With its first version released in November 2007, Windows Live Mail is the successor of Windows Mail. Its first version number was 12 since it was not an entirely new application. Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail were both developed by the same team of programmers. It is important to not confuse Windows Live Mail with Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Mail, as these are separate and distinct applications. The important new features that set Windows Live Mail apart from all the previous versions are:

• It supports all Web-based email clients such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo!
• It automatically synchronizes with Windows Live Contacts.
• It offers multi-line message lists.
• It supports emoticons and offers spell check.
• It offers a photo email feature to send and receive photos via attachment in the email.