ITI E-Commerce
Back

Fundamentals of E-mail


Lesson 7
 

Electronic Mail

Electronic mail, known as e-mail, is one of the most useful features of the internet. E-mail is a way of electronically sending messages to anyone in the world that has an e-mail address. Although e-mail isn't instantaneous, it is very quick. Sometimes it might only take a matter of seconds for an e-mail message to be received. When you compare this to mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service (even next day service) you can understand why people who have been using e-mail for years refer to traditional letters as "snail mail."

Getting An Address From Your ISP

Almost all Internet Service Providers (ISP's) will provide you with an e-mail address (or several addresses) as part of the package of services they provide. Typically, they will also provide you with one of the popular e-mail programs. When you get e-mail through your ISP, all of your messages are sent to a mailbox that is stored on your ISP's computers. The software application that you use on your PC will fetch the messages and let you read and respond to them.  ITI Link has some of the best services available from an ISP.

 

What’s in an Address?

There are two parts of your address. The first part (called your username) identifies you as an individual, and it is not uncommon to use your name or some variation of it. The second part (called the domain name) identifies the group of people that get their e-mail through the same provider. If you get e-mail through your job, the domain name is often the name of your employer with an extra suffix or two. If you get your e-mail through your ISP, your domain will be the name of the ISP followed by .com. The two parts are separated by the @ symbol which is known as "At." Suppose George Washington signed up with an ISP named "Provider." His address might be gwashington@provider.com. If you were speaking to George Washington and he told you his address, he would say, "E-mail me at gwashington AT provider DOT com."

Web-Based E-mail

Not everyone gets their email through their ISP. The alternative is to use one of the free e-mail services on the web. Hotmail and Yahoo! are two of the more popular places to get a free e-mail account.

 

I Thought Yahoo! Was a Search Engine

That’s right, Yahoo! is a search engine… and a whole lot more. It's also a place to get news, information, yellow and white pages, and free e-mail.

The main benefit of web-based mail is that you can check your mail from anywhere in the world with any computer that has internet access. Fortunately, with ITI Link you can have web-based email!!  Even if you don't own a computer, you can still have an email address. In fact, some people access the internet through their public library. One benefit of using a web-based email is that you can have a permanent address. Even if you change your ISP you can still maintain a permanent address on one of the web sites.

E-mail programs

There are dozens of email programs that can help you retrieve and send messages. Netscape comes with a program called Messenger; Microsoft's Outlook Express is included with Internet Explorer; and Eudora Light may have been included with the startup disk provided by your ISP. These three programs are very similar and, unless you are using web-based email, it's likely that you will be using one of them. In the next few sections, I'll go over how to use Outlook Express. If you are using one of the other programs, don't worry. Even the icons are nearly identical. You'll have no problems following along.

 

What If I'm Using Web-Based E-Mail?

There are a couple of things that you need to do if you use web-based e-mail before you begin.

  • Connect to the internet
  • Go to your e-mail provider's web page
  • Log into the site (The first time you visit, you will need to set up an account. Follow the instructions and keep track of your username and password.).

Although the web page will look different from the e-mail programs that you will see in the next sections, the ideas are exactly the same. E-mail is pretty simple. You won't have any problems.

It’s also becoming easier to retrieve web-based e-mail with an e-mail program if you want to do it that way. However, you may want some help getting it set up.

Sending E-mail

When you create new e-mail messages, it's not necessary to be connected to the internet (unless you are using web-based e-mail.).

How to do it

  • Start Outlook Express (or your e-mail program) by clicking the icon on your taskbar or double-clicking the icon on your desktop.
  • Click the NEW MAIL button
  • Fill in the To: box with the exact address of the person you want to receive the message.
  • If you want to send the message to more than one person, press the ENTER key on your keyboard and type in the exact address of the second person. You can repeat this step as often as you need to (Optional).
  • Press the TAB key to move to the Cc: line.
  • Enter the exact address of any people that you wish to send a copy of the message to in this line. (Optional)
  • Press the ENTER key to add additional people on the Cc: line. You can repeat this step as often as you need to (Optional).
  • Press the TAB key on your keyboard to move to the Subject box.
  • Type a brief description of the message.
  • Use the TAB key on your keyboard to move to the large empty box.
  • Type the body of your message in the large box.
  • Press the SEND button.

