Anatomy of an Email: Gmail Edition

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In order to keep up in this class on E-mail students must be somewhat familiar with using a computer online. We will be creating an e-mail account for each student (time permitting) so if you do not think you are prepared for this, feel free to look-on with a neighbor! There is a Glossary at back of packet. If I go too fast or you have questions, let me know! This class is tailored for the library computers. Other computers may look or behave differently because of the security features we have installed here at the library.

In this class we are going to learn how to create an email account, how to send and receive emails, and some basic maintenance skills.

Twenty years ago e-mail accounts were not so common, but in today’s world having an e-mail is almost required and expected. It is not only a faster way to communicate with friends and family, but also with businesses and others. If you had an e-mail address, you could send a letter to a Radio station DJ, to your State Representative, to Oprah Winfrey even! Some businesses will even send you special promotions or coupons through your e-mail account if you give them your e-mail address. But you have to take that first step and create an e-mail account!

In order to have an E-mail account you must sign up with an E-mail Service Provider (ESP).

Explain further about free accounts versus paid accounts – not much difference in access; mainly ISP at-home Sometimes, though, free email accounts come with advertisements. For example, Yahoo’s free email accounts have a one or two line ad at the bottom of each email you send -- Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. The ads are not obtrusive; you barely notice them. Accounts that you pay for – such as AOL or MSN – do not have ads. That’s the difference between Free and Fee!

You create your email address. If you choose Yahoo as your ESP, the second half of your e-mail address will be Yahoo’s information, but the first half is what you come up with. Millions of people use email accounts with hundreds of ESPs and the likelihood of getting your first choice for an email address is not very high, especially if you have a very common name or word you choose, such as John Smith. Sometimes you have to alter your “name” to an available version. For example, John Smith may alter his name to JohnSmith2007 or JSmith_Blue07. Capitalization does not matter – the computer will read a capital or lowercase letter the same way, so don’t worry about whether you should capitalize a name or not. Letters, numbers, periods, underscores and hyphens are the only characters allowed in an email address. You cannot use asterisks, ampersands, slashes, or other similar characters.

E-mail is composed of folders, files, actual e-mail messages, addresses/contacts, etc. The general layout is the same with ESPs. You can personalize your e-mail account sometimes with different colors, text sizes, and folders to help you organize your e-mail messages. The default folders include: Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Bulk/Spam, and Trash

The inbox is a folder within your e-mail account that displays received e-mails. Can delete e-mails to reduce account size, but it’s not so necessary anymore because many ESPs have increased space Spam is inevitable. Most ESPs provide a check-box system that will block an e-mail address and report it as Spam. Spam is sometimes removed from Inbox to either Bulk/Trash/Spam folder, or completely deleted by the ESP from your account. You can create specific folders to help organize your e-mails. For instance, if you want to separate all the e-mails you get for school, create a folder called SCHOOL and then check the box beside those emails that are school related. Some ESPs provide a way to mark (check, mark unread, flag for follow up, star, etc.) specific emails for follow up, etc. Gmail uses LABELS rather than the term FOLDERS when organizing emails.

Most ESPs give you the option to save a copy of the emails you send out, which are kept in the Sent folder. Some ESPs will automatically save any/all emails you write in the Sent folder, but not all. To see if the default is set to save all sent messages, check for a Preferences or settings page. On Yahoo mail, the settings for saving Sent messages is within the Sent folder.

Sometimes you want to save a copy of a message that you’re writing before you send it. For example, you might need to stop in the middle of the message to do something else. When this happens you can save the message in progress as a draft in your Draft folder . Later, you can open the message, finish writing it, then send it, or even save it to the Draft folder again. Until you hit Send, the email will remain in the Draft folder.

