Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Mail

TileWorld comes with its own email program—called Mail. In fact, it’s the only email program that comes with Windows 8; there’s no built-in desktop mail program. (Although you do get Outlook with Windows 8 RT, the stripped-down version of Windows.)

Mail is easy to use, it’s beautiful, and—especially if you have a touchscreen—it offers a fast, fluid way to work. And it’s not nearly as stripped down as it was in Windows 8. Now it has multiple windows, a way to flag messages for later, and drag-and-drop email folders.

Before you read another syllable, you need to confront one big piece of what could be bad news: Mail requires an IMAP account. It doesn’t work with POP accounts, which means you may not be able to use Mail at all. Read on.

The POP-Account Problem

There are three kinds of email accounts:

• Web-based mail. Some email accounts are designed to be accessed on a Web site, like the free accounts offered by Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or Outlook.com.

• IMAP accounts (Internet message access protocol) are the latest type, and they’re surging in popularity. IMAP servers keep all your mail online, rather than storing it solely on your computer; as a result, you can access the same mail from any computer (or phone), and you’ll always see the same lists of mail. IMAP servers remember which messages you’ve read and sent, and they even keep track of how you’ve filed messages into mail folders. (Those free Yahoo email accounts are IMAP accounts, and so are Apple’s iCloud accounts and corporate ...