If you are connected to the internet, your message will be sent immediately. If not, the message will be sent you to your OUTBOX folder. What happens next depends on how your program is set up.

Either the program will try to connect to the internet immediately to send your message, or the program will wait for you to tell it to connect to the internet. How this is set up is a matter of personal preference. You may wish to write a dozen e-mail messages while offline. Then you can send them all at once. If you are paying for your internet service by the hour, or if you don't want to tie up your phone line, it's best to do most of your reading and writing of messages offline.

Sending A Batch Of Messages That Were Written Offline

How to do it

  • Connect to the internet
  • Click the SEND/RECEIVE button. Not only will your message get sent, the program will also retrieve any messages that have been sent to you since the last time you connected.

 

Receiving and Reading Mail

E-mail messages aren't delivered directly to your computer. They are delivered to a mailbox that your ISP keeps for you. Just as some people have to go to the post office and to get their mail, your computer has to go to another computer to fetch your e-mail. There are ways to automate the process, but for now, it’s easier to show you how to do it manually. Of course, doing it manually doesn’t take many steps. Your mail is just one click away. In fact, it’s the same button in the previous diagram that you pressed to send a batch of messages.

How to do it

  • Start Outlook Express (or your e-mail program) by clicking on the icon on your taskbar or double-clicking on the icon on your desktop.
  • Connect to the internet
  • Click the SEND AND RECEIVE button. If you had any messages in your outbox, they will be sent at the same time you retrieve your mail.
  • Depending on how your program is set up, you may be asked to enter your e-mail password. If you get your mail from your ISP, this password might be identical to the password that you use to connect to the internet. Be sure to keep track of all your passwords!
  • The following box will appear on your screen to inform you of the progress. In this diagram, I am retrieving 102 messages and, so far, Outlook Express has retrieved 74 of them.

  • Click the Inbox folder in the left frame
  • Click one of the message descriptions that show up in the upper right frame. The message will appear in the lower right frame. If you double-click the message description, the entire message will open up in a new window.

When you're done reading the message, you can delete, reply, forward, or print the message. We'll talk about these options next.

Deleting E-mail

The hardest part about deleting e-mail is deciding that it's a good idea. Keep your mail long enough to reply to it and refer back to it if necessary. Of course, once you start receiving junk e-mail, you’ll be happy you know how to delete it.

How to do it

  • Highlight the message description that you want to delete. If you have just finished reading the message, then it is already highlighted.
  • Click the DELETE button

 

Permanently Deleting Deleted Items

Deleted items aren’t really gone. They are actually stored in a folder called Deleted Items. It’s very safe to delete messages because you can go back read deleted items, forward them, or reply to them.

Periodically, you should get rid of your deleted messages -- permanently. How often you do that is entirely up to you. I know some people who have NEVER gotten rid of their deleted e-mail. Others like to tidy up on a daily basis. Somewhere between these two extremes will probably be right for you.

How to do it

  • Right click the DELETED ITEMS folder.
  • Move the pointer onto Empty ‘Deleted Items’ Folder
  • Click


Since this process will get rid of your deleted items permanently, your computer will double-check to make sure this is really what you want to do. Be brave. Click YES.

 

Replying to E-mail

Replying to e-mail is even easier than sending it. As with all the other e-mail features, it is takes only one click. The following steps assume that you have already opened an e-mail message, read it, and now want to respond.

How to do it

  • Click the REPLY Button.

  • You will get a box that looks just like the New Message box, except it will have a lot of the details already filled in for you.
  • Type your message in the space provided.
  • Click SEND.

 

Beware of REPLY TO ALL

REPLY TO ALL is useful for sending a response to everybody on the distribution list for the original message. Suppose, for example, a friend sends you and three other friends a message asking if Saturday is a good time to get together. If you can’t make it, you might want to REPLY TO ALL and suggest Sunday instead. Your message will go to all of the original recipients on the list.

