Yahoo has launched an update to Mail for the desktop that lets you view both your email and attachments side-by-side — ending the hassle of switching back and forth between the two.
According to a blog post by Yahoo Mail senior product manager, Mayukh Bhaowal, when you click on a Mail attachment, an attachment preview will appear so that you can read your message or compose a reply, while still viewing the document.
In early 2014, Yahoo let you preview attachments without having to download them. It also recently announced improvements to the way users search and attach recent photos and files users received or sent — from the compose window. This is another step in the continuum of making email less cumbersome and time-consuming.
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Up until now, you had to switch back and forth between reading or composing an email and viewing the attachment. Now, when you click on an attachment, a side-by-side preview will appear so you can read your message or even reply, all while viewing your attachment.
Yahoo has added an expanded preview mode for smaller screens and a presentation mode for PowerPoint that lets you open slides full-screen within the app..
The design is responsive — if you reduce the size of your window, the preview will automatically turn into the expanded preview mode so that the attachment is still available for view. Plus, you can still get context of the message by hovering over ‘back to message.’
The document preview now uses HTML and CSS, as opposed toSVG/HTML5 for better performance and to take advantage of built-in browser optimizations, Bhaowal said. Document previews are swift because they are converted to a preview version before users click on it.
This new technology is derived from Yahoo’s acquisition of document specialist Bookpad, though Yahoo says the ultimate aim is never having to download attachments.
Oh, and let’s not forget the shortcuts. Added ones are:
- Left/Right to navigate among multiple attachments
- Up/Down to scroll through an attachment
- Ctrl+F for expanded preview mode. Ctrl+F again to go to presentation mode. Esc to reverse the process.
- Ctrl –/++ to zoom in or out within a document
The new preview feature is rolling out to US users starting today. For users outside of the US, the new preview will be available in the next few months.
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