# Anybody using AOL's mail client? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110 "2014-12-24T19:15:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/1 "2014-12-24T19:15:36Z")
I have a new job as a personal assistant to an older woman who is pretty cool. One thing, though — she is still using AOL for email. (Before you say it, we’ve had that conversation. It’s what she’s always used, and she won’t switch.) Anyway, trying to help her with her email, the app is pretty strange, and I’m confused. After you view something in the “new emails” folder once, it vanishes. She says it goes to the “recently deleted” folder, but I don’t see them there. They also don’t appear to be going to the “old emails” folder. (unless the “old” folder is oldest-first by default. I didn’t go all the way to the bottom. But that would be counter-intuitive, because the “new” folder is newest-first by default.) Where are the new emails going, once you have looked at them? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/2 "2014-12-24T20:28:32Z")
Isn’t there one marked “inbox”? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/3 "2014-12-24T20:43:11Z")
The web interface at [mail.aol.com](http://mail.aol.com) has “Inbox”. I’m not seeing any “new emails” or “old emails” folders. Exactly what platform is she using? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/4 "2014-12-24T20:50:21Z")
On aol . com, it moves to Old Email after you’ve read it. It goes to recently deleted after you delete it and it sits there for, sometimes, quite a while (unless you go to it and delete it from that box). On the actual client, like if you download the aol software, I think it works similarly. ETA, my newest ‘old’ email is at the top, but just click the date button at the top to make sure it’s sorted by date (click it again if it sorts it the wrong way). ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/5 "2014-12-24T21:02:42Z")
I don’t get why people raise an eyebrow at people still using AOL for email. It’s bizarre. It’s just an email program no different than gmail, yahoo, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/6 "2014-12-25T04:00:45Z")
😕 Your cool new older lady boss seems to think she knows where to find the e-mails in question. Why doesn’t she just show you? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/7 "2014-12-25T04:14:39Z")
I first started on AOL dial-up back in the day. I have kept the free email account to this day. It can serve as a non free email which I have been asked for when subscribing to a few places which won’t take Gmail, Yhoo, MSN etc. email addresses. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/8 "2014-12-25T04:55:48Z")
if you did a search then you would see where it went. once you’ve read it then it’s no longer new. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/9 "2014-12-25T05:24:42Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > The web interface at [mail.aol.com](http://mail.aol.com) has “Inbox”. I’m not seeing any “new emails” or “old emails” folders. Exactly what platform is she using? I don’t know what you’re seeing, but when I go there to check my email, there are “New Mail” and “Old Mail” on the left side of the screen. When I read a message, it gets automatically placed under “Old Mail,” newest at the top. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/10 "2014-12-25T10:44:16Z")
First off, I guess some clarification is required about what this lady actually is using. [https://mail.aol.com](https://mail.aol.com) despite its name is a contemporary, web-based email service under active development. On the other hand, back in the days when Quirinius was governor of Syria, AOL was an Internet access provider and their customers had to use a highly proprietary software which also included a dedicated mail client. I would be very surprised if anybody is still using this old software. Troubleshooting would therefore be extremely difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/11 "2014-12-25T13:01:03Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > First off, I guess some clarification is required about what this lady actually is using. [https://mail.aol.com](https://mail.aol.com) despite its name is a contemporary, web-based email service under active development. > > On the other hand, back in the days when Quirinius was governor of Syria, AOL was an Internet access provider and their customers had to use a highly proprietary software which also included a dedicated mail client. I would be very surprised if anybody is still using this old software. Troubleshooting would therefore be extremely difficult. The software isn’t old. I mean, it’s been around for a while but it gets updated all the time. Both my parents use it despite my pleadings (because it sometimes causes other problems with their computers), but I think they like it because it’s a portal. It’s full of news and other, um, stuff that they must seem to like. My dad has all his bookmarks there and my mom…well even though she knows, she really does, that it’s not ‘the internet’ I think she still sometimes thinks it is. Up until just a year ago or so, if you told her to Google something, she’d load up AOL, then AOL’s internal browser, then go to Google from there (or worse, search for Google). And both my parents are in their 50’s. It’s not that they’re 80 years old and just don’t want to change. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/12 "2014-12-25T13:12:04Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The software isn’t old. I mean, it’s been around for a while but it gets updated all the time. Really? I didn’t know that. I used AOL to access the Internet in the late 90s and vaguely remember that the AOL mail client as well as the news reader were cumbersome to use. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/13 "2014-12-25T13:36:16Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Really? I didn’t know that. I used AOL to access the Internet in the late 90s and vaguely remember that the AOL mail client as well as the news reader were cumbersome to use. It actually still looks very similar, but, like I said, it gets updated all the time. It seems like every time I walk past my dad’s computer (we work together) or my parents computer at their house it needs some kind of update. Also, my dad still uses the AIM client in addition to AOL. It’s been around for a while, but it certainly hasn’t been ignored. Don’t forget, they bought HuffPo a few years back, AOL certainly isn’t falling by the wayside. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-using-aols-mail-client/708110/14 "2014-12-25T17:38:09Z")
And the number of people who are still on dial-up, either by necessity or choice is surprising… Anybody need an AOL disk? Which one? I got you covered… Bawahahaha - I really am not a hoarder, honest… \*