E-Mail, a reflection of you!

Remember that e-mail is different than other forms of communication. Being a good letter writer does not necessarily mean that you can communicate effectively by e-mail. Because the turnaround time can be so fast, e-mail is actually more akin to conversation than it is to formal written communication. The point of e-mail is to get a speedy--not a flawlessly eloquent--endways message to the recipient. However, even quick e-mail notes are a reflection of your personality, so don't make the mistake of thinking that grammar and spelling are completely unimportant.

I get a lot of e-mail. Some of it is well written, accurate, and to the point. However, I also receive sloppy, poorly written e-mail where all rules of the English language have been broken. I encourage you to be one of the better class of writers. Here are a few simple e-mail rules that will allow you to put your best foot forward:

1. Write a descriptive subject line.
2. Be concise and to the point.
3. Read e-mail before you send it.
4. Use a spell checker. If your e-mail program does not have spell-check, upgrade to a version that does.
5. Use the proper capitalization. Typing all in caps is considered shouting in the on-line world. Typing all in small letters makes you look lazy.

Remember that e-mail and postings on newsgroups can travel around the world. I recently sent e-mail to an American company. The response came from a woman working for that company in South Africa. She didn't know the answer, so she passed it on to someone else. The second response came from Australia. That party forwarded my question to someone else. The final answer to my question came from a gentleman in Charlotte, North Carolina. Remember, you don't always know where your e-mail will wind up. Not everyone on the Internet has the same customs or background. Try to be respectful of this in your correspondence.

Addressing E-Mail

Subject Line

After you address the e-mail, you will next have to fill out the e-mail subject line. This is very important. Try to state your subject clearly and succinctly using as few words as possible. When the other person receives your e-mail, he will see your name and subject before he sees anything else. If the recipient is a person like me who receives an abundant amount of e-mail, he might not recognize your name and he will often use that subject line to determine the importance of the mail.

Sending your e-mail

After you fill in the subject, press the tab key to get down to the main part of the e-mail message. Compose your message. Then send it by finding the icon or menu choice that says "Send Mail" or "Send and Receive." (Be sure that you are connected to the Internet first.) If you happen to hit send without being on-line, don't worry. You message will be queued or readied to be sent and will should be automatically sent the next time you log on to the Internet.

Once you press the send button, your message is on its way. It can take anywhere from a minute to several hours to be received by the other party. The length of time is determined by the status of the Internet and the number of connections that must be made for completion of the transaction. Luckily, in most cases, the mail goes through quickly and easily.

Checking to make sure your message was sent

Newbies in the e-mail world are often left scratching their heads after they have sent their first few e-mail messages. They are not sure if the message was sent or not. In fact, I often receive e-mail messages twice. In most cases, these are from people who have sent the message again because they are not sure if it was sent correctly the first time. If you want to be sure that your message was sent, there is a place to look. By default, sent mail goes to the out-box. Look through the menu choices or icons to find the out-box. When you open that box, you will see some indication that your message has been sent. In most programs, the message is marked with a check mark. If the message is marked with a "Q" it means that the message was not sent, but was only queued, or readied to be sent. This often happens if you try to send e-mail without being on line. If your message has a "Q" in front of it, just double-click it to open it again and then press "Send."

 In- Box- Out- box

Most e-mail software has similar features. There is an in-box where your new, unopened mail is delivered. Open your mail by clicking the mouse. That piece of mail is then displayed on your screen. After you read the mail, you can send it to the wastebasket or store it in a file for future reference.

Your program will also have an out-box for mail that has already been sent. (The out-box is sometimes called "Sent.") You can check your out-box to make sure that the message has been sent. Each e-mail program is slightly different here. If you use Eudora, you can easily see if your e-mail has been sent because it will appear in your out-box with a check next to it. Internet Explorer shows the date and time that it was sent in the out-box. Please investigate your program so you can be confident that your e-mail was sent.

Using the Address Book

Just as with a hand-written address book, you keep all of your e-mail addresses here. The easiest way to send e-mail is to enter the name of the person that you want to communicate with into the address book first. In most programs, you will have an icon that looks like a miniature book. You click on that icon and enter your friend's name. You enter his or her e-mail address. Then you click on the word or icon in your program that indicates that you want to send mail to that person. Every e-mail program is slightly different. In most, you click on the word "To" or on the "Send Mail" icon. Then you will be presented with a new screen where you can create your message. The name and address of the party you are sending the e-mail to will be filled in automatically. If fact, you will never have to enter his or her e-mail address again. Each time you want to write to that person you will simply go to your address book and choose that person's name.

You can manually enter each name and e-mail address by opening the address book and entering information. But there's an easier way to add some names. If you receive e-mail from someone, you can add the address to your address book without having to type it in. Again, you must find out how your particular e-mail program works. To do this, check out the menus at the top of the screen. For example, in Eudora, highlight the e-mail message from the person that you would like to add to the address book; then choose "Special"; then "Make address book entry." When you do this, the name and address are automatically added to your address book. To do the same thing in Netscape Navigator, highlight the message; choose "Message," then "Add to Address Book." In Outlook, you simply right-click on the person's name and choose "Add to Address Book". The terminology in each program is different, but the idea is the same.

