Getting started with email

Email might seem like a boring means of communication in the digital age but it is still a much-used method, especially at College. You may have a school email account but once you leave to go to college, university or into a job, you will need your own email account for lots of thing. We have put together a short guide to the best free webmail accounts.

Webmail are free email accounts that you can access from any device with an internet connections. There are other types of email accounts out there but webmail is free and easy to access from anywhere.

Tips to remember when setting up an email account:

For most accounts, you will only need to choose a username, password, date of birth and mobile number.
Make sure you use a simple and sensible name; remember you might be using this to contact future employers.
Make a note of your username and password, you might need to login in on a public computer rather than your own device.
Make sure you choose a sensible password that is hard for anyone to hack. Consider replacing letters with numbers or using a mixture of capital and lowercase letters.

Gmail

Powered by Google, this is an obvious choice for those looking for an easy email account, especially if you already have a Google account. If you do not have a Google account you can create one now.

Once you have a Google account you can sign in to Gmail using the same username and password. This will also give you access to an online calendar, YouTube account, Google Drive for sharing documents and Google Hangouts for video calling, so it is way more than just an email account.

Outlook

Outlook is Microsoft’s email account and you can set-up a free account that easily connects with other apps such as Skype, Facebook and PayPal. Outlook is easy to set-up and used by many businesses, meaning you will be getting use to a system you may need to use in your working life.

Yahoo

With customisable backgrounds and 1TB (terabyte) of storage, Yahoo offers a free email account that is ideal for those who share documents on a regular basis. The easy format allows you to find files quickly in your inbox and sent items. Signing up is quick; Yahoo even gives you username suggestions based on your name.

AOL

AOL Mail has been around for a long time but still offers a great free webmail service. Similar to those mentioned above, it offers a quick and simple signup and allows you to access your email from any device with a downloadable app. What makes this webmail account great is the ability to send text and instant messages from your email inbox. It also has unlimited storage for those who don't like to delete their emails on a regular basis.