If a thread in your Sent folder is listed as "Unread," that means it contains at least one message that your conversation partner has not yet read. Once he or she opens the thread, its status will become "Read."

Note that even if the message recipient marks the thread as unread, this will not reset the status displayed to the sender. The "Mark Unread" feature only affects the recipient's inbox.

Go to your Sent folder and find the thread. If it is listed as "Unread," that means it contains at least one message that your conversation partner has not yet read. Once he or she opens the thread, its status will become "Read."

Note that even if the message recipient marks the thread as unread, this will not reset the status displayed to the sender. The "Mark Unread" feature only affects the recipient's inbox.

You save a message by marking it as Flagged. Saved messages are now Flagged Messages in the new Messages system. They are included within your Inbox, but if you want to see Flagged messages only, you can do so within your Flagged folder.

Flagging a message will save that message. It also adds a visual reminder that you want to read or reply to that message later. The red flag allows you to find the message easily. Flagged messages appear in the Inbox, but if you want to see Flagged messages only, you can do so within the Flagged folder.

When we moved to the new Messages system, we copied older messages over, but we are unable to provide the read/unread status of these messages to their senders. All messages sent from now on will display their read/unread status in your Sent folder.

You probably have some old unread messages -- potentially very old messages that you had saved before we moved to the new Messages system. We will be updating these old saved messages to be considered "read."

From now on, however, the New Messages action item will be an accurate count of all unread threads in your Inbox, even if you have an unread thread on page 10 or beyond. Please be sure to check your messages often and actively read and/or delete them.

One possible strategy if you fall behind: Flag the messages you want to keep, then use the "Delete All" tool on the lower left-hand corner of your Inbox to delete all unflagged threads and clean up your Inbox.

It depends.

If the message appears to be spam (for example, if the message includes advertisements for another site or a solicitation for a conversation on a third-party instant messenger), click the "Mark Spam" link at the bottom left-hand corner. This will delete the message and report the sender to myYearbook so that we may take further action.

If the message appears to be from another real user of myYearbook, but you simply do not want to communicate with that user, click the "Block" link at the bottom left-hand corner. This will delete the message and prevent that user from sending you any additional messages.

Finally, if the message appears to be from a real user but includes highly objectionable material, click the Report Abuse icon at the top right corner of the page. Make sure to include as much detail as possible in your report, including the full text of the message you received.

When viewing a message from that friend, click the "All Messages From..." link on the lower right-hand corner of the message. This will bring you to a version of the Inbox that displays only messages from that particular friend.

The white icon () that appears on some photos in your Messages folders indicates which users are your friends. This allows you to quickly scan your Inbox for messages from people who are already your myYearbook friends, if you so choose.

The Trash folder is emptied rather quickly, so make sure that you really want to delete a thread before you move it to the Trash!

Use the "Delete All" tool on the lower left-hand corner of your Inbox to delete all unflagged threads.

To delete all Flagged messages, go into your Flagged folder, then click the same "Delete All" link.

There are a few different ways. You can still send a message by navigating to that friend's profile and using the message box under his or her photo. The blue Messages icons within the Friends section will also do the job, as they did before.

With the new Messages system, you can also go to the Compose page and start typing a friend's name. Once you've typed a few characters, a drop-down menu will appear, containing a list of the friends whose names match what you have typed. Select the friend you want, enter your subject and message, and click Send!