AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 Beta is now available
Posted Sep 13th 2010 6:45PM by Larry Aasen
Filed under: AOL Desktop for Mac
We have been making significant changes in AOL Desktop for Mac to the way your mail is handled internally. As a result of these changes, we channeled the work being done for the AOL Desktop for Mac 1.6 beta into a new effort that fully supports this new mail architecture.
We are pleased to announce that AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 beta is here! We want your help as we rely on you, our member and tester, to provide feedback that can be used to improve the quality of our software.
What you need to know before you get started:
- Downloading AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 will indicate you are participating in this test and that you want to be an early Mac adopter for the new mail architecture.
- Previous releases of AOL Desktop for Mac (including 1.6) will not support the new mail architecture. You will not be able to use 1.6 or earlier versions to access your mail and there is no migrating back.
- If you store mail locally ("On My Mac") in AOL Desktop for Mac, please follow these instructions to move your mail to host storage.
In the event you encounter any issues using the new Desktop beta, including any issues affecting your mail experience, please report them. We ask that that you use webmail as your default email client until all issues are resolved.
Do you want to participate without affecting your current account? You can, but you must follow these instructions carefully.
As always, thank you for your support!
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Welcome to the Mac@AOL Blog. My name is Lee Givens and I'm the Product Lead for the Mac and iPhone products at AOL. You can find the latest information on AOL's software development on the Mac and any cool happenings at AOL. The purpose of the blog is to create a feedback loop so we can hear from our loyal AOL Mac users. Managing a blog is a lot of work, so I enlisted support from the whole team...the Mac team is made up of dedicated Macintosh developers, QA engineers and Product folks.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1. Your message about not being able to access previously saved email (again) is alarming. Porting messages to a new version has been wildly unsuccessful in the past. What is the time frame on this? Also, as a dial-up user of AOL as my ISP, how am I to use Webmail without an internet connection? And where, how do Webmail messages get saved? Thanks for the alarming bedtime message. I'll have to think about this when I'm awake and have more time.
Posted at 10:12PM on Sep 13th 2010 by Sandy
2. Concerns of a Dial-Up User with Large Mailbox
AOL is my ISP and I use AOL Desktop for Mac 1.6 beta to connect to the internet with a dial-up connection. Is this service being discontinued? If so, when? And then how am I to use Webmail if I can't connect using 1.6 and I can't get my saved email messages migrated to 1.7? Will 1.7 work with a dial-up connection? When the mail storage architecture was changed from version 1.5 to 1.6 and I followed the special instructions then for migrating my saved email messages, I ended up with "maildb_13_corrupt.sql" files and my saved messages were lost. Is this going to happen again? Currently my maildb_13.sql is 2.9 MB. I still have copies of my Filing Cabinets from version 1.5 (from < 1 MB to 42 MB). Will these work again with 1.7? Can I merge the messages saved since then under 1.6? In moving from 1.5 to 1.6, we lost the ability to work off-line. Will this capability be restored with 1.7? Will 1.7 be optimized for slow, dial-up usage?
Posted at 9:15AM on Sep 14th 2010 by Sandy
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5. Sandy,
1.7 does seem to work with Dial-up though I have had some intermittent log in problems. 1.7mail is much better than 1.6 for dial-up users. You can work around any 1.7 log in problems by using AOL Connect and 1.7 on Broadband.
I have been unable to migrate my AOL for the Mac mail to 1.7.
Ron
Posted at 12:52PM on Sep 18th 2010 by Ron
6. The upgrade to 1,7 was smoother than expected and works fine with a dial-up connection. I pared down to a bare minimum the email messages to be ported and will keep my mailbox slim. I think this is best for slow connections. I'm having to edit my Address Book in stages because of the slowness. Similarly, the slowness of uploading messages composed off-line and saved in the Drafts box makes for somewhat strange behavior.
Posted at 7:48PM on Sep 19th 2010 by Sandy
7. One of the things I really miss from earlier versions of AOL mail for Macintosh was the ability to Insert a Hyperlink into an email message. It was under the Edit menu and the hyperlink inserted was a live link. At present I can only paste inert URLs into messages, so the recipient has to copy it and paste it into their own browser in order to use it.
Posted at 3:31PM on Sep 26th 2010 by Sandy
8. 1. Your instructions for moving mail online from desktop folders say "right click". As a Mac user, I don't have a mouse with a right click. Please provide an alternative, or correct this apparent error.
2. I have been using the 1.6 version. I can't recall how to create or delete folders, either on my Mac or online. Please provide instructions.
Posted at 2:44PM on Sep 29th 2010 by waltonjf
9. I agree with Sandy.... I just bought a MAC and have been very disappointed with the switch regarding aol. The easy way of clicking on the heart and adding the web address with a link into my email, or saving it in my favorite, etc: I really miss. I still have my pc and switch to it when I want to make my emails simple. Why have you taken all the great features of aol and omitted them from the Mac version?? I have been a aol member for over 20 yrs. and I'm very disappointed with my aol on my MAC????
