12.2. Sending Email When you finally arrive at the main Mail screen, you've already got mail; the Inbox contains a message for you (Figure 12-2). The message is a welcome from Microsoft, but it wasn't actually transmitted over the Internet; it's a starter message just to tease you. Fortunately, all your future mail will come via the Internet.  | Figure 12-2. Meet Windows Mail. You should see a Welcome to Windows Mail email that looks similar to this one. The email contains information about Windows Mail, its features, and how to use it . | |
In order to receive and send new mail, you must use the Send & Receive command. You can trigger it in any of several ways: UP TO SPEED
POP, IMAP, and Web-based Mail | | When it comes to email, there are three flavors of accounts (not counting America Online mail, which is a mutant breed and not something that Windows Mail can talk to): POP (also known as POP3), IMAP (also known as IMAP4), and Web-based. Each has its own distinct feeling, with different strengths and weaknesses. POP accounts are the most common. A POP server transfers your incoming mail to your hard drive before you read it, and then deletes the original copies on the Internet. From now on, those messages live on your computer, and it's up to you to save them, back them up, or delete them. (You can configure Windows Mail not to delete the messages from the server, but most ISPs don't give you much disk space. If your mailbox gets too full, the server may begin rejecting your incoming messages.) IMAP servers are newer than, and have more features than, POP servers, but as a result, they don't enjoy as much popularity or support. IMAP servers are Internet computers that store all of your mail for you, rather than making you download it each time you connect. The benefit? You can access the same mail regardless of which computer you use. IMAP servers remember which messages you've read and sent, too. One downside to this approach, of course, is that you can't work with your email except when you're online, because all your mail is on an Internet server, not on your hard drive. And if you don't conscientiously delete mail manually after you've read it, your online mailbox eventually overflows. Sooner or later, the system starts bouncing fresh messages back to their senders, annoying your friends and depriving you of the chance to read what they have to say. Free, Web-based servers like Hotmail also store your mail on the Internet. You can use a Web browser on any computer to read and send messages; then again, most POP accounts these days offer that feature, too. Web email is slower and more cumbersome to use than "regular" email accounts |
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Click the Send/Receive button on the toolbar. (It's shown in Figure 12-3, which depicts Mail after you've been living in it for awhile.)  | Figure 12-3. The Send and Receive button is located on the toolbar in Windows Mail. The arrow beside it lets you choose which mail you'd like to get, if you don't want to check all of your accounts . | |
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Choose Tools  Send and Receive Send and Receive All. -
Press Ctrl+M (for Mail).
Tip: You can set up Mail to check your email accounts automatically according to a schedule. Just choose Tools Options. On the General tab, youll see the "Check for new messages every __ minutes" checkbox, which you can change to your liking.
GEM IN THE ROUGH
Checking a Specific Email Account | | You don't have to check all of your email accounts whenever you want to get mail. Suppose, for example, that you want to send a message to yourself from your work account to your home account. In that case, you'd want to send/ receive mail only from your office account. (If, in the same pass, Windows Mail also downloaded messages from your home account, you'd wind up with the same message in your office PC's copy of Mail, defeating the whole purpose of the exercise.) Excluding an account (or several accounts) from the "Send and Receive All" routine is easy enough. Open the Accounts window (Tools Accounts), select the account to turn off, and then click Properties. Turn off "Include this account when receiving Mail or synchronizing," click OK, and, finally, close the Accounts window. Now suppose you usually want to check all accounts, but occasionally want to check only one of them. On such an occasion, click the  beside the Send/Receive button and choose that accounts name from the pop-up menu. (Alternatively, choose the account name from the Tools Send and Receive submenu.) |
Now Windows Mail contacts the mail servers listed in the account list, retrieving new messages and downloading any files attached to those messages. It also sends any outgoing messages and their attachments. In the list on the right side of your screen, the names of new messages show up in bold type; folders containing new messages show up in bold type, too (in the Folders list at the left side of the screen). The bold number in parentheses after the word "Inbox" represents how many messages you haven't read yet. Finally, after messages are downloaded, Windows Mail applies its mail filters what it calls rules to all new messages (to screen out junk mail, for example). More on rules on page 407.  | Figure 12-4. A message has two sections: the header, which holds information about the message, and the body, which contains the message itself. The menu bar and a toolbar harbor other useful features for composing and sending messages . | |
12.2.1. 12.2.1.1. Mail folders in Windows Mail At the left side of the screen, Windows Mail organizes your email into folders . To see what's in a folder, click it once: -
Inbox holds mail you've received. -
Outbox holds mail you've written but haven't sent yet. -
Sent Items holds copies of messages you've sent. -
Deleted Items holds mail you've deleted. It works a lot like the Recycle Bin, in that messages placed there don't actually disappear. Instead, they remain in the Deleted Items folder, awaiting rescue if you opt to retrieve them. To empty this folder, right-click it and then choose "Empty 'Deleted Items' Folder" from the shortcut menu (or simply choose Edit Empty 'Deleted Items Folder).
