AOL Desktop makes life easier!
Posted Nov 20th 2007 6:16PM by Laura Peterson
Filed under: AOL Desktop
AOL Desktop, previously codenamed Helix, is AOL's freshest all-in-one software for Windows. It combines email, Web browsing and instant messaging into a single, easy-to-use application, letting you multi-task with fewer hassles.
AOL Desktop's sleek interface includes a toolbar with shortcuts to mail, AIM, the browser, search, and favorite browser links. AOL Desktop also incorporates convenient new features like tabbed browsing, multiple email and IM account support, and the ability to add MapQuest maps and directions straight into your emails.
Here's a screenshot of the software to put it all in perspective:
AOL Desktop – main view
Some things in AOL Desktop can't really be described with words. When I think of functionality you really need to see to believe, "App Map" comes to mind. App Map is a button on the toolbar which instantly displays clickable thumbnails of all your open windows, and words just don't do it justice. Your IMs and emails won't get "buried" under other windows again!
Below is a screenshot of "App Map mode" with three browser tabs, the mailbox, the BuddyList®, three emails, and one instant message. I could click on any of those thumbnails and immediately interact with the full-size version.
App Map mode
What else is new about AOL Desktop? One of the most important new features is the ability to access multiple email accounts simultaneously.
In addition to supporting the AOL network domains like AOL, AIM, eAddress and Affinity mail, AOL Desktop also lets you check and write email from non-AOL accounts like GMail and Verizon. The additional accounts appear as tabs within a single mailbox, making mail management simple.
(I recently blogged about this topic at length for AOL mail – you can read that entry here.)
Below is a mock-up of the AOL Desktop mailbox with an additional account appearing as a tab to the right of the "SurfinDiane" main AOL account.
More about mail to come later.
Before I go, here are some other cool things you can do in AOL Desktop:
There's no better time to try out the AOL Desktop public beta from the AOL Beta site.
Watch this space for more AOL Desktop blog entries and details on the things I've mentioned here, such as adding additional email and IM accounts, customizing your toolbar with your favorite websites, and signing in invisibly. As the product lead, I look forward to getting your questions and feedback.
Until then, have fun trying out the AOL Desktop Beta. Happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers,
Laura
P.S. Looking for an AOL experience for Mac? Check out the AOL Desktop for Mac Beta here. Learn more by visiting the Mac product blog.
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AOL Desktop mailbox with additional account
Laura Peterson
AOL Desktop Product Lead
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About The Team
Terrie is the lead product manager on the AOL Desktop Affinity software. Terrie works to define new views of Desktop. Like the Asylum Desktop and LemonDrop Desktop. Take a look, they are neat!
Summer is a Sr. Manager for AOL Member Communications. While she has no ties directly to the product development team, she has been a contributor to many AOL blogs over the last few years and is excited to bring a non-product team perspective to the Desktop blog.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1. signing in invisibly - I do not see this feature in Beta version of AOL Desktop & I am now using Beta 8 version.
???
Posted at 3:19PM on Nov 27th 2007 by monanymona
2. You asked: "signing in invisibly - I do not see this feature in Beta version of AOL Desktop"
Product response: You can set AIM invisibility options in the Invisibility tab of your AIM Settings.
Here's how to get there: from the "Edit" menu of your AIM BuddyList, go to "Settings..." and then click the "Invisibility" tab in Settings. Select the box marked "set me to invisible when I sign in so no one can see I'm online".
You can also go invisible any time by clicking the "eye" to the right of your screenname in the BuddyList.
Posted at 5:53PM on Nov 27th 2007 by Laura Peterson
3. I have just started using the new release of AOL Desktop. I am really enjoying it and plan on using it instead of my AOL 9 version. I was wondering about the AIM messenger included with the software. It doesn't seem to be the newest version. Can I download the newest version and will it replace the one on the AOL Desktop or is there a feature somewhere I'm missing that will upgrade the version itself.
Posted at 12:19PM on Dec 12th 2007 by Angel
4. I am using AOL Desktop and am having a problem with the search engine. When I do a search, the information that is to be on the bottom of the page is on the middle of the page on top of the search results. I contacted tech support and they could not help me. We have cleared the cache, but to no avail. BTW it is not happening when I open internet explorer and do a search on there. Does any one have a solution to this problem.
Posted at 1:12PM on Dec 13th 2007 by Janet
5. Just loaded Desktop ... surprisingly nice change in appearance and so far, functionality. Unfortunately, as with the prior attempt to change from the standard AOL screen, most settings functionality has been removed. Many long time users will not like this. For example, how do you turn off the annoying "you've got mail" and similar sounds? Where are the marketing settings to turn off undesired marketing methods? All these capabilities seem to have been dropped. Anyone have an answer? Am I missing something? ...
Posted at 1:09PM on Dec 13th 2007 by Don B
6. Just loaded Desktop ... surprisingly nice change in appearance and so far, functionality. Unfortunately, as with the prior attempt to change from the standard AOL screen, most settings functionality has been removed. Many long time users will not like this. For example, how do you turn off the annoying "you've got mail" and similar sounds? Where are the marketing settings to turn off undesired marketing methods? All these capabilities seem to have been dropped. Anyone have an answer? Am I missing something? ...
Posted at 2:01PM on Dec 13th 2007 by Don B
7. One additional comment to my last ... saved mail only shows month and day. When you have multiple years of mail, the year is essential for filing in folders and just going back in old mail. What happened to the year? 1/25/????
Thanks, Don B
Posted at 1:16PM on Dec 13th 2007 by Don B
8. Where are the chat rooms located on the AOL Desktop? I transferred my favorites over, including a chat room. When I click on it, I don't see anything, but apparently, I'm in the room as I get IMs from people in it.
