In the first two parts of this series, we familiarized ourselves with the Windows 10 Mail app and learned how to set up email accounts and sync calendars and contacts.
Click here to read part 1 and here to read part 2.
Now that the accounts are active, it’s time to learn all about the inbox. Notice that I have several active email accounts all coming into this inbox.
I can keep these inboxes separate or I can click on Accounts and then Link inboxes. I can combine all of my inboxes together or just some of them.
Now I have one combined inbox.
It pulls the folders and contacts that you already have set up online in the webmail interface for your e-mail. If I click Folders, I can scroll down and see all of my folders for my online accounts. To add a folder, click the + button next to Folders.
Type the name of the folder you wish to add and hit enter.
If you want to add contacts, you’ll need to open up the People app and put them in individually. The Mail app will then draw the contacts from the People app.
Honestly, I used to hate this app with every fiber of my being, though I liked that you could use Cortana to dictate emails. I liked how supereasy it is to e-mail things like photos just by hitting the share button and using this app. Microsoft promised to make gradual changes to improve it and they have. The recent addition of the ability to create and add folders goes a long way towards changing my opinion.
Still, I really wish they would come up with something between a bare-bones nightmare and the over-featured Outlook that does way more than most people need.
Now that I’m done venting, let’s look at that inbox. Before you ask, you can’t change the view.
Hover over a message and you can flag or delete it.
Click once to open the message.
Once open, you’ll see the options to reply, reply all, archive, forward, delete, and flag at the top.
There’s also a little 3-dot icon to the far right. Click it for options like Mark as read, Move, Save, Print, and Zoom.
To create a new message, just click the plus icon next to New Mail. If you have multiple accounts, you can choose which account you want the message sent from.
A new message will open. It’s a pretty familiar set-up.
Type the name of the recipient in the To: line. As you start typing, Mail will offer suggestions based on those you’ve communicated with previously in your accounts.
Once you enter text, you’ll have the options to make basic formatting choices. You actually get quite a lot of options here. This is probably the most full-featured area of this app. You have lots of style choices.
Click Insert to add files, photos, links, or to create a table. Click on Options and you’ll be able to do a spell check in several languages.
On the To: line, you’ll see options for CC and Bcc.
Just click Send when your message is ready to go.
The inbox has the standard sent and draft folders. Click more to see Archives and any additional folders you’ve created or imported from your email accounts.
Click the menu icon at the top to hide the folder pane and view more or less of your inbox.
Access your calendar, contacts, or open settings by clicking the icons at the bottom of the inbox.
In the next part of our series, we’ll explore the settings options.