BASIC WINDOWS MAIL INSTRUCTIONS
Note: The Windows Mail program comes free with Windows Vista and replaces the old Outlook Express e-mail program. For a more sophisticated e-mail and contact management program, use the Microsoft Outlook program that comes with the Microsoft Office Suite of programs (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). The Microsoft Outlook program and the Microsoft Office Suite of programs are not free.
TO SEND A NEW MESSAGE:
1) Double-click on the Windows Mail icon on the “desktop.”
2) Click on the Create Mail button. Click on the Maximize button to make the new e-mail composition window full-screen.
Note: The Maximize button is the tiny button that is just to the left of the X or Close button in the upper right-hand corner of the new e-mail composition window.
3) To open your Address Book, which is now called the Contacts list, in a small window, click on the To: button, which is located just to the left of the white box where the recipient’s name goes.
4) Scroll down and click on a name, then click on the To: -> button, which is the button at the top center of the window.
Note: To select multiple names, hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard, then click once on each name. Release the Ctrl key when you are finished selecting the names.
5) Click on the OK button at the bottom of the window.
6) Click into the Subject box and type a subject.
7) Click into the large message area box below and type your message.
8) Click on Send.
9) To see if your message was sent, click on the Sent Items folder on the left. (To return to the messages in the Inbox when you are done, click on the Inbox folder on the left.)
TO READ A MESSAGE:
1) Click on the Inbox icon on the left, if you don't already see the contents of the Inbox when you open Windows Mail.
2) Click on the message “header,” which contains the Subject, Sender’s name, Date, etc. of the message, on the right.
3) Read the text of the message at the bottom. If you don’t see the text, double-click on the message header on the right.
4) To reply to or forward a message, click on the Reply or Forward buttons, respectively, at the top of the Windows Mail window. If you are replying to a message, the sender’s name will automatically go in the Recipient’s box. If you are forwarding a message, then see our instructions above (steps 3 through 5 in the previous section) for addressing a new e-mail message.
TO DELETE A MESSAGE:
1) Click once on the message header, then click on the Delete (the red X) button at the top (or press the Delete key on the keyboard).
2) Periodically, you should empty the Deleted Items folder by clicking on Edit, then on Empty ‘Deleted Items’ Folder.
TO ADD AN E-MAIL ADDRESS TO YOUR ADDRESS BOOK:
1) Click on the tiny Contacts button on the Button Bar at the top of the Windows Mail window. (The Contacts button is the fourth button from the right.)
2) Click on New Contact at the top.
3) Type in the person’s first name, middle name (optional), last name, title (optional), nickname (optional) and any other information you want. Use the Tab key on the keyboard to get from box to box, or just click into the box you want.)4) Click into the E-mail: box, type in the person’s e-mail address, then click on the Add button to the right.
5) Click on the OK button.
6) To send a message to the new contact, scroll down in the Contacts list to the new contact, then click once on the name. Click on the E-mail button at the top of the Contacts window. This will open a new e-mail composition window with that recipient’s name in the To: box.
TO EDIT AN ENTRY IN YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS BOOK:
1) Click on the Contacts button at the top of the Windows Mail window.
2) Double-click on the name you want to change.
3) Click on the Name and E-mail tab. Make the changes you want. If you want to change the e-mail address, click once on the existing e-mail address, then click on the Edit button at the right. Make the changes to the e-mail address, then click on the OK button.
1) Click on Create Mail.
2) Click on the Maximize button to make the e-mail composition window full-screen. The Maximize button is just to the left of the X or Close button in the upper right-hand corner of the window.
3) To select a recipient, click on the To: button, which is the button just to the left of the white box where the recipient’s name goes. This will open your Address Book (Contacts list) in a small window.
4) Scroll down and click on a name, then click on the To: -> button, which is at the top center of the window.
Tip: To select multiple names, hold down the Ctrl key on the keyboard, then click on each name. Release the Ctrl key when you are finished selecting the recipients you want.
5) Click on the OK button at the bottom of the window.
6) Click on the Attach File button, which is the button with the Paper Clip on it. If you cannot see the Attach File button, click on the Maximize button.
7) Scroll up or down on the left to find the Pictures, Documents or whichever folder contains the file you want to attach.
Note: If you cannot see the Pictures, Documents or other folders, click on the Folders button at the bottom left.
8) Scroll down or sideways to find the file you want to attach.
9) Click on the file you want to attach (for example, Letter to the Editor.doc). The .doc “extension” after the file name tells the computer that this is a Microsoft Word document.
10) Click on the Insert button.
11) Type a message in the message area of the e-mail composition window (optional).
12) Type a subject in the Subject: box (optional).
13) Click on the Send button.
TO VIEW PICTURE ATTACHMENTS:
Note: Normally, you can scroll down in the text area of the received e-mail and see the pictures within the body of the text area. Use this procedure if you want to save the attached pictures for viewing later.
1) Click on the faint Paper Clip button at the far right, above the text area box of the e-mail message that you received. You will then see some icons and file names pop up below the Paper Clip button. These icons will have file names such as: Image_0006.jpg or BabyPix.gif. (The last three characters on these file names, such as .jpg, .gif, .tif and .wmf, signify that these are image files.)
2) Click on Save Attachments…
3) Click on the Browse… button, then click on the Pictures folder.
4) Click on OK.
5) Click on the Save button.
6) Return to the desktop, then double-click on your User Name folder (such as John Doe), then double-click on the Pictures folder or wherever you saved the attachment to.
7) Double-click on the file you want to open.
8) If the file is a picture, you can print the picture by clicking on File, then on Print.
Note: See our instructions for the Windows Photo Gallery program for more instructions on printing and editing pictures.
TO RENAME THE FILE:
1) Right-click on the file name, then click on Rename with the left mouse button.
2) Type in the new name for the file, then click anywhere else on the screen.
Note: Do not use slashes ( / or \ ) in the file name! Slashes are one of the forbidden characters in file names in Windows. For example, do not type the date as 1/08 or 1/1/2008. Use hyphens instead: 1-08 or 1-1-08.
TO VIEW OTHER TYPES OF ATTACHMENTS:
1) Click on the faint Paper Clip button at the far right, above the text area box of the e-mail message that you received. You will then see some icons and file names pop up below the Paper Clip button.
2) Click on Save Attachments…
3) Click on the Browse… button, then click on the Documents folder, if the Documents folder doesn’t already show in the Save To box.
4) Click on OK.
5) Click on Save.
6) Return to the desktop, then double-click on your User Name folder (such as John Doe), then double-click on the Documents folder, if you saved the attachment to this folder.
7) Double-click on the document you want to open. This should automatically start the correct program and open the document.
Note: If the computer shows you a list of programs installed on your computer instead of opening the document, you may not have the correct program on your computer to view this document.
8) To print the document, click on File, then on Print.