NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, January 2012
When Outlook dies, Windows Live Mail lives
By Jo Grazide,
Leader, Word Processing Workshop, Brookdale Computer Users Group, New Jersey
March 2011 Issue, Bug Bytes
http://www.bcug.com
gio520 (at) gmail.com (click to email author)

Screenshot of Windows Live Mail showing message window with attached photo images. All screenshots: Jo Grazide

I had been using and enjoying the features of Microsoft Outlook 2007 since 2007, never imagining that one fine day I would log in only to see a message saying something to the effect that Outlook was in use and that I had to close a “pst” file, or face the consequences. In fact, MS Outlook simply stopped. I was unable to move appointments, open an email, or do anything that I was accustomed to in order to make my activities on the computer enjoyable and efficient.

For lack of a better option, I decided to turn to Windows Live Mail (WLM), a part of the Windows Live Essentials suite that was already installed on my system along with my favorite photo management program and even my antivirus app.

Since this was already present, I didn’t have to do much, except launch it. It happily grabbed my mail downloads from Gmail and politely asked me if I wanted it to be the default email program. I said “Yes!”

I was pleasantly surprised. I use Gmail but I was pleasantly surprised. I use Gmail but only for the convenience of having an online calendar and email program that I could access from any computer. As far as WLM, I would say the only real inconvenience is the loss of my Outlook calendar, but I can manage using the online Google calendar whenever I’m on my desktop.

First Impressions
When you first use WLM, you are obligated to establish a connection with your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Since I use Gmail/Verizon/Hotmail/Yahoo, I can add these by going to the accounts Tab, clicking on the Email icon and adding an account. Since I sync everything on Gmail’s server, there is no need to do this. In fact, it gets kind of confusing when lots of email accounts are listed, at least for me. So I stick to my Gmail account and things have been going smoothly.

Tabs and Ribbons
Cosmetically, the interface is clean, uncluttered and easy to understand. You start with a Quick Access Toolbar and tabbed ribbons familiar to those of us using current MS Office apps. The tabs are: Home/Folders/View and Accounts. Let’s take a peek at each.

Screenshot of Home ribbon
The Home tab is where you compose, create Photo emails, mark as junk, and for those Calendar challenged like me, an opportunity to add a message to that calendar. This may be the workaround I need. Anything to save typing! You will see a sign in request on the right side. You don’t have to be a member of Hotmail or Windows Live or sign in. I do so under my Hotmail name, as this allows the computer to sync and recognize my name on many other sites, such as Facebook, Windows Live Mesh, and others too tedious to mention here. I am a social networker, and am comfortable with such arrangements, but you don’t have to subscribe to these. The email program will still work for you, happily. I really like the Photo email option. In the example shown above, notice how the pictures I chose are inserted as an album, and also that a picture tools and a photo album tools ribbon is provided. Even though that may be considered overkill on Microsoft’s part, it is still handy in case you want to do a bit more work before sending your pictures out.

Screenshot of View ribbon
Also useful is the View ribbon. Here you can change the layout of your screen. My favorite button here is the Account color – among others, you can change your theme to Fuchsia or Smoke. Other colors you can use are Lime or Twilight. Someone must have had a sense of humor when they wrote this app. But you can use a different color for multiple accounts, so there is a reason for this virtual rainbow.

The Accounts ribbon is one I hardly go to.

Screenshot of Accounts ribbon
Anything here is handled elsewhere. In fact, IMAP folders or Newsgroup is a bit beyond what I need in my email program, so I leave these alone.

Summing Up
In using WLM, there is little to worry about. It will download your messages, keep your appointments once you enter them, and handle your contacts. In fact, it handles contacts only too well. I was happy to see that it has the uncanny ability to find and list my Facebook contacts as well as the ones imported from MS Outlook. It won’t list their emails or any unavailable information, but it does three things I like. It gives me a picture of the friend from their Facebook profile, a link to their online Facebook page, and whether they are currently there. So even if I’m not online, I can quickly get to their page and see what my fellow networkers are up to. LinkedIn also seems to be important enough to be included in this feature.

No Calendar sync
A quick mention of the Calendar – since it does not sync with Google calendar, unless I have a lot of time to re-enter my appointments, Google will have to be my source of information. I have read recently that Yahoo Mail will sync with WLM and Google, but have not had the time to really investigate this. With the way that the Internet is combining profiles and individuals’ information, it would just be one more intertwining of online information. Perhaps in time there will be a better way to do this.

I will miss MS Outlook. But I will not miss the fact that one fine day it just stopped working, gave me strange error messages, and was unwilling to be reinstalled properly. I know that there are always more options, and WLM is a fine option. Being downloaded from the Internet, it is always up to date and free. Try it if you want to use a local email program with lots of features and an uncomplicated interface.

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