Sending Fancy Messages

You're probably used to e-mail messages containing nothing but boring, plain text. It doesn't have to be that way. Outlook Express lets you send e-mail with fancy HTML formatting, personalized signatures, and attached files.

Creating HTML Mail

Most e-mail messages are just plain text because that's all you're sending, in most cases. But Outlook Express can also send and receive fully formatted text, with backgrounds and colors and embedded HTML hyperlinks.

You turn on HTML formatting for a specific message by selecting Format, Rich Text (HTML) from the message window. You turn off HTML formatting by selecting Format, Plain Text.

You can configure Outlook Express so that all your messages are sent in HTML, by default. Just select Tools, Options to display the Options dialog box, then select the Send tab and choose the HTML option in the Mail Sending Format section. If you'd rather send all your messages in text-only format, choose the Plain Text option instead.

Using Stationery

Outlook Express lets you create custom backgrounds and text for your messages. When your create this stationery, it is used as the default background for all your new HTML- formatted messages.

To create a default stationery for your new messages:

1.	Select Tools, Options to display the Options dialog box.
2.	Select the Compose tab.
3.	Check the Mail option in the Stationery section, then click the Select button.
4.	When the Select Stationery dialog box appears, choose a format and click OK.

Adding a Signature

An important part of any e-mail message is your "signature," a two- or three-line message that is added to the bottom of all your messages. To create a signature in Outlook Express, follow these steps:

1.	Select Tools, Options to display the Options dialog box.
2.	Select the Signatures tab.
3.	Click the New button and add the text for your signature in the Edit Signature box.
4.	Check the Add Signatures to All Outgoing Messages option. (If you don't want to add your signature to replies and forwards, check the Don't Add Signatures to Replies and Forwards option.)
5.	Click OK.

Signatures are not HTML-dependent. They can be added to any e-mail message, plain text or HTML.

Working with Attachments

Some e-mail messages have additional files "attached" to the mail message. Attaching files to an e-mail message is a way to send files from user to user over the Internet.

What kind of files can you attach to e-mail messages? Here's a short list:

• Graphics, such as pictures of your kids and family

• Audio, such as MP3 song files or audio clips from your favorite television programs

• Video clips, such as files captured from your videotaped home movies

• Documents, such as word processing files from Microsoft Word or spreadsheets from Microsoft Excel

As you read earlier, you can also attach virus files to e-mail messages, but the less said about that the better.

If a message contains an attachment, you'll see a paperclip icon in the message header and a paperclip button in the preview pane header. When you receive a message with an attachment, you can open it or save it to your hard disk.

To view or open an attachment, click the paperclip button in the Preview pane header, then click the attachment's filename. This will open the attachment in its associated application. (If you're asked whether you want to save or view the attachment, select view.)

To save an attachment to your hard disk, click the paperclip button in the preview pane header, then select Save Attachments. When the Save Attachments dialog box appears, select a location for the file and click the Save button.

If you want to attach a file to an outgoing e-mail message, start with a new message and then click the Attach button in the message's toolbar. When the Insert Attachment dialog box appears, locate the file you want to send and then click Attach. The attached file is now listed in a new Attach: field below the Subject: field. When you click the Send button, the e-mail message and its attached file are sent together to the Outbox.