Spam is any message or posting, regardless of its content, that is sent to multiple recipients who haven’t specifically requested the message. Because the Internet is a public network, little can be done to prevent spam, just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However, the use of software filters in e-mail programs can be used to remove most spam sent through e-mail. Do not reply to junk e-mail , even to ask to be removed from the sender's mailing list. You may only be confirming that your e-mail address is valid. It is best to delete the message and to set up the junk e-mail filter. Never send your personal information (credit card numbers, passwords, etc.) in an email. Spammers can fake the format of your ESP and other trusted sites. Most ESPs will never ask you to send your password or credit card information by email. Usually there will be a button on your Email account that reads “Junk” or “Spam”. By selecting the box next to an email message then clicking this button, your ESP will (1) remove the message from your inbox, (2) register the sender’s email address as a spammer, and (3) often automatically block that sender from messaging you again. Sometimes you must set up your email account to block spammers. The most effective way to prevent spam from entering your Yahoo! Mail Inbox is to use SpamGuard . Other common terms: Junk mail Bulk mail UCE (Unsolicited commercial mail) UBE (Unsolicited bulk mail)

Trash cans or folders are the delegated area where the message you have selected as ‘trash’ or ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ are sent. Depending on your ESP, the Trash folder will randomly be emptied. You can often empty it yourself. Trash is not the same as Delete. Delete will completely remove the message. It is possible to retrieve messages from the Trash folder up until it has been empited.

To send an email to anybody – friend, relative, business, etc. – you must first have access to the Internet. If you do not have Internet at home, you can use the Library’s computers. The second thing you need is your own email account, which will we set up today. Many people don’t realize that in order to send someone else an email they must first have one themselves! The third needed item is the email address of the other person. There are no generic email addresses; each is very specific. If you do not know the exact email address (or even if the person has one!) you cannot send him an email message. Ask people you know for their email addresses. Your email messages do not have to be very long and can even just be a quick “Hi, how are you?”

Cc: stands for "carbon copy." Anyone listed in the Cc: field of a message receives a copy of that message when you send it. All other recipients of that message can see that the person you designated as a Cc: recipient has received a copy of the message. Bcc: stands for "blind carbon copy." This is similar to the Cc: feature, except that Bcc: recipients are invisible to all the other recipients of the message (including other Bcc: recipients). For example, if you send a message To: johndoe@yahoo.com and Bcc: janedoe@yahoo.com, then johndoe sees himself as the message's only recipient. Janedoe, on the other hand, is "in the know"—she can see that you sent the message To: johndoe, and that you blind-copied her. To add an entry in the Bcc: field, click the "Show BCC" link to the right of the "To:" field.

Larger picture in handout, just after the class outline page (2 nd page)

Anatomy of the email address: Name of the person @ symbol Name of the ESP If you have saved/added an email address into your contacts list, a person’s name will appear in the To box. Most often you can have more than one email address in the To field, separated by commas. E-mail etiquette says if you are writing a message to one person but want others to see it as well, to put the recipient’s email address in the To field and the others in the CC field. There are two additional fields where you can enter email addresses: CC and BCC. CC is taken from the business format, an abbreviation for Carbon Copy, which means you are sending the exact email to additional people. Performs the same function as adding email in the To field. If you're sending a message to several people and want to hide/make private each recipient's email address, you can use the blind carbon copy feature. Simply enter the email addresses that you do not want to display to the recipients in the Bcc field of your composed message.

The title of the e-mail communication. The subject line is often too vague or left blank, which does not help the recipient to know what the email will be about. For example, if you were to receive an email from an old friend, one you’d never emailed before and did not recognize the email address, with a subject line of “Long time” or “hello”, you might mistake it for Spam. Sometimes the number of characters (letters, numbers, etc.) can be limited within the Subject line, so it’s best to be precise and brief. Save the bulk of what you have to say for the Body.

The largest “box” of the email is the Body section, which is where you type the message. This can be formatted with different colors, font styles and sizes, and even background images (like stationery paper), depending on the ESP. Most ESPs do not limit the number of characters you can enter into the body.

