Sending and Receiving Email

Obviously, the Gmail interface is fairly easy to understand. (If Google does nothing else, they create simple, easy-to-understand interfaces.) Now let's get down to brass tacks, and learn how to use Gmail for basic message sending and receiving.

Reading Messages

To read a message, all you have to do is click the message title in the inbox. This displays the full text of the message on a new page, as shown in Figure 21.3.

Figure 21.3. Reading an email message in Gmail.

If you want to display this message in a new window, click the New Window link. To print the message, click the Print link. To return to the inbox, click the Inbox link.

Viewing Conversations

One of the unique things about Gmail is that all related email messages are grouped together in what Google calls conversations. A conversation might be an initial message and all the replies (and replies to replies) to that message; a conversation might also be all the daily emails from a single source with a common subject, such as messages you receive from subscribed-to mailing lists.

A conversation is noted in the inbox list by a number in parentheses after the sender name(s), as shown in Figure 21.4. If a conversation has replies from more than one person, more than one name is listed.

Figure 21.4. A conversation consisting of three messages.

To view all the messages in a conversation, simply click the message title. As you can see in Figure 21.5, all the messages in the conversation are stacked on top of each other, with the text of the newest message fully displayed. To expand any single message within the conversation, simply click that message's subject. To expand all the messages in a conversation, as shown in Figure 21.6, click the Expand All link.

Figure 21.5. Viewing all the messages in a conversation.

Figure 21.6. A conversation expanded so that all messages are displayed.

Replying to Messages

Whether you're reading a single message or a conversation, it's easy enough to send a reply. All you have to do is follow these steps:

1.	In the original message, click the Reply link. This expands the message to include a reply box, like the one shown in Figure 21.7. Figure 21.7. Replying to an email message.
2.	The text of the original message is already quoted in the reply; add your new text above the original text.
3.	The original sender's address is automatically added to the To: line, so click the Send button when to send the message on its way.

Forwarding Messages

Sometimes you might want to forward a message to a third party, instead of simply replying to the original sender. You do this by following these steps:

1.	In the original message, click the Forward link. This expands the message to include a forward box, like the one shown in Figure 21.8. Figure 21.8. Forwarding an email message to a third party.
2.	Add the recipient's email address to the To: box.
3.	Enter your cover message into the main message box.
4.	Click the Send button to send the message on its way.

Composing and Sending New Messages

Tip

You can cc (carbon copy) and bcc (blind carbon copy) additional recipients byvf clicking the Add Cc and Add Bcc links; this expands the message to include Cc or Bcc boxes, into which you enter the recipients' addresses. (A bcc sends the message to the intended recipients, but hides their addresses from the main recipients; a cc displays the recipients' addresses.)

Creating a new message from scratch isn't a whole lot harder than replying to a pre-existing message. All you have to do is follow these steps:

1.	Click the Compose Mail link at the top of any Gmail page.
2.	When the Compose Mail page appears, as shown in Figure 21.9, enter the recipient's email address into the To: box. Separate multiple recipients with commas. Figure 21.9. Composing a new email message.
3.	Enter a subject for the message into the Subject box.
4.	Enter the text of your message into the large text box. Use the formatting controls (bold, italic, font, and so forth) to enhance your message as desired.
5.	When you're done composing your message, click the Send button.

Attaching Files

One of the key features of Gmail is its capability to store large amounts of data. You can use this feature to email files to yourself for backup purposes; of course, you can also email files to other users, as you wish.

Tip

Gmail provides spell checking for all your outgoing messages. Just click the Check Spelling link, and then accept or reject suggested spelling changes throughout your document.

To attach a file to a Gmail message, follow these steps:

1.	Compose a new message as discussed previously.
2.	From the new message page, click the Attach a File link.
3.	When the Choose File dialog box appears, navigate to and select the file you want to attach, and then click the Open button.

The file you selected now appears under the Subject box on the new message page, as shown in Figure 21.10. To attach another file to this same message, click the Attach Another File link; otherwise, continue composing and sending your message as normal.

Figure 21.10. Attaching a file to an email message.

Opening or Viewing Attached Files

What do you do if someone sends you a file attached to an email message? First, make sure that you're expecting the attachment, and that it's not a virus tagging along for the ride. If you're confident that it's a legitimate attachment from someone you know and trust, you can opt to either view the attachment (ideal for photos) or save the attachment to your hard drive.

Caution

While you can send Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, MP3 music files, JPG picture files, and the like, Gmail won't let you send any executable program files. (These are files that have an EXE extension.) You can't even send EXE files when they're compressed into ZIP files. Gmail blocks the transmittal of all EXE files, in an attempt to prevent potential computer viruses.

When you receive a message with an attachment, you see a little paper clip icon next to the message subject/snippet, as shown in Figure 21.11. To view or save an attachment, follow these steps:

1.	Click the message to open it.
2.	If the attachment is an image file, the photo will display in the opened message, as shown in Figure 21.12. To view other types of files, or to view a photo in a separate window, click the View link. Figure 21.12. Attached photos display automatically when you open a message.
3.	To save the file to your hard disk, click the Download link. When the File Download dialog box appears, click the Save button, select a location for the file, and then click the second Save button.

Figure 21.11. A message with a file attached.

Deleting Messages

There are two ways to delete messages in Gmail:

• From the inbox page, check the message and then click the Delete button.

• From any open message, click the Delete button.

Either of these two approaches moves the selected message to the Trash bin. Messages stay in the Trash bin for 30 days; after that, they're permanently deleted.