Tip: To make the folder empty itself every time you exit Mail, choose Tools Options, click the Advanced tab, and then click the Maintenance button. From the Maintenance dialog box, turn on "Empty messages from the 'Deleted Items folder on exit."
POWER USERS' CLINIC
The Mighty Morphing Interface | | You don't have to be content with the factory-installed design of the Windows Mail screen; you can control which panes are visible, how big they are, and which columns show up in list views.  To change the size of a pane, drag its border to make it larger or smaller, as shown here. You can also hide or show the toolbar, folder list, status bar, search bar, or preview pane using the View Layout command; in the dialog box, turn off the checkboxes for the window elements you could do without. The View Layout command also lets you control where the preview pane appears: under the message list, as usual, or to its righta great arrangement if you have a very wide screen. Mail lets you decide what columns are displayed in the list pane. For example, if you don't particularly care about seeing the Flag column, you can hide it, leaving more space for the Subject and Received columns. To switch columns on or off, choose from the list in the View Columns dialog box. You can also rearrange the columns, which can be handy if you'd rather see the Subject column first instead of the sender, for example. Just drag the column's name header horizontally; release when the vertical dotted line is where you want the column to wind up. To make a column wider or narrower, drag the short black divider line between column names horizontally, much the way you'd resize a folder window list-view column. |
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Drafts holds messages you've started but haven't finishedand don't want to send just yet. -
Junk E-Mail holds messages deemed as junk (spam) by Mail's Junk E-Mail Protection. (More about that later.) You can also add to this list, creating folders for your own organizational pleasureFamily Mail, Work Mail, or whatever. See page 405. 12.2.1.2. Composing and sending messages To send a message, click Create Mail on the toolbar (or press Ctrl+N, or choose Message New Message). The New Message form opens (Figure 12-5).  | Figure 12-5. In the New Message window, type the name of the recipients, separated by semicolons, in the "To:" field. If Windows Mail doesn't automatically complete the name for you (by consulting your address book and recent recipients list), click Check Names . | |
GEM IN THE ROUGH
The Quick Contacts Gadget | | To get to your contacts quickly, add the Contacts gadget to the Sidebar. Thereafter, when you want to send an email message, call up the lucky recipient's name by typing a few letters of his name into the gadget; it appears in the Contacts gadget list, as shown here.  Now, to send an email to that person, click the email address shown on the right. A new message opens, preaddressed and ready to write and send. |
Tip: You can also start writing a message by clicking Contacts in the toolbar. In the Contacts window (page 250), click the person's name, and then click E-Mail on the toolbar. A blank, outgoing piece of mail appears, already addressed to the person whose name you clicked.Come to think of it, it's faster to hit Ctrl+N.
Composing the message requires several steps: -
Type the email address of the recipient into the "To:" field . If you want to send a message to more than one person, separate their email addresses using semicolons, like this: bob@earthlink.net; billg@microsoft.com; steve@apple.com. There's no need to type out all those complicated email addresses, either. As you begin typing the person's plain-English name, the program attempts to guess who you mean (if it's somebody in your Contacts list)and fills in the email address automatically. If it guesses the correct name, great; press Tab to move on to the next text box. If it guesses wrong, just keep typing. The program quickly retracts its suggestion and watches what you type next .
Tip: You can also click the tiny envelope icon next to the "To:" box to open your Contacts list; double-click a name to address your message.
As in most Windows dialog boxes, you can jump from blank to blank in this window (from the "To:" field to the "CC:" field, for example) by pressing the Tab key. -
To send a copy of the message to other recipients, enter the additional email address(es) in the "CC:" field . CC stands for carbon copy . There's very little difference between putting all your addressees on the "To:" line (separated by semicolons) and putting them on the "CC:" line. The only difference is that using the "CC:" line implies, "I sent you a copy because I thought you'd want to know about this correspondence, but I'm not expecting you to reply." Press Tab when you're finished. -
Type the topic of the message in the "Subject:" field . Some people get bombarded with email. That's why it's courteous to put some thought into the Subject line. (For example, use "Change in plans for next week" instead of "Hi.") Press the Tab key to move your cursor into the message area. -
Choose a format (HTML or plain text), if you like . When it comes to formatting a message's body text, you have two choices: plain text or HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Plain text means that you can't format your text with bold type, color , specified font sizes, and so on. HTML, on the other hand, is the language used to create Web pages, and it lets you use formatting commands (such as font sizes, colors, and bold or italic text). But there's a catch: a handful of older email programs can't read HTML-formatted email. Also, HTML mail is much larger, and therefore slower to download, than plain-text messages. So which should you choose? Plain text tends to feel more professional, never irritates anybodyand you're guaranteed that the recipient will see exactly what was sent. If you send an HTML message to someone whose email program can't handle HTML, all is not lostyour message appears in a friendly, plain-text format that anyone can read. Still, certain Internetters remain fairly hostile toward heavily formatted email. To specify which format Windows Mail proposes for all new messages (plain text or HTML), choose Tools Options. Click the Send tab. Next, in the section labeled Mail Sending Format, choose either the HTML or Plain Text button, and then click OK. No matter which setting you specify there, however, you can always switch a particular message to the opposite format. Just choose Format Rich Text (HTML), or Format Plain Text, in the New Message window. If you choose the HTML option, clicking in the message area activates the HTML toolbar, whose various buttons control the formatting, font, size, color, paragraph indentation, line spacing, and other word processorlike formatting controls (Figure 12-6).  | Figure 12-6. When you're composing an email using the HTML format, the New Message window gives you options for choosing fonts, formatting options like Bold, Italic, and Underline, and colors (from a handy color palette) . | | Just remember: less is more. If you go hog-wild formatting your email, the message may be difficult to read, especially if you apply stationery (a background). -
Enter the message in the message box (the bottom half of the message window) . You can use all standard editing techniques, including Cut, Copy, and Paste, to rearrange the text as you write it.
