Handling Messages

Your Inbox will quickly fill up with messages. To keep Outlook Express streamlined, get in the habit of handling messages and then deleting them or saving them, as needed. Delete old, unneeded messages. Move messages you want to save to a special folder. This section includes some of the options you have for dealing with messages, including deleting messages, moving or copying messages, printing messages, handling junk email, and more.

Deleting and Undeleting Messages

As part of keeping your Inbox uncluttered, you can delete messages. In the Outlook Express window, select the message you want to delete or open the message you want to delete, and click the Delete button. When you delete a message, it is not deleted, but is moved to the Deleted Items folder.

If needed, you can undelete a message. Follow these steps:

1.	In the Folders list, click the Deleted Items folder. You'll see the messages that have been deleted.
2.	Click the message you want to undelete.
3.	Drag the message from the message header pane to one of the folders in the Folders list. For instance, you can drag the message from Deleted Items to Inbox. For more information on moving and copying messages, see "Organizing Messages" later in this section.

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If you want to delete all messages in this folder, click Edit and then select Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder. Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes. Be sure that this is what you want to do. When messages are deleted this way, you cannot retrieve them.

To permanently delete a message, open the Deleted Items folder, select the message, and click the Delete button or press the Delete key. You are then prompted to confirm the deletion. Click Yes to permanently delete the message.

Printing Messages

On occasion, you might want to print a hard copy of a message. For instance, suppose that someone sends you directions to a party. You can print the directions and take them with you. You also might want to print and save a hard copy of a message with important information, such as an online order confirmation.

To print a message, follow these steps:

Select the message from the Outlook Express window or open the message.

Click the Print button. You'll see the Print dialog box (see Figure 7.11).

Figure 7.11. Select the printing options for the message.

Click Print to print the message.

Organizing Messages

If you think you need to keep some of your messages, consider creating a mail folder and storing the messages in that folder. Doing so keeps your Inbox uncluttered. You can just keep messages that you need to handle in the Inbox and either delete, print, or move other messages out of the Inbox folder to another folder. For instance, suppose that you have several business messages that you need to keep. You can set up a folder for these messages and then move them from the Inbox (or other folder) to the business folder. As another example, you might want to keep copies of the funny jokes you receive. You can set up a joke folder and move joke messages to that folder. You can use Outlook Express to both create a new folder and move or copy items to different folders.

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Outlook Express sets up several mail folders for you, including Inbox, Outbox, Deleted Items, Sent Items, and Drafts. Some messages are automatically moved or saved to these folders. For instance, when you delete a message from your Inbox, it is simply moved to the Deleted Items folder.

To create a folder, follow these steps:

Click Local Folders in the Folders list. Doing so ensures that the new folder will be placed at the same level as the existing folders.

Click File, New, Folder. You'll see the Create Folder dialog box (see Figure 7.12).

Figure 7.12. Type the folder name here to create a new mail folder.

Type the folder name and click OK to create the folder.

After the folder is created, you can move or copy messages to it (or any other folder). To do so, follow these steps:

Select the message you want to copy or move.

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You also can nest mail folders within existing folders. For instance, you can create business and personal folders within the Inbox. To do so, click the Inbox for the first step or expand the Folders list in the dialog box by clicking the plus sign next to Local Folders and then clicking the folder you want.

Click the Edit menu and select Move to Folder or Copy to Folder. You'll see either the Move or Copy dialog box (see Figure 7.13). The dialog boxes are identical except for their names; both list the mail folders.

Figure 7.13. Select the folder to which you want to move or copy the selected message.

Expand the Folders list by clicking the plus sign next to Local Folders. Then click the folder in which you want to place the selected message.

Click OK to move or copy the message.

Finding Messages

If you don't (and sometimes even when you do!) organize your messages, you may find it difficult to find a message you received. For instance, suppose that you placed an order for a product via the Internet and kept the order confirmation message. Because the product has not arrived, you want to review the confirmation. Rather then sifting through various folders and messages, you can search for a message.

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You also can drag a message from the message header pane to the appropriate folder in the Folders list of the main Outlook Express window to move a message.

To help you find a message, Outlook Express includes a Find command. You can use this command to search for messages by matching the sender, the recipient, the subject, or a word or phrase in the content of the message. Follow these steps to search for a message:

1.	Select the folder to search in the Folders list. If you don't know which folder contains the message, click Local Folders to search all the folders.
2.	Click Edit, Find, Message. You'll see the Find Message dialog box (see Figure 7.14). Figure 7.14. Enter your search requirements in this dialog box.
3.	Click in the text box next to the item for which you want to search and then type or select a value. You can do any of the following: To search for a message based on the sender, click in the From text box and type all or part of the sender's name. To search for a message based on whom it was sent to, click in the To text box and type all or part of the recipient's name. To match the subject of a message, click in the Subject text box and type all or part of the message subject. If you don't know the exact sender or subject, click in the Message text box and type a unique word or phrase from the message content. (Typing a unique word or phrase helps limit the matches to those of interest.) If you don't know the contents or details of the message, but you know when it was sent, select a date. You can select to view messages received before or after a certain date. To search for messages that have attachments or that were flagged for attention, check these check boxes.
4.	If you selected Local Folders for step 1, make sure that the Include subfolders text box is checked to search all the folders.
5.	Click Find Now. Outlook Express then searches the messages and displays any matches in the lower half of the dialog box (see Figure 7.15). You can double-click any message to open it. Figure 7.15. You can search for messages in any of your mail folders.