Choose Email Program from 8.1 People App

[Eric J F]

Has anyone found a workaround to choose which email program to use to send individual messages when you are in the 8.1 People app?

Note I am NOT asking how to make one email program/account the default. I have one contact list (the People app) and three email programs I use: outllook.com, Yahoo, and Windows Live Mail. I don't want to import the contacts into each account because then I have to constantly update all three. I'd like the ability to right click on a contact's email address and have a list of programs/accounts to choose from.

I was hoping someone has figured out an easy workaround.

I've asked the same question in the MS forum and I've seen related threads, but I couldn't find a clear answer. I also submitted a Feedback message in the People app.

Thanks!

 

[JaiMento]

Are you using the Windows 8/8.1 built in mail app? If so, then yes. When you click on email from the contact within the People app, it should launch an email draft within the mail app. Up top, click "Change", then click "More". Beneath your name will appear an arrow revealing a drop down menu with a list of all of your email accounts.

Hopefully this answers what you were asking. I was a bit lost with the wording you used.

 

[Eric J F]

Thanks, Jai, but it doesn't work the way I want it to.

Your suggestion would work if I added those other accounts to my Mail app, but I don't want my Mail app Inbox to fill up with the other accounts' messages.

Sorry if I wasn't clear:

My wife and I want to share our contacts, calendar, WLM (RoadRunner) email, and SkyDrive and OneNote files, but each have another separate email account (mine is outlook.com, hers is Yahoo). I'd like to keep each mailbox- outlook.com, WLM, and Yahoo- separate but only share contacts between them. If I add the RoadRunner and Yahoo accounts to my Windows 8.1 Mail app, then my Inbox will get filled up with all the other accounts. Windows Phone 8 does what I want to do in Windows 8.1 It adds a separate app for each account's email and I can choose which to use for my People contacts.

I've exported and edited our People app contacts and imported them into each WLM and Yahoo, but then I have to update contact information in all three places, which is what I want to avoid.

Thanks again for trying!

 

[dznk]

Can you just clarify a couple of things please. I think I know what you are trying to do, but I'm not exactly sure how you want it to be done

First of all, if you are wanting to send a message to a contact, but need to choose a specific email address from which to send it by, then what JaiMento said above is what you need to do. For this to work though, as you said, you need to have the different email accounts setup in the Mail app. If you don't, then Windows simply doesn't know your other mail accounts details, so it cannot send an email from those accounts using the Mail app. You can't have the Mail app send email from different accounts AND have the Mail app not sync those different accounts mail folders like Inbox etc. With each different mail account, the Mail App either deals with all of the folders such as Inbox and Sent etc, or nothing. As far as I know, you can't just send email from a number of different accounts but not receive mail from them.

Am I correct that you want the Mail app to basically send emails from different accounts, but not receive emails (e.g the Inbox)?
Or, did you want an individual Mail app for each account?

Either way though, I don't believe you can really do it in these scenarios. You can pin different mail accounts to the start screen, but it still opens a single instance of Mail app, with all of your accounts listed in the bottom left corner. Is this a problem though, as the Inboxes aren't mixed together, as you manage each account on their own by clicking the accounts name in the corner. The Inboxes for each account are separated.

Also, with sharing one main contacts list, I don't think you are going to be able to sync your Outlook contacts and Yahoo contacts, as I don't believe Windows can sync Yahoo contacts. You'd have to manage this manually by the looks of things. If they were both Outlook accounts I don't think you'd have a problem as the People app can show contacts from more than one Outlook/Hotmail account, but reading them from a Yahoo account, is no longer possible I think (I haven't got a Yahoo account, so can't test it, but I believe this is the case).

Hope this makes a bit of sense, it can get a little tricky syncing and managing different accounts, especially when the accounts belong to different providers.

 

[Eric J F]

It looks like you understand what I want to do.

Windows Phone 8 lets me do this: I add accounts (MS, RoadRunner, Yahoo) in Setup and I can choose which account to use when I click on my People contact. It's sent out by that account and all that account's inbound mail goes to that app's inbox instead of the Mail app. This way we can share everything but still have separate inboxes.

Thanks for the input.

 

[dznk]

Ok, thanks for the clarification. So it does appear that the best way to do this on Windows 8.1, would be to have all the accounts setup within Windows but there will only be one Mail App. This one Mail app will manage all of the mail and you will need to tap on the different accounts in the bottom left to show that mail accounts Inbox for example. You would still be able to just choose a contact from within the People app, but like JaiMento mentioned above, it will open the Mail app and you would need to then change the account from which you are sending it by. There is an easier way of sending an email though from your contacts in Windows 8.1. When you are in the Mail app, tap on the mail account in the bottom left that you want to use and then you tap on New to compose a new email. In the To box, just type that persons name and it will search the People contacts from within the app. This saves opening the People app and then manually changing the account from which you want to send the email by.

 

[Eric J F]

Thanks again.

This nearly does what I want it to do but the two main drawbacks are that RoadRunner is POP mail (so it doesn't integrate), and all Yahoo and MS mail go to the same app, even though there are separate Inbox views. In Windows Phone 8 I can add all three email accounts outside of the MS Mail app so they each go to their separate apps, and it creates a POP mail app. I can therefore choose which account to send by, without going through the mail app. I'll bet the difference is based on the fact that phones are separate devices and not shared like a PC.

Anyway, at this point I think it's just easier to keep the accounts separate and we each click on the different account apps. It'll be my job to update the Yahoo and RoadRunner address books as needed.

I do appreciate your input.

 

[dznk]

No problem at all. Yes, that does sound like the best way to do it then for the accounts you have

 

[JaiMento]

Have you tried adding your other emails as "Send-Only" accounts for your Outlook.com email address?

-Login to your account at www.outlook.com
-In the top right corner, click on the gear icon to reveal a drop down menu
-Select "More mail settings"
-Select "Your email accounts"
-Select "Add a send-only account"

Maybe if you have your other email addresses are set as send-only accounts for your Outlook.com email, you'll be able to send from them within the Mail app without having to set them up in the mail app and receive email from them.

 

[Eric J F]

Thanks again, Jai.

I set it up but it really doesn't make it any easier than just using the separate accounts as needed, and unlike Windows Phone clicking on the contact doesn't ask which account to send it from.

The Windows Phone process is so easy I got spoiled and was hoping for the impossible.