Using email

An email client, a software program for writing, checking and sending email, is generally made up of a number of windows. The main windows of this software are:

• Incoming, In, Inbox: This represents the main mailbox for receiving email,
• Sent, Outbox, Out: These are copies of messages that you have sent.
• Deleted, Trash: The trash bin containing deleted emails. When emails are shown in the trash, you can still retrieve them. To permanently delete them, you will need empty the trash bin.
• Folders: Most clients can be used to file emails in folders, much like folders on a hard drive.

Email fields

Here are the meanings of the fields to be filled in when you send an email:

• From: this is your email address; most of the time you will not have to fill in this field, because it is generally set by the email client according to your preferences.
• To: This field is used for the recipient's email address.
• Subject: this is the title that your recipients will see when they want to read the email
• Cc (carbon copy): this allows an email to be send to a large number of people by writing their respective addresses separated by commas
• Bcc (blind carbon copy): This is a Cc, except that the recipient does not see the list of people in the Bcc field
• Message: This is the body of your message

The Carbon Copy function sends a copy to people not directly involved with the message but whom you wish to keep up to date with the message contents or show that you sent the email to the recipient(s).

The Blind Carbon Copy function makes it possible to forward messages without any of the recipients or even the hidden recipients seeing that the message is being forwarded to them. It is generally recommended when sending an email to many people to forward it using Blind copy so as to prevent one of the recipients from replying to everyone or assembling a list of addresses.

Other email functions are:

• Attached Files, Attachments: A file can be attached to an email by specifying its location on the hard drive.
• Signature: If the email client allows it, you are often able to set a signature, meaning a few lines of text which will be added to the end of the document.

What to do with a message

There are many operations that can be performed on emails:

• New, Compose, Write: Write a new message
• Erase, Delete, Remove: Erase a message
• Store, Save, Backup, Drafts: Copy a message into a safer place
• Print: Print a message
• Reply: Send a reply message to the sender (sometimes including their own message in the body of the document, with each line preceded by the symbol ">" and "Re:" followed by their chosen subject as the title, to show that it is a reply. The Reply All button makes it possible to send a reply to the sender as well as everyone else who had been put as a recipient or on copy.
• Forward: Forwards the message to someone else, letting them know that the message comes from you. The subject is generally preceded by Fwd: to indicate that it is a forwarded message.
• Redirect, Transmit: Forward a message to someone, letting them know where it originally came from. The subject is generally preceded by Fwd: to indicate that it is a forwarded message.