INTRODUCTION
TO EMAIL
Introduction to E-Mail
What is E-Mail?
Email is the way of sending and receiving messages over the Internet. It is cheaper and faster than the traditional postal system.
How Does Email Work?
When you send an Email, that Email is received by the ISP (Internet
Service Provider) of the person to whom you sent the Email, and when that person runs his Email program and checks for Email Messages, the Email will be downloaded (transferred) onto his computer.
Using Microsoft Outlook Express
Microsoft Outlook Express is one of the programs that you can use to read or send you Email Messages.
The Microsoft Outlook Screen
The Outlook screen looks different depending on which part of Outlook you are in. The diagram below shows the Outlook 2000 Inbox screen.
The Outlook Express Screen
The main components of Outlook are the following;
Inbox The <Inbox> stores the Emails that you receive.
Outbox The <Outbox> stores the Emails that you wrote but which are waiting to be sent.
Sent Items The <Sent Items> stores the Emails that have actually been sent.
Deleted Items The <Deleted Items> stores those Emails that you deleted and works in a very similar way to the Recycle Bin in Windows.
Changing the Layout of the Outlook Express Screen
It is possible to change the way that Outlook Express looks on the screen.
You can show or hide parts of the Outlook Express screen. You can customise the Toolbars.
Outlook Express Toolbar
The Outlook Express Toolbar gives you a quick access to some of the Menu commands in Outlook Express. You can customise the Outlook Express Toolbar by using the <View> from the menu, then choose
<Layout> from the drop down menu and finally choose <Customise Toolbar> from the window that opens on the screen.
1. Click on the <View> option in the Menu 2. Choose <Layout> from the Drop Down Menu
3. Click on <Customise Toolbar> from the Window that opens The Messages can be sorted in different ways, namely;
Priority Whether they were top priority, medium or low Attachment Whether they had an attachment or not
Flag Whether they were flagged or not From Alphabetical order by name of sender Subject Alphabetical order by subject name Received Date order by date when received
The read or ignored messages can be hidden, or else you can can show all messages.
The above can be performed by choosing the <View> option from the Main Menu in Outlook Express.
Creating a Message
To create a New Message you click with the mouse on the <New Mail>
option on the Toolbar. A form will appear on the screen named New Message. Type the address of the person to whom you want to send the Message to in the To: box. It is usually a good idea to type the title of the message in the Subject box.
You can then start typing the Message in the Message area, under the Subject Box.
New Message Window
1. Click the Mouse on <New Mail> option on the Toolbar 2. A Form called New Message will appear
3. Click the Mouse in the <To:> Box
4. In the <To:> Box type the Email address of the person to whom you want to send the Message
5. Click the Mouse in the <Subject:> Box
6. Type in the Title of the Message in the <Subject:> Box 7. Click the Mouse in the Message Area
8. Type in the Message in the Message Area
Inserting Mail Addresses in To:, Cc:, and Bcc: Fields
If you want to send the Message to various persons at the same time, you can type the addresses of the other persons in the Cc: box (Carbon Copy).
When the Message will be received by the people to whom you sent it, it will show all the addresses that were typed, whether in the To: box or the Cc: box.
When you are entering more than one address in the To: box or the Cc: box, you have to separate the addresses by using a semi-colon (;) and space as can be seen in the example below;
[email protected]; [email protected]
It is important to remember that when you type more than one address in To:
or Cc:, when the persons receive the Message they will be able to see the whole list of people who rece ived that Message and their email addresses.
As this is sometimes undesirable, then we have to use Bcc: instead of the Cc:.
The Bcc: is the Blind Carbon Copy which sends Emails to a list of persons as already described above but with the important difference that the people receiving the Message will not be able to see the list and addresses of the other people who received the Message.
This option is used a lot when sending out Emails with commercial
information to a list of clients, and where you do not want anybody to know who your clients are.
Inserting the Title in the Subject Box
Whenever you send an Email Message, it is important that you include the Title in the Subject box before you send the Message. The Title or subject indicates to the person receiving it, the contents of that Message and thus he will be in a position to decide whether he wants to read that Message or not or maybe whether he wants to read the Message later.
Using the Text Editing Features
When typing in a Message, you will have most of the text editing features that you will normally find in a Word Processor. You can choose a different Font, different Font sizes, Bold, Italics, Underline, Font Colour, Numbering, Bullets, Justification, Drawing and Picture manipulation.
