E-mail for Beginners: Part 2

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Tutorial Overview

Topics covered in this tutorial (click link to jump to topic):

Composing and Sending Mail

Click here to see an flash animation of this procedure

1. To begin a new e-mail message, click on the "New Message" or "New Mail" button on the tool bar.
2. Fill in the "To:" field with the e-mail address of the intended recipient, for example, msmith@midcoast.com.au. ALWAYS use lowercase characters. NEVER include spaces. And that funny @ sign is found by holding down the shift key and pressing the "2" key.
3. Click on the subject field - or hit the "Tab" key once to jump down a line at a time. Give your message a meaningful title.
4. If you wish others to also receive the message, enter their e-mail addresses in the "Cc:" or "Bcc:" fields. "Cc" stands for "carbon copy" and any body you copy here will receive a exact duplicate of your message. You can copy a number of people e.g. your coworkers or family members. "BCC" or "blind carbon copy" does the same thing accept the people in the BCC line can not be seen by the people in the "To" and " Cc" lines. In other words, BCC allows you to sneak a copy of your message off to a 3rd party.
5. You can attach other files to your e-mail using the "Attach File" button (often represented as a paper clip). An attached file can be a photograph, a text document, a program or sound file. Drag and drop is also supported for attaching files in some e-mail software packages. You will notice the e-mail header is similar to a header for facsimile message or an intra-office memo.
6. Now click in the main "body" of the message - the large, blank area. You are now ready to write the text that makes up the body of your message.
7. When you have finished typing your e-mail message in Eudora Pro, click on "File", then click on "Save". Your e-mail message has now been saved in the "Outbox" folder.

Or if your are using Outlook Express, just click the "Send" button top, left. Again, your message will drop into the Outbox. Note though that your message does not leave your computer until you connect to the Internet and click the Send and Receive button. Your message only goes immediately if you are on-line (i.e. connected to the Internet) at the time you hit the "Send" button.

If you have an after thought and want to add or change your message, simple go to the Outbox, double click on your message and change the message. When you have finished, save/send your message as before. Saving will automatically overwrite your previous message.

If you aren't connected to your ISP, then saved e-mail will wait in the Outbox until you connect to the Internet. Once connected, your "queued" mail will be sent.

All e-mail that is sent can be viewed in the "Outbox" folder in Eudora or in the "Sent Items" folder for Outlook Express.

Receive a message

A summary of the mail you have received can be viewed in the "Inbox" folder. To open the Inbox in Eudora, either double click on the Inbox folder or go to "Mailbox", then "In". To open the Inbox in Outlook Express, simply click once on the Inbox folder.

The Inbox window displays the details of each new e-mail in a single line. This line item is called a "message header". In order it shows, the unread icon (a bullet on an unopened envelop), the mail priority, the author, the date, the size in kilobytes, and the subject.

To view individual mail, simply double click on the line describing the mail to be viewed. In Outlook you can "preview" each message by single clicking on the message header. This will display the message in the bottom "frame" of your screen. All the frame borders, horizontal and vertical are re-sizable in Outlook Express. Simple bring your mouse over the border and it will change to a double-headed black arrow. Click and hold to drag the border up or down, or left or right.

Replying, Forwarding and Re-directing

In some cases you will want to reply to, forward on or redirect mail. With an e-mail open and in the active window, any of these actions can be taken by selecting the appropriate toolbar button. If you mouse over a button, and pause, it will pop up a little help message telling you what that button does.

When you reply to or forward mail, a new window is opened and the text of the original mail is copied into the new message area. This original mail text is distinguished by leading every line with a '>' or a "|" sign. Notice that the subject line has had the characters "Re:" automatically put there when you hit the "Reply" button, or "Fw:" for when you hit the "Forward" button.

If you are forwarding mail, you must enter a new e-mail address. If you are replying to mail, this is automatically set to the address of the original author. You simply enter your reply and hit the "Send" button. If you wish to reply to all those that received a "Cc" of the original message (a Reply All), then hold down the shift key when selecting "Reply" button.

Redirecting mail is like redirecting an unopened postal envelope. The only difference the final recipient will notice is in the "From:" field which will contain both the original author's name and a 'by way of' reference to yourself.

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24-May-2008
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