On the other hand, if you want to send a message to the original sender suggesting that one of the guests is not one of your favorite people, you should use the REPLY button. That way, your response will only be sent to the original sender.

This type of thing does happen, and it can be extremely embarrassing.

Forwarding

Forwarding an e-mail message is sending the e-mail to someone else who needs to see the message. The following steps assume that you have already opened an e-mail message, read it, and now want to forward it to someone else. If you use Eudora, you will be REDIRECTING mail.

How to do it

  • Click the FORWARD Button.

  • You will get a box that looks just like the New Message box, except it will have a lot of the details already filled in for you.
  • Type your message in the space provided (Optional).
  • Click SEND.

 

Email Etiquette

Forwarding Faux Pas

As soon as you get an e-mail address, someone you know is going to put you on his or her joke list. They are going to forward every funny thing that comes across their desk. Funny to them, anyway. It seems harmless enough, but people don’t always want to be inundated with trivial e-mail. Granted, it’s hard not to send something humorous that you find on the web. If it’s that good, share it with a friend. But think twice before you do so. Ask yourself if the recipient is really going to want to see the information or the joke that you send along.

Chain Letters And Hoaxes

They aren’t unique to the internet, but they certainly seem to have proliferated there. Most messages about viruses attached to e-mail messages, stolen cookie recipes, last wishes of a dying boy, etc. are just a variation on the old chain letter. Be wary of any e-mail that exhorts you to forward it to as many people as possible. If you are in doubt, forward it to one person that you know is an old hand on the internet and ask them if it’s a hoax. They’ll probably know.

STOP YELLING AT ME

When you type in all capital letters, IT APPEARS THAT YOU ARE YELLING. If you want to yell, then USE IT. If not, use mixed case.

Smileys :-)

If you look at the characters above and tilt your head to the left, it looks like a smiley face. There are a variety of these that help show a little flair in an email message. Since these symbols can show some emotion behind the writing, they are sometimes called emoticons. Here are just a few.

Anger, sadness

:-(

Happy with a mustache

:-{ )

Big Smile

:-D

 

 Sending and Receiving Attachments

An attachment can be any computer file that you send along with an e-mail message. In the example below, imagine that Thomas Jefferson has made some editing changes to George Washington’s inauguration speech. It’s too lengthy to send as part of an email message. Instead, he’s made his corrections in a word processing program and is sending the file as an attachment. Keep in mind; before you attach a file to an e-mail message, the file must already exist. In other words, Thomas Jefferson has already edited the speech on his own computer. Now that it's done, he is returning it to George.

How to do it

  • Create a new message.
  • Fill in the To: box
  • Fill in the Subject: box
  • Write the text of your message.
  • Click the ATTACH button (Almost every program uses the paper clip symbol)
  • The Insert Attachment box will appear. Click on the file that you wish to attach to the message.
  • Click the ATTACH button

When you are done, there will be some indication that a message is attached. In Outlook Express, it shows up below the Subject: line.


Reading Attachments

If someone sends you email with an attachment you will be told somewhere in the message. Also, if you see a paper clip on the message, then you have an attachment. Various software programs handle this differently. When you have an attachment, look for the name of the file. It could be in the heading of the message, or it could be in the body of the message. When you find it, double-click the name of the attachment. Your computer will figure out what software application is needed to look at the attachment and will automatically start running that application.

For example, if George Washington double clicks on the attachment in the message that Thomas Jefferson sent him, Microsoft Word will start running and he can view the text of the speech.

Spam

Spam is another name for junk mail. It is a growing problem on the web. It’s no different from sorting through the junk mail that comes to your door. But somehow on the internet it seems more plentiful. It can range from harmless to the annoying. Get rich quick schemes abound on the internet. Much of this unsolicited e-mail is fraudulent. Many of them offer to take you off their mailing lists if you respond back to a certain address. Don't bother. It won't work. Usually your e-mail provider will have some sort of spam-blocking software. Work with them to cut down on the volume of spam that you receive.