Sending a Message
When the Message is ready then you click on the <Send> Button.
However, if you are not online or over a network the Message will go to the <Outbox>. If you are online on the Internet the Message will be sent directly.
If the Message went to the <Outbox> and was not sent directly, it will wait there until you connect onto the Internet. Once you connect on the Internet you can click on <Send and Receive> Button. Alternatively if Outlook
Express is configured to <Send and Receive> automatically, then all pending mail in the <Outbox> will be sent out as soon as you connect on the Internet.
Receiving a Message
If Outlook Express is configured to check automatically for new Messages, then you have to do nothing and the Emails will all be viewable in the
Inbox.
On the other hand, if you do not have the automatic settings on, you have to click the mouse on the <Send and Receive> Button, so that the computer will go and check if you have any waiting Email at your ISP. If you have Email waiting, then those messages are downloaded into your computer for viewing and printing.
Forwarding a Message
When you receive a Message and you wish to forward that Message to somebody else, then you have to do the following procedure;
1. Click on the Inbox
2. Select the Message that you wish to forward
3. Click <Forward> (A New Message Box will appear)
4. Type the address of the person you wish to forward the Message to 5. Enter any text in the Message area
6. Send the Message as normal
Replying to a Message
If you want to reply to a particular Message, then you have to do the following steps;
1. Select the Message you want to Reply to 2. Click the <Reply> Button
3. New Message window will appear
4. The address in the To: box will be already filled in 5. Original text of the Message will appear
6. Type in your Message 7. Send the Message as normal
When you reply to a Message using the above method, the Message that you send back will include a copy of the original Message that you had received.
Deleting Text
You may need to delete some of the text or the whole Message that you had received before replying to that Message or even when you are forwarding a Message.
To do so, you need to perform the following two steps;
1. Select the text that you wish to delete 2. Press the <Delete> button on the keyboard
Replying to All the Recipients
If the Message that was sent to you, was sent to a group of people, then you can reply to the whole group and not just to the person who sent it to you only.
In order to reply to all recipients, you have to do the following;
1. Select the Message to reply to 2. Click the <Reply to All> button 3. New Message window will appear 4. Enter the address in the <To:>
5. Type in your new Message
Organising Emails
When you have a number of Emails that you received, you might want to organise them in a proper manner, whereby instead of leaving them all in the <Inbox>
folder, you might want to transfer them into other folders which you created and named yourself (for more
information see page ).
Switching Between Folders
To switch from one Folder to another is quite easy and can be done in two ways;
A) If the Folder list is displayed
1. Click on the <Folder> you require from the list
2. Contents are displayed on the right hand side window
B) If the Folder is not displayed
1. Double Click on Local <Folders> (on the left hand side window) 2. Folders list will be displayed
3. Click on the Folder that you require from the list 4. Contents are displayed on the right hand side window
Creating Message Folders
To create your own Folders you have to follow the steps listed below;
1. Click <File>
2. Click <New>
3. Choose <Folder>
4. Type in the Name of the Folder you want to create 5. Click <OK>
Creating a New Folder
Once you do the steps just mentioned you will find that the list of Folders is increased by the one that you just created and then you can start to move messages into the new <Folder> or save new ones in it.
Moving Emails
To move Emails from one folder to another is quite easy to do if you follow the steps listed below;
1. Click on the folder which holds the Email you want to move 2. Click on the Email that you want to move
3. Click on <Edit> in the Main Menu 4. Choose <Move to Folder>
5. A window showing the list of Folders will open on screen 6. Click on the <Folder> you want to move the Message to 7. Click <OK>
Deleting Emails
When you have Emails that you no longer want or need, you can delete them by performing the following steps;
1. Click on the Email you want to delete
2. Press <Delete> on the keyboard or on the Toolbar in Outlook Express
The deleted Message will go to deleted items, from where it has to be deleted again to be permanently deleted.
Printing Emails
Printing Emails
When you have an Email Message which you would like to print, you have to following the procedure listed below in order to print successfully;
1. Click on the Message that you want to print
2. Click on the <Print> button in the Outlook Express Toolbar
Or
1. Click on <File> in the Main Menu
2. Choose <Print> from the drop down menu
3. From the window that opens you can choose the pages to print and how many copies etc
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