▼ Email Programs
▼ Webmail Providers
▼ General Tutorials
Free Email TutorialsHotmailReading Hotmail messages: Inbox and Reading Pane

Reading Hotmail messages: Inbox and Reading Pane

Hotmail emails go in the inbox or junk mail folder Once you have signed up for Hotmail, you will start receive emails from your friends and colleagues, as well as any newsletters you may have elected to receive during the signup process. All emails you receive at your Hotmail account will go in one of two email folders: most emails will go to your Hotmail inbox. Emails Hotmail believes might be spam will automatically go in the Junk folder.

This tutorial will give you an overview of Hotmail's inbox and reading pane. By default, Hotmail shows you the Today screen, which includes the listing of your email folders in the left pane. To start reading your emails, click on Inbox.

Checking your Hotmail emails with an email program

While checking your emails online with Windows Live Hotmail is fast and convenient, know that you can also read your Hotmail emails from a variety of email programs:

Read your incoming email messages

Displaying a number next to a folder name is the convention Hotmail uses to indicate unread emails inside the folder. The screenshot above shows that the inbox contains 130 unread emails; when emails perceived as spam go to the Junk folder, you will see a number between parentheses displayed next to "Junk" - this is a quick way to determine if you need to check your spam folder before actually having to open the folder.

Hotmail interface Once you click on Inbox, the main Hotmail window opens, with three important components: on the left, highlighted in orange on the screenshot, all your email folders are listed (all of them using the number convention next to their name to show the number of unread emails, if any, they contain). Highlighted in turquoise, the listing of emails in the currently selected folder (the inbox by default). In green, the "Reading Pane", where Hotmail displays the selected email's content.

By default, the reading pane is displayed at the bottom of the screen, like most email programs do. Select an email in the list of emails in the current folder, and the email's From, To, Subject, and content are displayed inside the reading pane.

Customize Hotmail's reading pane

Windows Live Hotmail lets you customize the reading pane placement on screen: since most monitors are wide, and support high screen resolutions (the amount of "things", or pixels, you see on screen), you may prefer to have the reading pane displayed vertically instead of horizontally. This will still leave you enough room to show the email folders, the email listing, and the current email's reading pane alongside one another, as three vertical columns. To display the reading pane vertically, click on Options in the top right of the screen, and choose Right under Reading pane settings.

Vertical reading pane in Hotmail
Your emails are now displayed vertically, like the reading pane: since most emails are higher than wide, this reading pane configuration will save you some scrolling. To restore the reading pane back to its original, horizontal position, click on Options again, and choose Bottom - you are back where you started.

Tip: for more in-depth information and customization, please see our "Hotmail Reading Pane Settings" tutorial.

Notice too that under Reading pane settings, one of the choices is "Off". If you click on Off, Hotmail will hide the reading pane, and display only a list of emails: in that scenario, you need to double-click on an email to read it (and from thereon, use the navigational arrows or keyboard shortcuts to move from one email to the next). When you double-click on an email, regardless of your reading pane settings, Hotmail will open the email in "Full View".

Reading emails in full view

Load Hotmail emails in full view If an email is too wide for your reading page settings and/or your screen resolution, Hotmail leaves you the option to open the email in full view, so that the email headers and content can take advantage of the full width and height normally shared with the email listing. Click on the Full view link in the top right corner of the reading pane, or double-click the email in question inside the list of emails the current folder contains.

Hotmail Tutorial The new Hotmail Hotmail.com Create a Hotmail account Hotmail sign in Hotmail sign out Read your Emails Read your emails Show images and content Download attachments Delete email messages Delete all emails from a person Unsubscribe from mailing lists Mark emails as Unread / Read Hotmail Instant Actions Unflag / Flag email messages Hotmail Quick Views Compose & Send Emails Hotmail email Reply to emails Forward emails Compose a new message Formatting emails Send attachments File attachment size limits Add pictures to your emails Create a signature Sending emails Send mail from other accounts Send plain text emails Change importance of emails Select multiple emails Spam & Junk Mail Filtering Mark spam email as junk mail Spam and junk mail settings Block email senders Unblock email senders Report phishing scam emails Standard Hotmail Folders The standard folders Hotmail Inbox Hotmail Junk folder Hotmail Drafts folder Hotmail Sent folder Hotmail Deleted folder Show or hide email folders Custom Hotmail Folders Create a new folder Rename a folder Empty a folder Delete a folder Mark an entire folder as "Read" Hotmail Contacts Hotmail Contacts Add a sender as contact Create a new contact Edit contacts' information Delete a contact Remove duplicate contacts Import contacts into Hotmail Export Hotmail contacts Contact categories Copy / transfer Hotmail contacts Add picture to contacts Block emails from non contacts Add Safe Senders to Hotmail Hotmail Tips and Tricks Hotmail Tips View email headers X-Originating-IP Show / hide basic headers View emails full screen Check for new emails Print email messages Hotmail Help Add another email account Check another email account Sort your emails Find emails with "Search Tool" Create email filters Automated vacation replies Use Hotmail as default email Hotmail account start date Configure Hotmail Settings Customize Hotmail Options Hotmail Login Hotmail accountCheck last Hotmail accessChange "From" name in emails Change password Reset your Hotmail password Change security question Forward emails to other account Skip "Hotmail Today" Change Reply-to email address Disable sent email confirmation Show conversations / threads Disable conversation grouping Disable photo / video previews Change Hotmail language Hotmail.com in English Hotmail.com en Español Change country setting Change birthday / birth date Keyboard Shortcuts Delete your Hotmail account Reading Pane Settings Change Theme Switch back to the old Hotmail Save / delete sent messages Change Hotmail address Change profile picture Change Hotmail account Other Products & Services Hotmail Messenger Hotmail Messenger Download Hotmail Plus Cancel Hotmail Plus Hotmail Customer Service Hotmail Live Hotmail Kids Set Hotmail as homepage in IE Hotmail as homepage in Firefox POP & Mail Server Settings POP3 settings IMAP Settings Incoming Mail Server Setup Hotmail on iPhone Hotmail Outlook settings You've reached the daily limit Outlook Connector Hotmail Gmail Hotmail Yahoo!
 
Copyright © 2016 Free Email Tutorials - All Rights Reserved - About Legal & Privacy Feedback Sitemap