In this guide we shall see e-mail attachments, mailing lists, search, address book, HTML mail, mailto: links, complaints.

ATTACHED FILES

You can attach files to your e-mail messages. This means that you add a file which could be a text file (eg. a Word file), a spreadsheet, an image, and HTML document or other types of file to your message. You simply tell the e-mail software that you would like to attach a file, then indicate which one, and the software will include it in the message. The recipient only needs to double click the attached file icon to open it.

In order to attach a file:

Messenger:

1. From the New Message window:

• Click on the File - attach
• Browse the file
• Open

2. From the Composition window:

• Attach label (click on the white area):
• Browse the file
• Open

Outlook Express:

1. From the Attach File button:

• Click on Attach File
• Browse the file
• Attach

2. From the Insert Menu:

• Insert Menu - File Attachment
• Browse the file
• Attach

Activity

1 - Send a message to a friend with an attached file (it can be an image file, but try to make it a small one for it will take time to send and receive it). Send yourself a copy.

2 - Check that it arrived well.

MAILING LISTS

A Mailing list is a list of e-mail addresses of people who are interested in the same subject. These people share their messages through e-mail. When someone sends a message, it goes to the whole list.
One can reply only to the member who has sent the message, or to the whole list. You can also just receive messages without sending any.

Lists can be used to get messages on any subject.

Eg: Information on musical shows to come, ticketing information, jokes, scientific news etc...

The two types of lists are:

• Announcement lists: where you receive messages but don't post them.

• Debate lists: all can send and join in the conversation.

There are many places to find mailing lists. Some are:

 

Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists:	http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/
Liszt.com:	http://www.liszt.com

In order to subscribe to a list, you must send a message to the Administrator of the list and ask that he adds your address to the list. It usually works like this:

• Don't write a subject

• Don't send a signature file

• Just send the subscribe command (space) name of the list in the body of the message

• Sometimes it requires other data (like your name)

Eg: Subscribe list (name)

The Administrator, (a computer in the case of Listserver and Majordomo, two common systems) reads the messages, interprets them, and responds to the request. This is why it is important not to 'speak' to the administrator in your subscription e-mail message (for the machine won't be interested!). Generally you receive a response telling you how to participate in the list.

TIPS FOR MAILING LISTS

• Subscribe to the short/condensed version of the mailing list if there is one. This way you will avoid an avalanche of e-mail.

• Save the instructions you receive from the administrator of the list in order to know how to work with the list and ask to be un-subscribed.

• Cancel or stop the list if you go on holiday and don't want them to keep adding to your server space.

3 - Visit the following site: http://www.neosoft.com/internet/paml/ and see the amount of available lists.

4 - Subscribe to a list from your machine. Check the appropriate steps. Each list has its own specific way to subscribe. The ones controlled by a computer, (not a moderator) may reply instantly.

E-MAIL ADDRESS SEARCH

There are many search tools available for searching e-mail addresses for people, but they don't include all addresses.

WED World Email Directory
Bigfoot.com

http://people.yahoo.com/

AOL NetFind

internet @ddress finder

ADDRESS BOOK

The Address book is just that, but in electronic format. You can store information about your contacts and make groups for sending to multiple recipients. The information is stored in the form of cards. You can store:

• Names
• Nicknames
• E-mail addresses
• Addresses
• Telephones
• Fax
• Comments

To load information in the Address Book:

Messenger: Communicator menu - Address book Click on the New card button Fill in
Outlook Express: Click on the Address book button Click on the New contact button Fill in

5 - Load some addresses of friends in your address book.

When you are writing a message, you don't need to write the full address. Simply open the address book and pick the address you need. In fact, if you begin to type out the address and it is in the address book, the e-mail software will usually fill it in for you.

 

Messenger:

Outlook Express:

HTML E-MAIL

With new software programs, you can send messages in HTML. This is the web page language. The composition window will have a toolbar which allows formatting to be added to the message.

Messenger:

Outlook Express:

6 - Write a new message to a friend. Address the message using the address book.

7 - Format the message using the tools you are familiar with.

8 - Send the message.

Note: Since old software couldn't receive HTML, if it is the first time you send to someone, some software asks you if you are sure the recipient can receive HTML messages.

LINKS MAILTO:

In most websites there is a mailto link: (send mail to:).

This link allows sending a message to the person in charge of the site and/or whoever that sector of the website refers to.

They work very simply. By clicking on the link, a composition window from your e-mail software will open, and the address will already be loaded for the recipient. You just need to add a subject and a message.

COMPLAINTS

If you ever receive e-mail and want to complain regarding it, (either because it is inappropriate, obscene etc...) you can do the following:

Send a copy of the message to the senders Internet Provider.
This can be done by sending the message to any of the following two addresses.

postmaster@serverX

abuse@serverX

In this example, serverX is the section of the address that follows the @ in the senders. (the domain). Many people nowadays are forging e-mail addresses, but it might be worth a try.