Posted at 7:28PM on Sep 30th 2010 by caramiamaria
10. I am currently in the middle of some projects in which I am coordinating with others. Can I continue to use aol 1.6 without upgrading until these projects are completed?
I don't understand what you mean when you suggest we use *webmail* until the beta 1.7 is proved. Do you mean to use a browser to go to www.aol.com and log in to aol from there? I couldn't see the instruction video at that point. The session was too short and the video was partly obscured by the blue overlay from the media player.
I would really like to use the mail Mac application. Would that be okay to use?
Thanks
Posted at 3:18PM on Oct 7th 2010 by Sally
11. Walton, if you don't have a multi-button mouse, you can hold the Control key while clicking on a link. This will bring up the Contextual menus and you can make your next choice from there.
Posted at 9:15PM on Oct 17th 2010 by MacGui
12. AOL has long given Mac users the short shrift. AOL got its start on Macs but left for the PC side. Since then updates for Mac users have been far less frequent and feature rich.
I had to receive an email with a confirmation link to post my comment. Even though I get HTML email, the link was *not* a hyperlink, so I had to cut and paste. To sign in and then change screen names is more steps now than older versions of AOL. AOL Desktop is not much in the way of progress. And AOL's Spam button seems to be out of order.
Posted at 9:17PM on Oct 17th 2010 by MacGui
13. This evening when I logged onto AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 Beta 1, I got a window saying an update was available. Clicking the More Info button loaded the http://macblog.aol.com/ page. Thinking to do this later, I closed the window. This caused me to lose my connection. Everytime I reopened AOL Desktop for Mac 1.7 Beta 1, that window opened and I got Error: The request timed out. loading http://macblog.aol.com/ Only it didn't load. I had to Sign In to get back online. When I used Safari to go to http://macblog.aol.com/ there was no mention of this update. Even when I clicked Check for updates... in the AOL Desktop Beta menu, it said Version 1.7.712 (712) was the latest version. Is there an update or not? If so, the process is incomplete. Is this anything to do with having a Dial-Up connection?
Posted at 10:04PM on Oct 18th 2010 by Sandy
14. Using a workaround and lots of persistence, I was able to download the AOLDesktopBeta-1.7.716.dmg file to my Downloads folder. Launching AOL Desktop again brought up this announcement window.
Clicking the Quit button quits the application. Clicking the More Info button logs me on, but only directly to the server, evidently, and not to my email account or access to the Internet. Eventually I get the error message.
Clicking OK removes the error message and leaves a blank window with the same error message at the bottom. Then I am finally allowed to Sign In to my account, as long as I don't try to close the empty window. Closing it again quits the application. This is all highly annoying and extremely inefficient. Once connected to my account, I was able to access the AOL Beta Download page with Safari and download the AOLDesktopBeta-1.7.716.dmg file. To slow connection Dial-Up users a 12.4 MB file is not small. Midway through the 1 hour-plus download, the Software Update Notification message again splashed onto my AOL window. Fortunately, I noticed that my connection was still intact and the download was still proceeding. Thus I was able to ignore it and complete the download. If I had done anything else I would have lost the connection and would have had to start all over again. I think I'll rest before attempting to install the Update!
Posted at 10:29AM on Oct 19th 2010 by Sandy
15. The actual installation of the upgrade was fast and easy. I'm happy to be rid of the annoying announcement blockade to connecting to my account. Otherwise, I don't see much of a change yet.
Posted at 1:41PM on Oct 19th 2010 by Sandy
16. Sadly it is not possible to transfer my old account to the new account. It is not possible to follow the instructions to move mail to the folder requested because it does not exist. It is also not possible to create a new folder because all choices are grayed out.
Posted at 5:21PM on Oct 20th 2010 by drilbert
17. Saddly aol does not work well with a Mac. I have been using AOL as my main e-mail provider for about 18 years. It appears I will have to switch to another provider. I will not go back to a PC again, in fact, I am switching everyone in my company to Mac. I tried the 1.7 version but it simply does not work at all. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better e-mail provider for Mac?
Posted at 5:22PM on Oct 20th 2010 by drilbert
18. Why in the !@#$% is there no moderator to respond to these forum questions? These are important concerns. Lee Givens used to at least try to be helpful. All AOL for Mac cares about is AIM. Fix the AOL Mail!! What causes that exclamation point to show up next to New Mail sometimes, when the mailbox freezes up?
Posted at 7:10PM on Oct 20th 2010 by jazznoir
19. My guess is the exclamation point next to the New Mail line means that one is either not connected to the mail server or the mail server is not responding or unavailable. In the upgraded version the exclamation point has been changed to a minus sign, and the mail server does seem more responsive.
Posted at 9:15AM on Oct 23rd 2010 by Sandy
20. Maybe it's because of the slow, Dial-Up connection, but I find it most annoying that I have to Send new email messages or replies 2 or even 3 times before the Outbox responds and sends my message.
Posted at 2:48PM on Oct 25th 2010 by Sandy