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Almost everyone has had at least a brush with e-mail in one form or another. As an experienced Word user, you've probably sent more e-mail messages than you care to count. What you need to know about sending e-mail messages in Word is rooted in the Word-specific "how-tos." In this section, you'll see how you can get the most out of the e-mail features in Word.
As you might imagine, you can use Word to send messages formatted as plain text, rich text, or HTML. Most new and updated versions of e-mail applications (including Outlook 2002) offer a choice of plain text or HTML; earlier or scaled-down versions of e-mail applications generally support plain-text messages only. When you use Word, you can use any of the three listed formats. The following pros and cons should help you decide which format best suits your needs:
By default, Word formats new, blank e-mail messages using the HTML format. You can change this setting by configuring the Mail Format tab in the Options dialog box in Outlook. To access this setting, follow these steps:
Keep in mind that if you format a document before you convert the document to an e-mail message, Word will automatically retain your formatting and send the message as an HTML e-mail message—even if you've specified plain text as your default e-mail message format. The default setting comes into play only when you create new, blank e-mail messages, as described in the section "Sending a Document, E-Mail Style."
Many e-mail options provided by Word are available only if you're using Outlook in conjunction with Word. For more information about using Outlook, see Microsoft Outlook Version 2002 Inside Out, also from Microsoft Press.
By default, Outlook is configured to use Word as your e-mail editor. This means that when you click the New Mail Message button on the Standard toolbar in Outlook, a blank e-mail document opens in a Word window. To verify this setting, open a new e-mail message in Outlook (by choosing File, New, Mail Message or pressing Ctrl+Shift+M), and look at the message's title bar. The title bar displays Untitled Message – Microsoft Word, and the window contains the standard Word features (including toolbars, view buttons, Browse By buttons, and so forth).
Although Word offers numerous formatting advantages over the standard Outlook message window, you can specify to not use Word as your e-mail editor if you prefer to use a scaled-down version of the Outlook message window. To control this setting, follow these steps:
You can change this setting at any time if you find you prefer one message window over the other.
If you want to use Word to send an e-mail message, you can open an e-mail pane, which appears across the top of your Word window. This e-mail pane contains a number of buttons and text boxes that you can use to format and send your e-mail messages.
You can create new, blank e-mail messages in Word or you can create e-mail messages from existing Word documents, as follows:
Figure 30-1. You can create a new, blank e-mail message by clicking the Blank E-Mail Message link in the New Document task pane.
Figure 30-2. You can display the e-mail pane in an existing document, which enables you to send the entire document in an e-mail message.
As you can see in Figures 30-1 and 30-2, the e-mail pane varies slightly depending on how you create your e-mail message. When you click the E-Mail button on the Standard toolbar to add the e-mail pane to an existing document, the e-mail pane includes an Introduction box (discussed in more detail in the section "Including an Introduction in an E-Mail Message"). When you click the Blank E-Mail Message link in the New Document task pane, the e-mail pane includes a drop-down list that allows you to specify whether you want to format the message as HTML, rich text, or plain text.
After you display the e-mail pane in a document—regardless of whether it's a new document or an existing document—you are ready to configure the e-mail settings. Completing the e-mail pane is similar to addressing standard e-mail messages, as described here:
In addition to this basic procedure, you can use a number of other addressing and formatting features provided in Word. For example, you can include introductory text, specify a sender other than yourself, include an attachment, create a custom signature, and control a number of other e-mail related features, as described in the next few sections.
If you click the E-Mail button on the Standard toolbar from an open document, Word includes an Introduction box in the e-mail pane. This box allows you to add text without inserting it into the existing document. You might want to do this if you're sending a document for review or sending a copy of a Web page. When you add an introduction, the recipient sees the introduction text separated from the main text by a horizontal rule, as shown in Figure 30-3.
When you send e-mail from within Word, you can specify the following participating parties:
Figure 30-3. The Introduction box enables you to include ancillary text above your e-mail message's main contents.
the account you want to use to send the message. Figure 30-4 shows an Accounts drop-down list on a computer configured with three different e-mail accounts.
Figure 30-4. The Accounts drop-down list enables you to choose which account you want to use to send a message.
Caution
Figure 30-5. The Select Names dialog box enables you to specify e-mail addresses for the To, Cc, and Bcc boxes all at once.
Tip - Verify the address resource
If you don't see the name you're looking for in the Choose Sender dialog box (which appears when you click From in the e-mail pane) or in the Select Names dialog box (which appears when you click To, Cc, or Bcc), verify that the proper address resource is displayed in the Show Names From The drop-down list. By default, Word presents the names stored in your Outlook Contacts folder, as shown in Figure 30-5.
At times, you might want to mark e-mail messages as urgent or not-at-all-urgent (also known as low priority messages). Marking your messages indicates instantly to recipients who are using Outlook or Outlook Express whether they should give special attention to a message. To set e-mail priority for a message, use the following techniques:
By default, e-mail messages are classified as normal priority; normal priority messages aren't accompanied by any priority marker. You can also configure message priority levels by clicking the Options button in the e-mail pane to open the Message Options dialog box, clicking the Importance down arrow, and choosing Low, Normal, or High in the drop-down list.
