When I go to write a new email it 'saves to drafts' after 1 minute of typing it.  I'm leary of sending any emails because at one point not long ago somehow an alternate address for my account was created from something that had a carbon copy sent to update @careerbuilder.com.  I have since deleted that and changed my password but I still have the draft problem.  Also my draft icon on the main page says its empty but when I click on it it has emails stored there.  Any suggestions???

@madascanbe:

Microsoft has recently implemented a new Hotmail release (called Wave4 M1) and it has a new feature that automatically saves messages being composed. The messages are saved in the Drafts folder (every three minutes while you are composing the message).

Unfortunately, Microsoft did not communicate very well about the existance of this new release and its features. There was a post about it .... here's a link:

http://windowslivehelp.com/solutions/supportmgr/archive/2009/08/28/Wave4-M1-Changes.aspx

... but unless you happened to see that post, you would not have known about the new release and its new features.

Note that with respect to the "auto save to drafts" feature, there is no option to enable/disable it (it is always enabled) and there is no option to change the 3 minute frequency. Apparently, Microsoft feels that they know what we want and when we want it, and has not bothered to implement any options that would allow users to control the feature.

There is a script available that will allow you to redefine the default interval that Hotmail uses to automatically save messages to the Drafts folder. You can make the interval more than the current value of 3 minutes (use a large value to effectively disable the feature), or less than 3 minutes (use a small value to save more frequently).

The script requires the Firefox browser and the Firefox extension called Greasemonkey. Here are some links ...

See the following page for links to firefox and greasemonkey:
http://userscripts.org/about/installing

See the following page for the script:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/59313

On the above page, just click the Install button. After installing the script (into Greasefire), you will have to edit the script and insert the value you wish for the save interval (if you need help with that, post here). When editing the script, be sure to read all of the script's notes.

@ Madascanbe,

I guess Langware already covered this. The auto save drafts feature is a new functionality that was added recently to Windows Live Hotmail. Currently, the frequency of saving your composed e-mail in the Drafts folder is set to 3 minutes and can't be turned off at this point. We're looking at adding this functionality in a future release.

madascanbe:

Also my draft icon on the main page says its empty but when I click on it it has emails stored there.

If you're referring to the message counter beside the Drafts folder, this will only appear if you have unread e-mails in this folder.

Btw, I've moved your post to the Reading and Writing Messages forum.

Another very annoying feature is that it removes any attachments. The whole thing is an absurdity.  Many hotmail users are not computer savvy and don't want to be mucking around with scripts.

@Mods:

In the previous post, Baby boomer makes a good case for why an option to disable the Auto Save feature is required. Unfortunately, the Hotmail Product Team continues to ignore customer's requests for this option.

 

The auto-saving of your message shouldn’t interrupt you from composing it. If you attach a file, it wouldn’t be removed no matter how long you type in the compose page. On the other hand, if you decide to save it in your Drafts folder and move away from the compose page, the attachment will not be saved along with your composed e-mail. You just need to re-attach it once you’re ready to send the e-mail.

Anyway, I can see the usefulness of this idea. I’ll submit this to our Product Team as a feature request. Thanks, Baby boomer!

  

 

With respect, the autosaving of your draft DOES stop you from continuing to compose. You have to go into the Drafts folder and then click "continue to compose this message". You receive a warning that the attachment will be removed, and that is what happens. Very annoying if you have attached four or five photos and are composing a chatty message to friends about it.

 

Baby boomer:

With respect, the autosaving of your draft DOES stop you from continuing to compose. You have to go into the Drafts folder and then click "continue to compose this message". You receive a warning that the attachment will be removed, and that is what happens. Very annoying if you have attached four or five photos and are composing a chatty message to friends about it.

It shouldn’t work that way.

Anyway, let me know the following info so I can fully investigate on this:

- What’s your Windows Live Hotmail e-mail address?
- Does the same thing happen when you access your account on a different computer with a different Internet connection?
- Does this issue occur with other Windows Live Hotmail accounts that are being accessed on your computer?

For now, try to optimize your browser and clear your cache by deleting your temporary Internet files to make sure that your browser settings don’t contribute to your issue. To learn how to do this, visit:

https://windowslivehelp.com/solutions/accounts/archive/2009/03/03/How-to-optimize-Internet-Explorer-browser.aspx

 

@Celeste G:

Windows Live Celeste G.:

The auto-saving of your message shouldn’t interrupt you from composing it.

When composing a message, each time the message is auto-saved, the screen "jumps" (which DOES interrupt the person composing the message). This is most likely caused by the notification (at the top of the compose box), that says "Your message was saved in Drafts at HH:MM", being updated.

Try composing a message and see if your screen jumps each time the message is saved. You may have to use a screen resolution of 1024x768 or less .... not all of your customers have large (high resolution) monitors.

MSFT Brandon M posted a message (on Oct 2) about his investigation into the screen jumping issue ... but in the last seven weeks he has not posted the results of his investigation .... yet the screen jumping problem still persists. Here's a link to MSFT Brandon M's post:

http://windowslivehelp.com/community/p/122180/482626.aspx#482626

The point of my post is that auto-saving DOES interrupt the customer, and thus providing an option to disable the auto save feature would be a very useful (if not mandatory) feature.