Windows Live Mail – Best RSS Reader For Windows

I’ve been using Sage & then Sage Too on Firefox for my outrageously insane number of feeds that I follow. As the number increased Sage didn’t seem to be adequate and hence my search for a RSS desktop client began. Started using Live Mail for mail & it surprisingly has highly useful RSS capability which makes it a productive tool. One application to manage Mail & RSS. With capabilities like search, flagging & customizable layout options it puts dedicated clients like Newsgator to utter shame. Live Mail is a powerful software which:

1. Manages multiple mail accounts
2. Calendar
3. Contacts Management
4. Feed Reader

A look at Live Mail’s awesome feed reading capabilities, which enhance its usability beyond Mail, Contacts & Calendar, making a truly productive utility. Let’s begin by getting your feeds into Live Mail, there are 2 ways of doing this:

1. Import them from IE
2. Manually add the feed

If you already have a feed reader that you’re using and want to shift then here is what you do:

1. Export your feeds as an .opml or .xml file
2. Start IE & press Alt to get the tool bar
3. File –> Import/Export –> Import –> From file –> Feed & browse to the file.

Once done, start Live Mail & you should see the feeds as unread. You can flag feeds from this window & even sort them accordingly. Screen shot:

You can navigate to the “feeds window” from the navigation links on the bottom left, below which the number of unread feeds & the total number of new feeds is also mentioned. Screen shot:

Here is what the main feed windows looks like, notice the column view is changeable, screen shot:

In this windows, flagging can be done by simply clicking on the grayed flag next to the feed. There are quite a bit of feed sorting options in here which are well thought out. Screen shot:

As I said before, the display layout can be configured & there 4 basic options, which are further customizable. Screen shot:

The “Manage Feed” console is quite useful, one can:

• Add feeds
• Delete feeds
• Sort feeds in folders

Incase you don’t want to delete the feed from IE even if you delete it from Live Mail, the “Manage Feed” wizard allows you do that. Screen shot:

Though I’m not much of a fan but if you were to double click on a feed, it will open in it’s own window, you can browse through your feeds from this per-feed windows as well & even forward them to someone by emailing them. Screen shot:

For a free software that does Mail, Calendar, manages your contacts, such feed reading capabilities is commendable. Enjoy!