Sending s in Windows Live Mail

Transcription

1 Windows Live Mail is primarily used to send and receive s, but it has additional tools such as a calendar and event reminder. It is a free program that can be downloaded from Microsoft and installed on any computer. It can be thought of as an updated version of Outlook Express (on Windows XP computers) and Windows Mail (on Windows Vista computers). If you ve previously used Outlook Express or Windows Mail, you will notice that in many ways it s very similar. These programs are known as clients. Even if you re not connected to the Internet, you can still see past messages and view your contacts and calendar. When you reconnect to the Internet you can send and receive new messages. The other method is called web-based , where you have to be connected to the Internet (see page 3 of 7500 An introduction to e- mail). Methods of inserting addresses Windows Live Mail has a New button at the top left of the window, which when clicked displays a window entitled New Message. The cursor will be in the To: box and there are three methods of inserting an address from someone in your Contacts list (address book). Method 1 The insertion of a character in the To: box will display a drop down menu from which the required recipient can be selected The Business Highway Ltd 2010 Ref: 7701 v1.0

2 In the example shown above, there are seven addresses from which to choose the intended recipient. Click the required entry to insert that contact into the To:> box. Method 2 The To: area on the New Message window can be clicked to display a Send an window that sits on top of the New Message. Click on the required person s entry in the list and click the To:-> button to insert them in the box to the right of this button. The Business Highway Ltd Ref: 7701 v1.0

3 Note that you are also able to use this window to Cc or Bcc to a recipient (see below). Click the OK button to close this window and expose the New Message window now with the name(s) of the recipient(s) in the To: box. Method 3 Click the Contacts entry in the bottom left of the Windows Live Mail to display a new window with your Contacts (address book) displayed within it. Either: (a) click the name of the desired contact to select it followed by a click on the button; or (b) hover mouse over the name and a small menu appears adjacent to the entry and click Send With any of the three methods above, the result will be that the name of the entry(ies) appearing in the To: box of the New Message window. The Business Highway Ltd Ref: 7701 v1.0

4 Note that the description in the To: box is the display name not the actual e- mail address. Behind the display name should be a correct address the one you have in your Contact list. Using methods one or two above to insert a name into the To: box will allow you to add additional recipients. Using Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc) When sending an to a number of different people, you should generally use Blind Carbon Copy. This prevents anyone seeing any else s address and is just the appropriate etiquette in the majority of cases. Not only is this good practice, but it also helps to prevent spammers acquiring a whole bunch of addresses (this can happen, for example, if one of the people in the list has a computer that s not adequately protected). So, should you wish to keep the recipients on an message unaware of who else is being copied in on it, you should use Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc). In Windows Live Mail the Cc and Bcc boxes are not shown by default, but can be made to display every time a new window is called up. This is achieved by clicking the Show Cc & Bcc link on the right of a New Message window. If no address is inserted into the To box, the recipients will just see the words Undisclosed-Recipient in the To line. No other recipient that was entered in the Bcc box will be visible. It is generally best to insert your own in the To box. It is a matter of security and good manners to not share everyone s address with everyone else, so the Blind Carbon Copy is a useful tool when sending one to a group of people. Using Carbon Copy (Cc) People may be carbon copied in the same way as shown above for blind carbon copying. If someone is carbon copied, the recipient(s) in the To: box can see that they ve been sent a copy. Those who have been The Business Highway Ltd Ref: 7701 v1.0

5 carbon copied can also see others who have been sent the . In the above example, when he receives the , Mozart can see that Batman and Einstein also have a copy of the , but none of them knows that Shakespeare has a copy. Typing in an address If the person to whom the is to be sent is not in the Contacts list, the address can be typed directly into the To: box. Just bear in mind that there is always a risk of either incorrectly entering an address or being given an incorrect address, so, for those people to whom you regularly send s, it s best to have them in your Contacts list. Compose and send the When the correct recipients are in the To, Cc or Bcc boxes, a heading for the should be typed in the Subject box. Note that using the Tab key on the keyboard is a good method of moving the cursor one box at a time (holding down the Shift key whilst tapping the Tab key takes the cursor back one box). It is not wrong to insert a long subject in an , but is much better for the recipient if just a word or two is in the subject line. So, for example, Come to our barbeque on Monday 17 th June at 2:00pm could be the subject line, but it would be better to type Barbeque invitation as the subject and the detail of it in the main body of the . Complete the message in the main area of the and click the Send button to send the . The Business Highway Ltd Ref: 7701 v1.0