Once you open and read an email message, you will probably want to reply to it. You can reply to the person who sent you the message (the sender) by clicking on Reply or Reply All (if there was more than one sender). The sender’s email address will now appear in the To field, since you are replying to that person; the Subject line will remaining the same, with the addition of RE. The original message will be viewable with an added space in the body to type your reply.

Attachments are any files – pictures, documents, etc. – that you add to an email message. Most often they are represented by the ESP as a paperclip, symbolizing an attached document . Usually you can double-click the paper clip to open the attachment. If it does not open, your computer may not have the right software to read the file. Computer viruses can be shared from one infected computer to another computer through attachments, so do not open files from people you do not know! .Doc – Document; Microsoft Word Files . Exe -- An executable file; Usually, this extension means that the file is a program. .Html, .Htm -- Hypertext Markup Language is the basic language used to write web pages. .Jpg, Jpeg -- (Joint Photographic Experts Group) One of the two most common image file formats on the Internet today. JPEG, or JPG, is a graphics file format (similar to GIF) which is used more for photographs and other images containing many colours and shading. .PDF -- Portable Document Format. An electronic document that must be read with the Adobe Acrobat computer program. .Wmv -- Windows Media Video file, a file format used for delivering digital video and audio.

You can send just about any file from your computer as an attachment to an email. Click on the add attachment option (icon, link, button, etc.). You’ll be redirected to another screen (sometimes a pop-up browser) and you will have to browse through your computer folders to find the exact file. Double-click the chosen file to attach. Multiple files can be attached, but remember: Files will increase the size of an email, and can slow it down when trying to send it and open it. Many ESPs used to limit the size of the Email account, and emails with attachments took up a great deal of that space. If an email account was too full, incoming messages could “bounce” back to the sender. Now ESPs provide a much larger storage capability, so users do not get bogged down. (IE, You are currently using 1 MB (0%) of your 2889 MB. ) You may have to click another button, such as Continue on to message.

Most ESPs come with a program called an Address book which works like a regular address book: it stores the email addresses and other information with your account so that you don’t have to remember them! Some ESPs will even display a prompt to save a new email address after you’ve used it in a new message You can even select addresses to be grouped together under one contact name so that everybody will receive the message. For example, you can take the addresses for your immediately family members and group them under “Family”. When composing an email, use the group name “Family” in the To field and all the previously selected e-mail addresses will automatically be added to the message.

Forwarding an email falls in between replying or composing an email. To forward an email you received, click the forward (fwd) button. The original message appears in the body; the Subject line is the same, but now has FWD: in front. Forwards can be either sent as “inline text” or attachments. Inline means the orignal message appears within the body of the email. Attached will add the original message as a file for the new recipients to open. Either method is fine. Type the email addresses you want to forward this message on to in the To field, then click Send.

It can be difficult to find a particular email message you received if you have kept EVERY EMAIL, and all in your Inbox! Create folders to better organize you messages. Since space is not much of an issue anymore, you do not have to delete old messages, but you might want to weed out some of the really old ones, or ones you don’t need anymore. Some ESPs require you log in at least once every 30 days in order to keep the account Active. If you don’t, it is possible the ESP will delete your account, along with every email message you have, and can even lock down your email address for as long as six months. Even if you have a Spam filter in place, check your Trash/Bulk folders every so often, too, because it is always possible that a “good email” slipped past.

Just a few final reminders… Be sure to check your spelling. If the email address is not exact, it will not reach the intended person. Spelling throughout your email message does not necessarily need to be correct, but it most ESPs include a Spell Check option. Online yelling is defined as typing in all capital letters. Flaming is inflammatory, hostile or derogatory email. Both are considered rude, so try to avoid doing either. Log into your email account at least once every 30 days to avoid deletion. It’s recommended to check it sooner than that, though, because you may have a build up of emails waiting for you, some of which could be time-sensitive (just like real mail)

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Anatomy of an Email: Gmail Edition - Presentation Transcript

