Email for Beginners
Congratulations! You've already moved beyond the basics of surfing the Internet!
Now, you're ready for the joys of e-mail. (E-mail is still the #1 way to use the Internet,
so welcome to the Good Stuff!)
Starting Out
Phone calls require phone numbers, postal letters require addresses including streets and towns,
and e-mail requires an address too. Do you already have an address? If not, then you'll need to
create one. Click here to investigate how to
get a new e-mail address.
Do you already have an address, but you don't know what it is? If so, then click
here to investigate further.
Once you have an e-mail address, then it is simply a matter of finding the e-mail address of your
friends, relatives, businesses, and anything else that could possibly pique your fancy. Armed with
an address (or 2, or 3, or more!) you're ready to begin.
There are a number of ways to use e-mail. First, (and probably where you are now) you can use an
e-mail account for free. Hotmail and Yahoo are two of the biggest free e-mail providers, but there
are a lot more, believe me! If you are using an e-mail program that is running on the computer in front
of you, then the most common e-mail programs are Outlook, Eudora, Messenger and Pine. Again, there
are lots of others, so don't worry if these names don't sound familiar.
Regardless of the method, all e-mail is used in the same way:
To create an e-mail, you must select the option which reads "Compose" or "New Mail".
Next, you need to specify the destination e-mail address, usually in the space following the "To:".
Next, you need to specify the destination of the carbon copy (or copies) of this e-mail. Even though we don't use carbon, this is still the easiest way to explain it! This information goes in the space following the "Cc:".
For those of you who want to be experts, the next space is usually labelled "Bcc:". Can you guess what that means? Well, if you guessed "Blind Carbon Copy" you'd be right! If you enter an address here, then the addresses you've listed above will NOT know that you've copied this e-mail to other people. Believe it or not, this option is getting more and more use.
Next, you need to specify the subject of this e-mail, usually in the space following the "Subject:".
(I told you this was easy!)
Next, you get to actually type your message! Feel free to be as formal or informal as you wish.
Also, you might want to experiment with different character combinations. Here are some common "symbols":
:) happy face
:-) happy face (with nose!)
--> <-- arrows (for emphasis!)
Are you all finished? If you are, then you need to choose "Send".
If you've got your e-mail setup properly, you should be able to change "Folders"
to your "Sent Mail" or "Sent Items" folder. If the e-mail you've just sent can be found here, then you've done all you can. Now it is up to the Internet to do its job.
Did you get an error message? Click here to
problem solve.