Once you have discovered how add names to the address book, you will find that feature very useful. After you have a person's e-mail address in your address book, you can simply open your address book and double-click on the name of your choosing, and the program will bring up a screen for you to compose e-mail to that person. If you use this method to address e-mail, the software program does all the addressing, and you don't have to struggle with those cryptic e-mail addresses. This feature is a real timesaver.

If you haven't been using this feature, you can still add address from previously received e-mail. Simply open the out-box or the trash, open the e-mail from the person that you want to add to the address book, and have the program add it automatically by using the above techniques.

Replying to mail

You can also reply to any e-mail that you receive. Simply click on the piece of mail to open it. Then click on a reply icon. Compose your reply and click on the send icon. The program will address the reply for you automatically. Often a program will show you the original message with small symbols like this >> in front of each line. This is to remind the other person what you are replying to. It is usually best to type your reply above the original message.

Organize

As usual, organization is important. As you receive e-mail, your in-box can fill up quickly. Therefore, after you read a message, you will want to move it from your in-box to another location. You have several choices here. If you do not need to keep the message, you can delete it. To do that, drag the message to the trashcan, or simply highlight the item in question and hit the "trash" icon, depending on the program that you are using. If you want to save the message for future reference, you need to create a place to keep it. Again, each program is slightly different, but you will be creating a "mailbox" or "folder" to keep your mail in. In Netscape Navigator, you choose "File," then "New folder" to create a new folder to keep your messages in. If you are using Eudora, you choose "Mail Box," then "New" and create a new mailbox. After you have created a place to keep the messages; simply use the mouse to drag them to the proper file or mailbox. Get in the habit of keeping your in-box tidy. It's easy to miss an incoming piece of e-mail if your in-box is messy. The best system is to read your mail, then move it immediately to another folder.

Netiquette

The Internet has spawned a new type of etiquette, called Netiquette. The Internet and e-mail provide a certain kind of interaction between individuals that is unique in the world today. There will be times when you so strongly disagree with another's opinion that you would like to respond with a posting or e-mail that shows excessive outrage or personal attack. This is so common on the Internet that there is even a name for it. It is called flaming. Sometimes flame wars develop between groups of people. If you feel like flaming someone, my best advice is this: Take a deep breath, hang up your modem, and think about it a little before you take action. With the Internet, it is easy to send messages to multiple people or newsgroups. A new kind of junk mail, called spamming is the result. Spamming is not only bothersome, but in many states it is illegal. Many Internet providers will cancel your account if you are caught flaming or spamming. Emoticoms Since none of us enjoys typing too much, many shorthand expressions have become commonplace in e-mail and on the Internet. You will run across many acronyms. I'll give you a brief rundown here:

Reading & Composing E-Mail Off-line

Computer users are signing up for Internet access in record numbers. Even if you have an account that offers unlimited access for a set monthly charge, it is a good practice to be as brief as possible. You should log onto the Internet, retrieve your mail, and then immediately log off. For users with an average amount of e-mail, this will probably take two minutes or less. Your mail is still available for you to read when you are off-line. If you would like to respond to your mail or write new mail, do so while you are off-line, then log on to send your mail. Many users stay on-line while they read and compose mail. If each user stays on-line while he does this, and each Internet service has hundreds or thousands of users--well, you get the idea.

It is also a fact that many Internet Service Providers will automatically disconnect you when they do not see you actively sending or receiving information while connected to the Internet. Since there is no on-line activity when you are reading or composing e-mail, you will often get disconnected, or even more irritating, you may be constantly asked if you want to remain on-line. So, doing your e-mail work while off-line may be a more pleasant experience.

Sending Attachments

Sending e-mail attachments is not as difficult as it seems. You can send any file by attaching it to your e-mail. You attach a file either before or after you write the actual e-mail. Find the icon that will create an attachment. It usually shows a piece of paper with a paper clip attached to it. If you don't see such an icon, look through the menu choices until you find the one that says, "attach file."

A box will pop up that will allow you to choose the file that you want to attach. This is actually the tricky part. And the trick is to know where the file you want to attach is located. You will need to use the down arrow to choose the place where the file is located. It will usually be on the C: drive. You may have to double-click on file folders until you find the right file. When you find the right file, you click "Open" or "Okay." You will then be transported back to your e-mail. Notice that under "Attached" in the header you will see the name of your file. Finish writing your e-mail, if you have not already done so. When you hit the "Send" button, your e-mail and attachment will be on its way.

You can test this by sending yourself e-mail and checking whether the file has been properly attached.

Receiving Attachments

When someone sends you e-mail with an attachment, you will generally see it as an icon at the bottom of your e-mail with a name next to it. In most cases, you can just double-click on the icon to start the program and view the file. However, there can be a problem if someone has sent you a file that was created with a program that you don't have on your computer. If nothing happens when you double-click on the attachment, try starting an appropriate program such as Word, choosing "File," then "Open." Use the arrows to locate the attachment which is usually on the drive where your mail program is installed (usually c:) in the "Attachment" folder of your e-mail program. If you know the file is text, start WordPad or a word processor to try to open the file. If you know the file is a picture, use a graphics program. If you still can't see the contents of the file, contact the person who sent it and have him send it in another format.

E-Mail is Not Private

Never assume that e-mail is confidential. Without encryption, the possibility exists that e-mail can be accessed and read by others. Your recipient can also forward it to others. The rule to follow is easy: Don't send anything that you wouldn't mind seeing on the evening news.

                                
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