Composing a basic message in
Windows Mail is straightforward, and it isn’t all that much different
from composing a letter or memo in WordPad. There are a number of ways
to get started, not all of them well known. Here’s a summary:
In Windows Mail, select Message, New Message; press Ctrl+N; or click the Create Mail toolbar button. In Internet Explorer, pull down the Page menu and then choose one of the following commands:
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| Send Page by E-mail | Select this command to create a new message with the current web page as the content of the message. | | Send Link by E-mail | Select
this command to create a new message with a URL shortcut file attached.
This file is a shortcut for the current website that the recipient can
click to load that site into Internet Explorer. |
In a web page, click a mailto link. This creates a new message addressed to the recipient specified by the link. In
Windows Explorer, right-click a file and then click Send To, Mail
Recipient. This creates a new message with the file attached.
From here, if you
have multiple email accounts, use the From list to select the account
from which you want to send the message. Use the To field to enter the
address of the recipient; use the Cc field to enter the address of a
recipient that you want to receive a copy of the message; use the Bcc
field to enter the addresses of any recipients you want to receive blind
copies of the message. (By default, Windows Mail does not display the
Bcc field. To see it, select the View, All Headers command.) Note that
in each field you can specify multiple recipients by separating the
addresses with a semicolon (;).
Use the Subject field to
enter a brief description of the message, and then use the box below the
Subject field to enter your message. To send your message, you have two
choices:
Select File, Send Message (or press Alt+S)— This tells Windows Mail to send the message out to the Internet right away. Select File, Send Later— This command tells Windows Mail to store the message in the Outbox folder. If you choose this route, Windows Mail displays a dialog box telling you that your message is stored in the Outbox
folder. Click OK. When you’re ready to send the message, select the
Tools, Send and Receive, Send All command in the Windows Mail window.
Taking Control of Your Messages
Windows Mail offers
many more options for composing messages than the simple steps outlined
in the previous section. Here’s a summary of the other features and
techniques you can use to modify your outgoing messages:
Choosing the message format—
Pull down the Format menu and select either Rich Text (HTML) or Plain
Text. If you select the HTML sending format, use any of the formatting
options found on the Format menu or the Formatting toolbar. Remember,
however, that not all systems will transfer the rich text formatting
(although most will). Setting the message priority— Select
Message, Set Priority, and then choose the level—High, Normal, or
Low—from the submenu that appears. Alternatively, drop down the Set
Priority toolbar list and then click the level you want. Attaching a file—
Select Insert, File Attachment, or click the Attach File to Message
toolbar button, use the Open dialog box to select a file, and then click
Open. Windows Mail adds an Attach box below the Subject line and
displays the name and size of the file. To remove the attachment, click
it in the Attach box and then press Delete. Tip
Another way to attach a file to a message is to drag the file from Windows Explorer and drop it in the body of the message.
Inserting a file into the message—
Depending on the type of object you want to work with, Windows Mail
gives you two methods of inserting objects (first click the position
within the message where you want the file inserted):
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| Inserting file text | If
you have text in a separate file that you want to add to the message,
select the Insert, Text from File command. In the Insert Text File
dialog box that appears, select the file and click Open. Windows Mail
adds the file’s contents to the message. | | Inserting an image | To
insert an image file into the message, select Insert, Picture. In the
Picture dialog box that appears, select the image file and click Open.
Windows Mail inserts the picture into the message. |
Applying stationery—
Email stationery is a predefined message format that includes a
background image and text. This is essentially a web page to which you
can also add your own text. You choose stationery by selecting the
Format, Apply Stationery command, and then picking out the stationery
you want from the submenu that appears. Note that you can also begin a
message with specific stationery by selecting the Message, New Message
Using command in Windows Mail and then selecting the stationery.
