Currently Hotmail is in the process of rolling out a new release (would this be Wave 6?), the latest version of its webmail service which includes separate filters called categories, like the Newsletter category. This latest version was announced early October by the Windows Live team. Here are some screenshots of the changes:
When selecting the Newsletters option on the bar, only newsletters that fit te category will be shown: it will act as a filter on the inbox – it will not be a separate box or folder as some have believed it would be.
Here’s how the categories work:
We use the same SmartScreen™ technology that helps us fight spam – a machine learning engine that gets better over time. Right out of the gate, we’re 95% accurate with the mail we categorize as newsletters, and this will only get better as you help us build the feature by categorizing or un-categorizing your own mail. In fact, every time you categorize an email as a newsletter, you help make our filtering better for yourself and every other customer.
The Schedule cleanup option popup looks like this (this has been there for some time now):
This can help in keeping your inbox tidy, especially if you receive a lot of emails in your Hotmail inbox. Daily deals like Groupon emails anyone? Together with the recently introduced flags, you can win back your inbox by tidying up its contents and using flags on messages that really matter.
Videos explaining the new functionality:
Schedule Cleanup:
Flags done right:
Custom categories:
Hotmail has started to roll out all the new features of the new release to the public last Friday, but it will be some time before all its 400+ million users can enjoy the new functionality.
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