STEP-BY-STEP

Sending Emails

It's a great way to communicate but all too easy to send out the wrong message. Here's how to make the most of your email program

Sending an email can be a wonderful way to communicate - it's quick, easy and relatively inexpensive. It's also what most of us use the internet for. This Workshop will give you all the tips and information you need to make full use of your email program. It may seem like a simple enough thing to do, but writing email messages requires very different skills to those needed for writing ordinary letters, or conversation. You can inadvertently offend someone, send messages to the wrong recipient, or send a message they can't read or open. Read on for tips on how to avoid these pitfalls - and more besides.

Why not test your first email by sending it to our special address at test@computeractive.co.uk.

STEP1
Start your email program and select the New Mail or New Message (Msg) icon at the top of the screen. A new message dialogue box will typically have an address bar (To:) where you type in your recipient's address. An additional address bar (Cc:) will enable you to send the message to others as well. To enter more than one address in either line, simply separate each address with a comma followed by a space, as we've done here. Then there's the subject line (Subject:), which should describe what the message is about. It's similar to giving your message a title, and should always be catchy and descriptive.
Click to place your cursor in the box under the Subject line, and type in your message. Keep it brief, with short lines and paragraphs, as large blocks of text are hard to read on screen. Finally, don't overuse capital letters - it's the email equivalent to shouting. They also make the message difficult to read, and many people will simply bin an email that's full of capitals, especially if they don't know the sender.

STEP2
With most email packages, you can alter the type size, italicise or embolden the text, and even change the type. However, there's little point in doing so, because what locks like a beautifully laid out message at your end could simply come out like gobbledegook on the recipient's computer, unless they're using the same email program as you are.

STEP3
An email carries the same status as a paper document in the eyes of the law, so don't write anything you might regret. It's impossible to discern the tone of someone's voice through their email, so make sure you write in such a way that your meaning can't be misconstrued.
You may come across smileys, or emoticons, conveying tone. If you type :-) it means you're smiling or joking (turn it on its side and all will become clear). Try typing ;-] for a crafty wink, or :-{ if you're feeling unhappy. However, many people are unfamiliar with smileys, or just find them annoying, so you might want to avoid using them in your messages.

STEP4
You may decide that your message is the most important one in the world. In that case, change its priority. In Microsoft Outlook, just click on the exclamation in the Priority icon at the top of the screen to give it a high priority. The arrow pointing downwards will make it low priority. In Netscape Messenger, go to the Priority location bar and scroll through it until you reach the setting you'd like to give your message.

STEP5
You'd never dream of sending a letter without first checking the spelling and grammar, and you should treat your emails with the same importance. In both Outlook and Messenger, the spell-checker icon, Spelling, will always appear at the top of the dialogue box. Finally before sending, reread the message carefully. Some words may be misspelled in the context of the letter, but are still real words, so the spell check won't pick them up. And imagine your recipient's reaction if you inadvertently omitted the 'r' in shirt.

STEP6
Working offline simply means that your PC isn't attached to the internet. Writing emails while offline will certainly save on the phone bill. When first launched, Outlook Express may display a Dial-up Connection panel - select Work Offline. If you're already online, select Work Offline from the File menu. Write your email message as you would normally, and click Send. Outlook will hold your message in the outbox. When you exit the program, you'll be prompted to send these messages. Alternatively, click on the Send/Recv button to check for new messages and send messages in one hit. Messenger works in a similar way. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu and select Offline in the Category list. Click to place a dot in the circle next to 'Ask me'. Messenger will now I ask if you want to work offline when you start the program. Click OK.

STEP7
The Address Book saves you having to type in an email address each time you send a message. In Outlook Express, you'll see a list of contacts in the bottom left of the main window. To add someone's details to the list, click on the down-pointing arrow next to Contacts and select New. Double-click on someone's name to send them a message. Alternatively, click on the Address Book icon to the left of To: when you're composing a new email. Messenger's Address Book works in a similar way. Click on the Communicator menu and select Address book. Add new contacts here, or highlight an existing one and click on the New Msg button. If you've started composing a new message, click on the Address button. To add the sender of an email message to your address book, select this option from the Message menu (in Messenger) or Tools menu (Outlook Express).

STEP8
A signature is a little tag added to the end of an email message by the program itself each time you generate a new message. What's in the signature is up to you. If you're running a business from home, you might want to include contact details, such as address, fax number and so on. Remember these will go out with every email sent. If you're using Messenger, skip to Step 9. In Outlook, select Options from the Tools menu. On the Signatures tab, click on the New button and type your details in the Edit Signature box. Tick the box next to Add signatures to all outgoing messages. Click OK to finish.

STEP9
In Messenger, you need to save the details that you want to appear in the signature as a text file (any word processor, even WordPad, will do for this). From the Edit menu select Preferences. Click on Mail & Newsgroups, then Identity. Hit the Choose button and locate the file you just created on your hard disk. Click Open, then OK, and you're done.

UP TO DATE?

Older versions of either Netscape Messenger or Microsoft's Outlook Express may not have all the features mentioned here. It's easy to download the latest version. Outlook Express is part of the free web browser Internet Explorer. Go to www.microsoft.com and follow the obvious links. Messenger is part of Communicator, also free and available from www.netscape.com.