(Alternatively, drop down the Create Mail toolbar list and click the
stationery you want.) Working with Stationery
To set default
stationery, select Tools, Options and then display the Compose tab. In
the Stationery group, activate the Mail check box and then click the
Select button to the right of that check box. Use the Select Stationery
dialog box to choose the default stationery and then click OK. Note that
the stationery files are HTML files, so if you know how to create your
own web pages, you can also create your own stationery. Be sure to store
the web page file in the following folder:
%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Stationery
Another
way to create stationery is to click the Create New button in the
Compose tab. (This button is also available in the Select Stationery
dialog box.) This launches the Stationery Setup Wizard that takes you
through the steps required to create custom stationery.
Inserting a signature— A signature
is text that appears at the bottom of a message. Most people use a
signature to provide their email and web addresses, their company
contact information, and perhaps a snappy quote or epigram that reflects
their personality. If you’ve defined a signature (see the next
section), you can insert it into the body of the message at the current
cursor position by selecting Insert, Signature. If you’ve defined
multiple signatures, select the one you want from the submenu that
appears. Requesting a read receipt—
To ask the recipient to send you a read receipt, select the Tools,
Request Read Receipt command. Note that you can also set up Windows Mail
to request a read receipt for all outgoing messages. In the Windows
Mail window, select Tools, Options and then display the Receipts tab.
Activate the Request a Read Receipt for All Sent Messages check box, and
click OK. (Of course, asking for a read receipt is one thing, but actually receiving
one is quite another. Unless the recipient’s email client is set up to
automatically send read receipts when requested, the decision on whether
to send a read receipt is up to the recipient, and most people opt not
to send them.) Digitally signing or encrypting a message.
Creating a Signature
A signature is a few lines of text that provide
contact information and other data. Windows Mail enables you to define a
signature and append it to the bottom of every outgoing message (you
can also insert it by hand in individual messages). Follow these steps
to define a signature:
1. | In the main Windows Mail window, select Tools, Options to open the Options dialog box.
| 2. | Display the Signatures tab.
| 3. | Click New to add a new signature to the Signatures list.
| 4. | The
default name for each new signature (such as Signature #1) is not very
informative. To define a new name, click the signature, click Rename,
type the new name, and then press Enter.
| 5. | You now have two choices:
- Type the signature text by hand— Activate the Text option and type your signature in the box provided.
- Get the signature from a text file— Activate
the File option and enter the full path to the file in the box
provided. (Alternatively, click Browse to choose the file from a dialog
box.) In this case, note that if the file is in HTML format, the
recipient might not see your signature correctly if their email client
doesn’t support HTML or (more likely these days) the recipient has opted
to view all messages in plain text.
| 6. | If
you want Windows Mail to add the signature to all of your messages,
activate the Add Signatures to All Outgoing Messages check box.
| 7. | If
you’d rather use the signature only on original messages, leave the
Don’t Add Signature to Replies and Forwards check box activated.
| 8. | Windows
Mail adds the default signature automatically if you activated the Add
Signatures to All Outgoing Messages check box. To set a signature as the
default, select it in the Signatures list and then click Set as
Default.
| 9. | To
associate a signature with one or more accounts, select the signature
in the Signatures list and then click Advanced. In the Advanced
Signature Settings dialog box, activate the check box beside each
account with which you want to associate the signature. Click OK.
| 10. | Click OK to put the signature options into effect.
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Creating an Email Shortcut for a Recipient
If you don’t leave
Windows Mail open all day, when you want to send a message it can seem
like a lot of work to start the program, compose the new message, send
it, and then close Windows Mail. You can save yourself a couple of steps
by creating an email shortcut for a particular recipient on your
desktop or in a folder such as Quick Launch.
When you open the shortcut, a new email message window appears, already
addressed to the recipient. You fill in the rest of the message and
send it, all without starting Windows Mail. Follow these steps to create
an email shortcut:
1. | Display the desktop or open the folder in which you want to create the shortcut.
| 2. | Right-click the desktop or folder and then select New, Shortcut. The Create Shortcut dialog box appears.
| 3. | In the text box, type the following (where address is the email address of the recipient; see the example in Figure 1):
| 4. | Click Next.
| 5. | Type a title for the shortcut (such as the person’s name or email address).
| 6. | Click Finish. |
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