Tip: If Microsoft Word is installed on your PC, you can also spell check your outgoing mail. Just choose Tools Spelling (or press F7) in the new message window.
Add a signature, if you wish . Signatures are bits of text that get stamped at the bottom of outgoing email messages. They typically contain a name, a mailing address, or a Star Trek quote. To create a signature, choose Tools Options, click the Signatures tab, and then click the New button. The easiest way to compose your signature is to type it into the Edit Signatures text box at the bottom of the window. (If you poke around long enough in this box, youll realize that you can actually create multiple signaturesand even assign each one to a different outgoing email account.) UP TO SPEED
Blind Carbon Copies | | A blind carbon copy is a secret copy. This feature lets you send a copy of a message to somebody secretly , without any of the other recipients knowing. The names in the "To:" and "CC:" fields appear at the top of the message for all recipients to see, but nobody can see the names you typed into the "BCC:" box. To view this box, choose View All Headers in the New Message window. You can use the "BCC:" field to quietly signal a third party that a message has been sent. For example, if you send your co-worker a message that says, "Chris, it bothers me that you've been cheating the customers," you could BCC your boss or supervisor to clue her in without getting into trouble with Chris. The BCC box is useful in other ways, too. Many people send email messages (containing jokes, for example) to a long list of recipients. You, the recipient, must scroll through a very long list of names the sender placed in the "To:" or "CC:" field. But if the sender uses the "BCC:" field to hold all the recipients' email addresses, you, the recipient, won't see any names but your own at the top of the email. (Unfortunately, spammersthe miserable cretins who send you junk mailhave also learned this trick.) | Once you've created a signature (or several), you can tack it onto your outgoing mail for all messages (by turning on "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" at the top of this box) or on a message-by-message basis (by choosing Insert Signature in the New Message window). -
Send Message. Your PC connects to the Internet and sends the message.
Tip: If you seem to be able to receive mail but can't send it, your Internet service provider might require Mail to log into its server before sending email. To try that approach, first click Tools Accounts. From there, click your accounts name, and then the Properties Servers tab. Turn on "My server requires authentication." Click OK, and then Close.
12.2.1.3. The Contacts list Accumulating names in a Contacts listthe same one described on page 250eliminates the need to enter complete email addresses whenever you want to send a message. Click the Contacts button on the toolbar; then, to begin adding names and email addresses, click New Contact.
Tip: Windows Mail offers a convenient timesaving feature: the Tools Add Sender to Contacts command. Whenever you choose it, Mail automatically stores the email address of the person whose message is on the screen. (Alternatively, you can right-click an email address in the message and choose "Add Sender to Contacts from the shortcut menu.)
12.2.1.4. Attaching files to messages Sending little text messages is fine, but it's not much help when you want to send somebody a photograph, a sound recording, a Word or Excel document, and so on. Fortunately, attaching such files to email messages is one of the world's most popular email features. To attach a file to a message, use either of two methods : -
The long way . Click the Attach button (the paper-clip icon) on the New Message dialog box toolbar. Alternatively, you could select Insert File Attachment. When the Open dialog box appears, locate the file and select it. (In the resulting navigation window, Ctrl-click multiple files to attach them all at once.) Now the name of the attached file appears in the message, in the Attach text box. When you send the message, the file tags along.
Note: If you have a high-speed connection like a cable modem, have pity on your recipients if they don't. A big picture or movie file might take you only seconds to send, but tie up your correspondent's modem for hours.
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The short way . If you can see the icon of the file you want to attachin its folder window behind the Mail window, on the Desktop, or whereverthen attach it by dragging its icon directly into the message window. That's a handy technique when you're attaching many different files.
Tip: To remove a file from an outgoing message before you've sent it, click it and then press the Delete key.
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