How to Set Up Yahoo Alerts

If you’re expecting an important email in your Yahoo mailbox, you probably want to know the second that it arrives. With Yahoo Alerts, you can be notified when that important email or any other email gets delivered to your inbox. To stay constantly updated on the emails coming in, follow these steps to set up the Yahoo alerts for your account.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Download Yahoo Messenger. You might already have this program on your computer. If you don’t, simply go to Yahoo’s homepage and search for the link there.

2. Sign in to Yahoo Messenger. Do this by double-clicking on the Yahoo Messenger icon or right-click the icon and choose “Open” from the menu. You can also choose the program from the Start menu and click on it. The program will ask for your sign in name and password. After entering this information in the appropriate boxes, click “Sign In.”

3. Click the “Messenger” option at the top of the Yahoo Messenger window. A drop-down menu will appear.

4. Choose “Preferences” from the drop-down menu. Or, if you’d rather, simply press Ctrl+Shift+P on your keyboard for a shortcut. Highlight the “Alerts and Sounds” option from that screen. There will be a number of options to choose when that screen appears.

5. Decide how you want your Yahoo alerts to notify you when a new email comes in. Find the “Alert me by” option and check the box that says “Showing a message at the bottom right corner of screen.” This will create small message at the bottom of your screen when an email arrives. You can also choose the “Displaying a dialog box” option or the “Playing a sound” option, depending on your preferences.

6. Click “Apply” after you’ve chosen all of your alert preferences. This saves your changes so you will be notified each time somebody sends an email to that particular Yahoo account.

Tips & Warnings

• You must be signed in to your Yahoo Messenger account in order for the Yahoo Alerts to work. If you’re not signed in, you won’t be instantly notified of new emails.
• Turning off the alerts involves a similar process. If you don’t want to receive alerts for a period of time, simply “unclick” the alert boxes.
• You can customize your Yahoo Alerts to include more than just emails, including calendar reminders, voicemail messages and the status of those on your Messenger list.