Using E-Mail

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Using Outlook Express

The layout of Outlook Express is basically split into three panels - a panel down the left-hand side which displays the Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items and Draft folders. The larger, right-hand panel is split horizontally into two - the top part displays the contents of whatever folder is selected from the left-hand panel. Therefore, if the Inbox folder is selected on the left, the contents of the Inbox is displayed in the top part of the right-hand panel. Clicking on an item from this list displays the message in the lower part of the right-hand panel.

Sending a message

Click the Create Mail button on the toolbar to open a New Message window as illustrated below. Type in the e-mail address of the person you wish to contact in the "To" field and a subject heading in the "Subject" field. Now you're ready to type in your message. Click your cursor within the large message field and type away.

Worried about your spelling? No problem, once you have finished typing your message click on the Spelling button and Outlook Express will check the spelling of your message.

Attaching a photograph or any other kind of file to your message is easily done by clicking the Attach button on the message toolbar and then navigating to the file that you wish to attach. Once you have attached a file to your message you may notice that another field now appears under the Subject field which displays the name of the attached file and its file size. Any files you attach to a message will not disappear from your computer when you send your message, any attachments sent are a copy of the original file.

Finished your message? Now click on the Send button and the New Message window will disappear. If you configured Outlook Express as outlined earlier, the message you just typed will now be sitting in the Outbox. Once you are ready to send your message, connect to your Internet Service Provider and, once connected, click on the Send/Receive button on Outlook Express's toolbar. Your message will then be uploaded and a check made for any new messages waiting for you.

Outlook Express has many other features not covered here, but you should now feel confident in sending your first e-mail message. Once you've discovered e-mail there's no going back - and you'll soon realise why the regular post is referred to as Snail Mail!

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