Posted at 12:51PM on Dec 16th 2007 by Pietro
9. You asked: "I was wondering about the AIM messenger included with the software. It doesn't seem to be the newest version. Can I download the newest version and will it replace the one on the AOL Desktop?"
Product answer: Although AOL Desktop has a version of AIM embedded, AOL Desktop is a single piece of software. It's separate to the standalone AIM, and downloading the latest AIM will not replace the AIM inside AOL Desktop.
Posted at 4:59PM on Dec 16th 2007 by Laura Peterson
10. Don B, in response to your question about settings, here are some answers.
To access the AOL Desktop settings, go to keyword (Ctrl+K) settings, or click "settings" from the "Help" menu off of the toolbar. All of the software general, web, AIM, and mail settings are grouped together in this area (and the settings are also available from the "settings" menus of the mail, browser, and AIM windows).
Go to https://marketingpreferences.aol.com/index.php to change your marketing preferences.
Thanks for the suggestion to add a year identifier to the date column! For now, if you expand the reading pane in your inbox, you can see the full date information in the reading pane. Hope that helps.
Posted at 5:35PM on Dec 16th 2007 by Laura Peterson
11. I would really like to know where did my own list of "Favorites" dissappear to???? I relied on that list for a long long time. Please, can I have it back???
Posted at 2:43PM on Dec 27th 2007 by HELEN ARONIS
12. Helen, your 9.0 favorites should have been imported by the Setup Wizard, which attempts to migrate your settings when you first launch and log in to AOL Desktop.
If you canceled the Setup Wizard before it finished transferring your favorites over, go to the "Help" menu at the top right of the AOL Desktop toolbar and choose "Setup Wizard".
Hope this works for you.
Posted at 2:47PM on Dec 27th 2007 by Laura Peterson
13. One adjoining comment about Favorites, Helen: your "portable" favorites appear in your browser sidepanel after you sign in to AOL Desktop. You can't get to it from the Favorites browser menu.
To get to the Favorites sidepanel to view your portable favorites, first sign-in then press the big "favorites" button between the URL and search fields in the browser to expand the favorites sidepanel. Your portable favorites, which should contain the list of your 9.0 favorites, will be at the bottom of the list of favorites folders.
Posted at 4:19PM on Dec 27th 2007 by Laura Peterson
14. I installed AOL Desktop about two weeks ago, both on my home system and at work (yes, we do use AOL in conjunction with our web site). At work, the biggest "plus" is being able to read and respond to Email from multiple screen names without switching. The biggest "minus" is that, when replying to an Email sent directly to me, all works well.. but if I use "Reply' to respond to the originator of an Email forwarded to me from our web site, by copying/pasting the originator's Email address (to replace the forwarder's Email address), the Response Email is rejected.
On my home system, it seems to be a bit buggy yet: (1)windows that have lost the focus are not repopulated when brought back; (2) If the web browser or Email windows are minimized, they are sometimes mispositioned off the bottom of the screen when reactivated; (3) a process called "aolsoftware.exe" occasionally pegs my CPU usage at 100%; (4) there seems to be an incompatibility between AOL Desktop and Nvidia Nview desktop manager... even though Nview is not running, I occasionally get an Nview error message and everything locks up; (5) when using Windows multiple monitor support, many of the AOL popup windows or Tooltips pop up on the wrong screen (this has been a chronic problem with all recent versions of AOL); (6) when switching screen names, the browser window sometimes comes up with duplicate tabs for the AOL Welcome screen.
Posted at 3:17AM on Dec 30th 2007 by Bobrcnut
15. ...Interesting.. the entry I just posted shows up as being posted by my AOL Master screen name instead of the one I was actually using...
Posted at 3:21AM on Dec 30th 2007 by Bobrcnut
16. Just discovered another one: inconsistent behavior when clicking on a banner ad. Most of the time, it adds a new tab to the existing browser window. Some of the time it opens a completely new browser window. AND: once in a great while, it opens a FireFox browser window (FireFox is my default web browser).
Posted at 4:00AM on Dec 30th 2007 by Bobrcnut
17. Just installed AOL Desktop, and it has installed with enormous fonts, which crowds the screen. I can't find any way to change the display settings. It's not really usabble the way it is. Does anyone have a clue? (It has even crowded out whatever it is I have to click to activate the link in the confirmation email for this comment, so I've had to go back and re-enter a non-AOL address so I can get this posted...)
Posted at 9:00AM on Jan 3rd 2008 by Sharon Kahn
18. Sharon, are your font settings coming up that way only in Desktop? or also in other programs? That randomly happened to me years ago when I installed some software, and it ended up being a Windows font size issue; somehow that install inadvertenty messed with the setting...
Bob, those banner ads have unpredictable reactions to user clicks - usually due to the varying code applied to them. I believe they're each coded to respond in a specific way. On the 9.x platforms, because of its sort of walled structure, new windows were often contained within the AOL client - but there were also a few unusual times for me when IE would open externally. Personally, banner ads scare me and I avoid them! But what you're describing unfortunately sounds normal.
Posted at 10:08PM on Jan 3rd 2008 by WhenenRome
19. Bob, the ads should not be opening outside the AOL Desktop application in Firefox / your default browser if it's not AOL Desktop. This is a bug, so can you please send me as much info about the ads you're seeing the Firefox issue with (the ad type, the URL of the page or the destination page after you clickthrough)? If it's a page not owned by AOL, there's not much we can do, but if it's on an AOL page I can report it as a bug and get it fixed. :)
Thanks!
Posted at 12:18AM on Jan 4th 2008 by Laura Peterson
20. Hey Laura, regarding my previous comment, I just assumed he was talking about ''non-AOL'' website banner ads.
Posted at 1:11PM on Jan 4th 2008 by WhenenRome