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I have both a Google Gmail and a Yahoo! Mail account. I use each of them for different purposes, and both have upsides and downsides.

Let's start with Google's Gmai:

You can create a free Google Gmail account and you can begin sending messages immediately! Simple, convenient, ready to go! What I really dislike about Google Gmail however is that it does not allow any type of a folder structure resulting in hundreds of emails getting dumped into your inbox! To differentiate important mail from not so important mail, you will need to use the "Star" and "Label" feature in Gmail to sort your mail out. This works pretty well, until you find out that you have hundreds of emails with the "Star" designation on them and you're right back to square one.

A benefit to Gmail is that you have quick access to Google Docs. This is especially helpful if you are working with a remote team and everyone has different versions of software. Google Docs are user friendly, compatible with Microsoft programming and readily available to all. You can mark documents as private that you do not want others having access to.

Google Calendar is also available to subscribers of Gmail. This handy feature allows you to set up one (or more) calendars and keep track of personal items or business items on the same calendar or on different calendars.

Google Chat is included with Gmail. One feature of this I do not particularly care for is that it automatically adds people to your chat who have Google Gmail accounts that you've communicated with through your Gmail account. But, it is a handy feature for those who want it.

Google Gmail has a pretty strong spam catcher but please make sure you check your spam mail as some get flagged inadvertently. Gmail has a good forwarding feature. Another nice feature is you can send/receive emails from alternate names (for instance yourname@helium).

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! mail offers both free and paid services. Having used both services this will be a rundown of the features of both. Yahoo! mail basic free version allows you to send and receive emails, set up filters and more.

If you are using Yahoo! mail for personal use and for business use, you can easily set up filters to have mail from specific email lists, clients or friends to automatically go into their own file. Yahoo! Premium mail service allows you to set up "disposable" addresses. This allows you to take your account and set up a number of addresses that you can use for shopping on the internet, filling out surveys, etc. This feature also allows sorting into individual folders and marking them in a different color.

Yahoo! mail has recently introduced an "instant messenger" feature into their Yahoo! mail feature. This means if you are using Yahoo! Messenger you can access your online contacts right from your mail page on your Yahoo! account.

Yahoo! mail has an extraordinary Spam filter and you can block users very easily. Like any other spam filter you should review messages before they are deleted. Yahoo! mail also offers you the ability to send and receive emails from alternate email addresses.

Summary

Both Google Gmail and Yahoo! mail offer a similar set of features and functions. Both offer comparable free services (although Yahoo! has no documents feature). Both services also offer Pop forwarding and the ability to have great email service at no cost (or in the case of Yahoo! premium a reasonable cost).

Deciding whether to use Google Gmail or Yahoo! mail is a personal preference. Only you can decide which service is right for you.

Learn more about this author, Doreen Martel.
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