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How to keep tabs on multiple e-mail accounts
WebMail Notifier, a free Firefox extension, checks various Webmail accounts, alerting you when new messages arrive.
The WebMail Notifier adds a small button to the Firefox toolbar. The envelope turns from gray to yellow when you have unread messages.
(Credit: Matt Elliott/CNET)If you are like me, you have a number of Webmail accounts. I have two Gmail accounts, an old Hotmail account I use for filling out Web forms, and a Yahoo Mail account for fantasy baseball purposes. Thankfully, I can keep an eye on all of these accounts with a single Firefox extension.
WebMail Notifier is a simple Firefox extension that alerts you when new e-mails arrive from a variety of Webmail clients, including Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and even ol' AOL. After installing WebMail Notifier, you'll see that a small envelope icon gets added to your Firefox toolbar. It's gray when no new messages await (or before you add any accounts). When you have unread e-mails, the envelope turns yellow and displays the number of unread messages to the right. And by default, a subtle audio alert plays when new messages arrive.
You choose your Webmail providers from the pull-down menu on the left and manage your accounts from the list on the right.
(Credit: Matt Elliott/CNET)To set up your accounts, right-click on the envelope and choose options. On the Accounts page, you can choose your e-mail provider from the pull-down menu on the left. Then, just enter your username and password, and give the account an alias if you so desire. Click the Add button at the bottom and you'll see your account listed in the window on the right. In this window, you can also select one of your accounts as the default account.
You can also set how frequently WebMail Notifier checks each of your accounts by adjusting the number next to "Check interval" on the left of the Accounts page. On the right, you can change the default interval for all accounts.
The WebMail Notifier window lets you keep an eye on each of your accounts.
(Credit: Matt Elliott/CNET)At the top of the Options window, click General to access other settings. Here, you can choose to open new e-mails in a new tab or a new window. And you can disable the audio alert when new messages arrive, or change it by selecting a WAV file from your system.
If you click on the envelope icon, you'll open your default e-mail account (in either a new tab or window, depending how you have it set up.) If you right-click on the envelope, a small pop-up window appears with a list of your accounts, letting you click on one to open in a new tab or window. From this pop-up window, you can also check for new messages by clicking Check Now. And for a more hands-on approach, you can view the WebMail Notifier window or sidebar, which lists your accounts and the number of unread messages in each.
Do you have a preferred method for managing multiple e-mail accounts? If so, let us know in the comments below.
