOL account from which you sent the message.
2. Select the message you want to unsend.
3. Click the Unsend button near the top of the Mail window.

If the message has already been read, or if it was send to a non-AOL account, an error message appears informing you that the message can't be unsent.

If Unsend is successful, you'll see a message that tells you so.

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Permanently Deleting AOL Mail Messages

When you delete an AOL mail message by clicking the Delete button or pressing the Delete key, the message is stored in the Recently Deleted folder for 24 hours.

To permanently delete messages in the Recently Deleted folder:

1. Select the messages you want to delete.
2. Click the Perm Del button, or right-click the selected messages and choose Delete Message Permanently.

After you permanently delete a message, it is no longer stored by the AOL service and cannot be retrieved.

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Last Updated September 16, 2003