Electronic Mail

 Electronic Mail

 

You can exchange electronic mail (e-mail) with people around the world.

 

Cost

Once you pay a service provider for a connection to the Internet. There is no charge for sending and receiving e-mail. You do not have to pay extra even if you send a long message or the essage travels around the world. Exchanging e-mail can save you money on long distance calls. The next time you are about to pick up the telephone, consider sending an e-mail message instead.

 

Speed

E-mail is much faster than old-fashioned mail, called “snail mail”. An e-mail message can travel around the world in minutes.

 

E-mail Programs

An E-mail program lets you send, receive and manage your e-mail messages.

 

E-mail Addresses

You can send a message to anyone around the world if you know the person’s e-mail Address.

 

An e-mail address defines the location of an individual’s mailbox on the Internet.

 

Parts of an E-mail Address

An e-mail address consists of two parts separated by the @ (“at”) symbol.

 

vThe user name is the name of the person’s account. This can be a real name or a nickname.

vThe domain name is the location of the person’s account on the Internet. Periods (.) separate the various parts of the domain name.

 

Organization of country

 

The last few characters in an e-mail address usually indicate the type of organization or country to which the person belongs.

 

Find E-mail Addresses

 

There is no central listing of e-mail addresses. The best way to find the e-mail addresses of friends or colleagues is to phone them and ask.

 

There are many places on the web that help you search  for e-mail addresses free of charge.

Parts of a Message

 

From:

 

Address of the person sending the message.

 

To:

 

Address of the person receiving the message.

 

Subject:

 

Identifiers the contents of the message. Make sure your subject is informative.

 

CC:

Stands for carbon copy. A carbon copy is an exact copy of a message. You can send a carbon copy of a message to a person who is not directly involved ,but would be interested in the message.

 

Bcc:

Stands for blind copy. This let you send the same message to several people without them knowing that others have also received the same message.

 

Attach Files to Messages

 

You can attach a document , pictures, sound ,video or program to a message you are sending.

 

Compress Attached Files

 

When you want to attach a large file to an e-mail message, you can save time and money by compressing the files. Compressing a file shrinks the file to a smaller size. This allows the file to transfer more quickly over the Internet.

 

You can also use a compression program to combine numerous files into a single file. This means you need to attach each file individually to an e-mail message.

 

The person receiving a compressed file must use a decompression program to expand the file to its original form.

 

SEND MESSAGE

 

You can send a message to exchange ideas or request information. If you want to practice sending a message, send a message to yourself.

 

Compose Offline

 

You can write e-mail messages when you are not connected to the Internet (offline). When you finish writing all your messages, you can connect and send the messages all at once. This saves you money since you do not have to pay for the time you spend composing messages.

 

When you send a message do not assume the person will read the message right away. Some people may not regularly check their messages.

 

Use the Address Book

 

An e-mail program provides an address book where you can store the addresses of people you frequently send messages to. An address book saves you from having to type the same addresses over and over again.

 

Bounced Messages

 

A bounced message is a message that returns to you because it cannot reach its destination. A message usually bounches because of typing mistakes in the email address. Before sending a message, double-check the e-mail address.

 

Reply to a Message

You can reply to a message to answer a question, express an opinion or supply additional information.

 

When you reply to a message, make sure you include part of the original message. This is called quoting. Quoting helps the reader identify which message you are replying to. To save the reader time, make sure you delete all parts of the original message that do not directly relate to your reply.

 

E-MAIL FEATURES

 

RECEIVE MESSAGES

 

You do not have to be at your computer to receive a message. Your service provider keeps all your messages until you retrieve them . Make sure you regularly check for messages.

 

You can use most computers with a modem to connect to your service provider and retrieve messages. This means you can retrieve your messages when travelling.

 

FORWARD A MESSAGE

 

After reading a message , you can add comments and then send the message to a friend or colleague.

 

PRINT A MESSAGE

 

You can print a message to produce a paper copy.

 

ORGANIZE MESSAGES

 

E-mail programs usually store messages you have sent, received and deleted in separate folders. This helps you keep messages organized so you can review them later.

 

Make sure you clean out your folders on a regular basis by deleting messages you no longer need.

 

You can also create personalized folders to better organize your messages.