Purpose
- This class will show you how to create an E-mail account, send and receive E-mails.
- In order to get the most out of this class, you should already know how to use a computer and be familiar with the Internet.
Defining E-mail
- E-mail stands for Electronic Mail.
E-Mail Service Providers
- The most common ESPs include:
Free Vs. Fee
- Most E-mail accounts are accessible from any computer with Internet connection.
- Many ESPs provide free E-mail access.
- Some ESPs (like AOL) are the default E-mail provided with your at-home Internet Service, but can still be accessed anywhere.
Signing Up
- You must sign up with an ESP to create an E-mail account.
- Requires some personal information, including your name, age, and often your zip code.
- E-mail address is made up of three parts:
- Example: JohnSmith2008@gmail.com
Navigating Your E-mail
- Folders and files help organize your E-mail.
- Additional personalized folders can be created.
- Usually appear on the left side of the screen.
Inbox Folder
- The inbox displays received E-mails.
- Can include read and unread E-mails.
- Manage your Inbox by:
Sent Folder
- E-mails you have composed can be stored in the Sent folder
- Not always automatically saved
- Check preferences/settings
Drafts Folders
- Stores E-mails “in progress”
- Return to the message when you want, to make changes, add more information, and more.
- Draft E-mails have not been sent to the recipient.
Bulk or Spam Folders
- Folder designated to automatically siphon Junk or Spam messages
- Often automatically scheduled to empty
- Does not count against E-mail account size
Identifying & Reporting Spam
- Defined as unwanted electronic junk mail
- Impossible to block all Spam
- Most E-mail Service Providers use filters to delete or block most Spam
- Never respond to Spam!
- Never send your personal information
- Report Spam to your ESP
Trash Folder
- Messages marked as Spam/Junk stored temporarily
- You can select which messages are trash
- Various schedules for permanent deletion
- Different from Delete option
Composing an E-mail
- Things needed to compose an E-mail:
Parts of a New Message
- There are three essential fields to complete:
- The “From” portion is unnecessary because you have logged into your E-mail account.
- CC and BCC are added options
Anatomy of an E-mail
Anatomy of an E-mail: To
- The address of the person to receive the E-mail
- [email_address]
- Sometimes appears as just a name
- Additional recipients in TO, CC, and BCC fields
Anatomy of an E-mail: Subject
- A title for your E-mail message
- Tells the recipient what the E-mail is about
- Possible to leave empty, but not recommended
- Number of characters can be limited
Anatomy of an E-mail: Body
- Area of the E-mail for the message
- Can be formatted
- Length depends on you and your ESP
Replying to an E-mail
- Click Reply or Reply All
- The sender’s E-mail address will appear in the To field
- The Subject line will have RE added
- The original message will often still be visible
Send
- Once the E-mail message is ready, click Send and it will be sent to the recipient(s)
Attachments
- Files that have been added to an E-mail message
- Often symbolized by a paperclip image
- Double-click to open
- Viruses can be attachments
- Common types of attachments include:
Adding Attachments
- Most files on your computer can be added as an attachment
- Click the Attach button
- Browse for the file
- Double-click to attach
- Multiple files can be attached on an E-mail
- Can slow an E-mail down
Addresses & Contacts
- Store E-mail addresses in the Address Book
- Prompts to save new E-mail addresses after sending a message.
- Create E-mail Groups
Forwarding an E-mail
- To send a received E-mail to another person
- Add the addresses to whom you wish to forward the message in the To field
- Can be “inline” or “attached”
Maintaining Your E-mail
- Create and Use Folders to organize
- Delete old messages when necessary
- Check your inbox regularly
- Check your Trash/Bulk folders
Reminders
- Check your spelling
- E-mails are not always instantaneous
- Don’t “yell” or “flame”
- Be sure to correctly enter the recipient’s address
- Check your account often to avoid overload or deletion
Practice makes perfect!
- If you don’t practice your E-mail skills, you might forget them.
- If you ever have any trouble while on a computer at the library, please don’t hesitate to let us know!