Many, if not most, older first-time Mac users get into the computer world because of e-mail. We hear our families and friends talking about the ease of contact with those near and far and want to be part of it. Some new users have told me that the only thing they want to do is be able to send and receive e-mail. Fortunately, conquering e-mail is very satisfying and that usually leads to branching out. The last thing most folks get into is word processing which is really too bad because many of the skills learned in word processing will make it easier to use e-mail. However, first things first. Today's column will address e-mail basics as they pertain to Microsoft Outlook Express.

My primary e-mail system is Microsoft Outlook Express. In the past I have used Eudora Light which is also good. Way, way in the past I briefly used AOL. These are the only systems with which I am familiar. Most of what is included in today's column will be available in any system even though the terms vary from system to system. The important thing is to know what can actually be done using e-mail so that you will know what skills you want to acquire.

What is E-mail?

According to the On-line Dictionary of Computing e-mail (electronic mail) is defined as:

a system of world-wide electronic communication in which a computer user can compose a message at one terminal that is generated at the recipient's terminal when he logs in.

This definition, while completely accurate, fails to mention the minor detail that both the sender and the recipient have to be hooked up to the Internet before it can work. Frankly, this can be a hard concept to learn for some brand new users because they don't understand what the Internet is. As an example, an elderly user (elderly is defined as anyone older than me!) of my acquaintance has Internet service through Earthlink, but has found it easier to use Yahoo as his primary e-mail address. It was difficult for him to understand that he couldn't use Yahoo e-mail without being connected to the Internet through his Earthlink account. What he did understand was that Yahoo e-mail was free and Earthlink was not. All of this makes more sense once one is more experienced using a computer, the brand new user should just accept it as a fact.

How the Heck is It Spelled?

Again, according to the On-line Dictionary of Computing.

There are numerous spelling variants of this word. In Internet traffic up to 1995, `email' predominates, `e-mail' runs a not-too-distant second, and `E-mail' and `Email' are a distant third and fourth.

The Mac Observer officially uses "e-mail" as our standard spelling.

How Do I Send or Receive an E-Mail Message?

Using Outlook Express To Send A Message

1. Open Outlook Express by clicking on the appropriate icon. If you have not previously used your e-mail system you may have to find the icon by looking on your hard drive. The icon for Outlook Express 5.0 looks like this:

Earlier versions of the application have a different icon. Drag the icon onto your desktop so that you can easily access it the next time.

2. Once it is open a toolbar will be at the top of your screen. The Outlook Express 5.0 toolbar looks like this:

3. Click on New and a new message screen will open with the recipient address box ready to have an address entered.

Enter the e-mail address of the recipient. It must be in this format – [email protected]. For example: [email protected]. You can enter as many addresses as you wish. Just separate each one with a comma (,), When you finish entering the address move your cursor down to the message part of the window and click. That will close the recipient box and allow you to move on.

4. Next enter a subject by placing your cursor in the subject line box and clicking to activate it. The subject line is important because many people will decide whether or not to open your message based on the subject line. Obviously, if you are sending a family member a message they are going to recognize your e-mail address and open the message. However, if I don't know you and you send me one without a clear subject line, I may assume you are selling something and delete your message without even opening it. Some people get 50-100 e-mail messages a day and they only read the ones they think are important. When you finish entering the subject click once again in the empty message area and you will be ready to type your message.

5. Your message does not have to have the formality of a written letter. It can be as long as you wish. Don't use all capital letters. In the e-mail world that is considered yelling. Of course, if you ARE yelling then it is OK. Which brings another warning to mind. Never put anything in an e-mail that you don't want anyone else to see. Never! There is no such thing as completely secure e-mail.

6. Send your message by clicking on the "Send Now" option on the message toolbar. If you have not entered the address(es) exactly you will soon get a message back that says it did not go through. Always check the address when that happens because it is very easy to miss-type an e-mail address.

Using Outlook Express To Receive A Message.

Looking again at the primary toolbar you will see other options. "Send and Receive" allows you to view all the messages you have received. When you first open Outlook Express click on "Send and Receive" and any messages waiting for you will be downloaded. To read any one just click on it. Outlook Express does not automatically download new messages so you may want to periodically click again on "Send and Receive" to see if you have any new mail.

To Reply to a message click on "Reply". A new message window will open containing the message you are replying to along with the name of the sender now listed as the recipient. Type in your reply and click on "Send Now".

To Forward the message to a third party click on "Forward" on the primary toolbar. The message contents will again appear in the window and you will be asked to enter the e-mail address of the new recipient(s). The subject box will show the subject line of the original message, preceded with the word Fwd. Usually when forwarding a message you will put in a few comments of your own to explain why you are forwarding it. Special Note: Many people receive things they find to be particularly funny or relevant and they send it to a whole plethora of friends and acquaintances. That is fine, but it is annoying to receive an e-mail in which you have to scroll through dozens of e-mail address of people who you don't know and probably don't want to know just to get to the substance of the message. Please take a moment to delete all those extraneous e-mail addresses before you forward the message. To delete them place your cursor at the beginning of the list. Hold down the mouse button and drag it to the end of the list and release the mouse button. The list will be highlighted. Hit delete.

There are a lot of other neat aspects available for your personal e-mail set up. Next week's column will explain how to use the address book, block mail from unwanted senders, and take advantage of other options on the toolbar.

If you have any tips, suggestions, or other comments about this, or any other Mac topics, send them to me so that I can share them with other readers.