You can add flags to e-mail messages to indicate that you or the recipient needs to perform some type of follow-up action in response to a message. The flag will appear only in Outlook (not Word), in the Sort By: Flag Status column. To flag a message, follow these steps:
When you send the message, it will be accompanied by a flag in your Sent box in Outlook and in the recipient's Inbox if the recipient is using Outlook or Outlook Express. You can also add flags to and remove flags from existing messages in your Inbox.
One of the most frequent tasks associated with e-mail messages other than sending notes is transferring files and objects as attachments. You might want to send attachments if a recipient doesn't use an HTML e-mail application or if you're sending a large document, graphic, movie file, spreadsheet, or other file type. You attach files in Word in the same manner you attach files in other e-mail applications. To do so, use one of the following techniques:
Figure 30-6. The e-mail pane displays the file names of any files attached to the current e-mail message.
When you send an attached file, recipients can save the file on their computers and view it locally.
As you've probably seen during your e-mail travels, many people include a small blurb of information at the end of their e-mail messages. These blurbs are referred to as signatures. Signatures often supply extra contact information, links to Web pages, and sometimes witty or clever comments. Conveniently, you can edit or delete signatures just as you manipulate other text after it's inserted. To create a custom signature that you can use on an as-needed basis, follow these steps:
Figure 30-7. You can use the E-Mail Options dialog box to create a collection of signatures that you can choose from when you create e-mail messages in Word.
Tip - Choose a default signature
You can set any signature to be your default signature by configuring the E-Mail Signature tab in the E-Mail Options dialog box. To do so, select the signature's name in the Signature For New Messages and Signature For Replies And Forwards drop-down lists, and then click OK.
After you create and set a default signature, Word inserts the default signature in future new, blank e-mail documents you create by clicking the Blank E-Mail Message link in the New Document task pane. In addition, your default signature will be added to messages that you create by replying to or forwarding messages sent to you. If you create a number of signatures in Word, you can easily change which signature is inserted into an e-mail message by right-clicking the existing signature and choosing another signature on the shortcut menu. When you do this, the existing signature is removed and the selected signature is inserted in your document. You can also use this shortcut menu to access the E-Mail Options dialog box (in which you can create a new signature, modify existing signatures, and change your default signature setting). Figure 30-8 shows a blank e-mail document containing a signature along with the shortcut menu showing other available signatures.
Figure 30-8. You can replace an existing signature by right-clicking it and then choosing another signature name on the shortcut menu.
Most likely you're familiar with the routing slips used in office settings. In plain language, a routing slip is a list of names of people who need to review an item. When a person on the list reviews the item, she checks off her name, and passes the item to the next person on the list. Routed items can be anything from policy updates to "secret" birthday cards for a coworker. In Word, you can attach the online equivalent of a routing slip to a document, and you can route the document to each person on the list in sequence or all at once. You might want to use this feature if you want a number of people to review and return a particular document.
To create a routing slip, follow these steps:
Figure 30-9. You can use the Routing Slip dialog box to create an online routing slip for a Word document.
Figure 30-10. The To list in the Routing Slip dialog box specifies the users who will be included in the routing process.
Recipients of a document with a routing slip will receive an e-mail message stating that the attached document is being routed. After the recipient opens and reviews the document in Word, he should choose File, Send To, Next Routing Recipient to forward the document to the next person on the routing slip. If the recipient wants to route the document to another name on the list, he can choose File, Send To, Other Routing Recipient. As the document is routed, the originator of the routed document receives update e-mail messages indicating the latest action (such as Bill routed the document name of document to Julie).
If you choose to send HTML-formatted e-mail messages, you can send highly customized messages. You can use the themes provided in Word to format your e-mail messages, as described in Chapter 23, "Using Word's Desktop Publishing Features." You can also add stationery to e-mail messages. Fundamentally, stationery is a scaled-down version of a theme, and the process of applying stationery is similar to applying themes, as shown here:
Figure 30-11. The Personal Stationery tab provides a number of format settings for e-mail messages, including the Theme button, which you can use to access the Theme Or Stationery dialog box.
Figure 30-12. You can use the Theme Or Stationery dialog box to select and preview e-mail stationery and themes before applying them.
When you set a default theme, Word applies the theme to all future e-mail messages you create until you reconfigure the default theme setting. The theme won't be applied to e-mail messages or documents you've already created.
Tip - Apply a theme to the current e-mail message only
You can apply a new theme to an existing e-mail message before you send it, regardless of whether the e-mail message has a theme already applied. To do so, choose Format, Theme to access the Theme dialog box. Select a theme, preview the theme, and then click OK. When you use this option, you won't see themes specially formatted as stationery, so you won't find themes listed with the (Stationery) identifier after the theme names.
You can set a number of e-mail message options within Word by configuring settings in the Message Options dialog box, shown in Figure 30-13. To open the Message Options dialog box, click the Options button in the e-mail pane.
Figure 30-13. Click the Options button in the e-mail pane to access the Message Options dialog box.
The Message Options dialog box enables you to set the following options:
After you configure the settings in the Message Options dialog box, click Close to accept the settings and continue creating your e-mail message.
In addition to configuring settings in the Message Options dialog box, you can control a couple of HTML-specific options for e-mail messages you send that use HTML formatting. To access these HTML-specific options, follow these steps:
Figure 30-14. The General tab in the E-Mail Options dialog box presents three HTML-specific options you can control when you send HTML e-mail messages.
The General tab provides the following HTML-specific options:
After you configure the settings in the E-Mail Options dialog box, click OK to save your settings, and then click OK again to close the Options dialog box.