CREATE  /  SEND  AN  E-MAIL

Assuming you have created an E-Mail Account from the previous (Windows Mail) section, connected to (dialled) your ISP's computer (so making the main internet connection) and then opened windows mail (so making the extended internet connection), one of the things you might want to do next is Create An E-Mail. You could Receive your e-mail first so that you can Reply to it, but here I will explain how to create an e-mail first. Begin by clicking on the CREATE MAIL button, which will open the New Message window.



Fig 1.0  Click on the CREATE MAIL button to create a new e-mail



Fig 1.1  The New Message window

Although the New Message window might look daunting, even though I have made it easier for you by taking out some of the buttons (so you only see the Buttons Of Interest), there are only three main items to fill in when creating an e-mail. The To, Subject and Message edit boxes.


E-Mail  Address

The TO edit box requires an E-Mail Address, which is the e-mail address of the person you are writing TO in this case.

An e-mail address is used an Identifer - It tells your ISP's computer where to send an e-mail to. It also acts as a User Name/Account Name. For example. In this example I will e-mail my friend, who's e-mail address is capili@hotmail.co.uk. When I send the e-mail it first goes to my ISP's computer. From there my ISP's computer forwards it on the Hotmail server (computer). My ISP's computer knows to forward my e-mail onto the UK Hotmail server (computer) because of the hotmail.co.uk part of the e-mail address. When the UK Hotmail server receives the e-mail, from my ISP's computer, it knows to put that e-mail into the INBOX of the user called capili. This is just the same as the post office knowing where to deliver a letter - They know by looking at the Postcode. The @ sign means AT. So the whole e-mail address reads: Capili AT Hotmail dot CO dot UK or put another way: User Name capili has his e-mail stored on the UK Hotmail server. Hotmail is a COmpany in the UK, hence .co.uk.



Fig 1.2  Fill in the TO edit box with an E-Mail Address

Subject

The SUBJECT edit box requires a Subject (E-Mail Title) - Something to do with the nature of the e-mail. For example. If you were talking about a trip to Europe your subject (e-mail title) might be Europeon Tour, Train Information, Itinerary or whatever. As soon as you start typing a subject the title of the New Message window will automatically take the name of your subject. This is quite normal.

Some ISP's do not like to receive an e-mail without a Subject. They may think the e-mail is Junk Mail or a Virus and not send the e-mail any further. They might even send you an error message saying so (i.e "E-Mail had no Subject"...."Could not process this e-mail"). So always give your e-mail a Subject.



Fig 1.3  Fill in the SUBJECT edit box with a Subject (E-Mail Title)

Message

The MESSAGE edit box requires a Message, realistically with at least one word inside it. Normally though the message should be in the form of a small note or a letter.

Just the same as the Subject, some ISP's do not like to receive an e-mail without a Message. They may think the e-mail is Junk Mail or a Virus and not send the e-mail any further. They might even send you an error message saying so (i.e "E-Mail had no Message"...."Could not process this e-mail"). So always give your e-mail a message.


Fig 1.4  Fill in the MESSAGE edit box with a Small Note or a Letter

Now that the three edit boxes have been filled in, the last thing to do is click on the SEND button to actually send the e-mail to your ISP's computer for processing.



Fig 1.5  Click on the SEND button to continue


THE  STATUS  BAR

After clicking on the SEND button, look immediately at the bottom-right corner of the windows mail status bar (window) and you will see various status notifications appearing.

The first status notification is Connecting... which means windows mail is trying to connect to your particular E-Mail Account (in this example the contactjohn e-mail account). Or put more precisely. Windows mail is trying to connect to the OUTBOX belonging to this particular e-mail account, which resides on the ISP's computer. This connecting process uses an extended internet connection.


Fig 2.0  Connecting... to this particular E-Mail Account's OUTBOX

The second status notification is Authorizing... which means windows mail is now verifying/authorizing, with your ISP's computer, the User Name and Password of this particular E-Mail Account.


Fig 2.1  Authorizing... access to this particular E-Mail Account

The third status notification is Sending Mail... which means windows mail is now sending the e-mail to this e-mail account's OUTBOX which resides on your ISP's computer. Your ISP's computer is allowing the incoming e-mail because the user name and password for this particular e-mail account has been verified/authorized. If there is a problem sending the e-mail, for whatever reason(s), you will see an Error notification instead with a seperate window providing details about the error.


Fig 2.2  Windows mail is now sending the e-mail to this e-mail account's OUTBOX



Fig 2.3  Oh dear! There seems to be an Error.

The final status notification just defaults back to the number of e-mails you have in your windows mail INBOX. In this example, because it is the first time to use windows mail, there are no e-mails inside the windows mail INBOX (If you do not count the original "Welcome To Windows Mail" e-mail, which I have deleted for this example).


Fig 2.4  Defaulting back to the number of e-mails inside the windows mail INBOX


LOCAL  FOLDERS

Another thing to look at, after clicking on the SEND button, is the main windows mail folder called Local Folders. It contains the sub-folders INBOX (Recieved E-Mail), OUTBOX (Waiting to be sent E-Mail), SENT ITEMS (Sent E-Mail), DELETED ITEMS (Deleted E-Mail), DRAFTS (Stored/Unfinished E-Mail) and JUNK E-MAIL (Unwanted/Unread E-Mail). These sub-folders are main folders in their own right and function just like any other "Normal" folder. In this example you need to be looking at the OUTBOX sub-folder and the SENT ITEMS sub-folder.

Each time you click on the SEND button the e-mail to be sent is put into the windows mail OUTBOX first, in a "Ready To Be Sent" state. The reason for this is because your e-mail account needs to be verified/authorized before the e-mail can be sent (see above). If your e-mail account cannot be verified/authorized for whatever reason(s) the e-mail will not be sent. It will remain in the OUTBOX until it can be sent, or until you delete it or move it from the OUTBOX for example. If you are Working Offline (writing the e-mail without being connected to the internet, on an extended internet connection) you can still click on the SEND button. The e-mail will then go into the OUTBOX just the same as if you were Working Online (writing the e-mail whilst being connected to the internet, on an extended internet connection).



Fig 3.0  One e-mail is waiting to be sent

Fig 3.0 shows that there is one e-mail inside the windows mail OUTBOX sub-folder. When the e-mail account has been verified/authorized the e-mail will be sent to your e-mail account's OUTBOX on your ISP's computer. There are two ways of knowing your e-mail was sent. Firstly, the windows mail OUTBOX will become empty and you should not of received any errors from windows mail (or from your ISP's computer). And secondly, there should be a record of the sent e-mail inside the windows mail SENT ITEMS sub-folder. To check the windows mail SENT ITEMS sub-folder simply click on the sub-folder.


Fig 3.1  Click on the SENT ITEMS sub-folder to check if your e-mail was sent

As you can see, the e-mail to my friend Capili was sent successfully. I say successfully meaning successfully to my e-mail account's OUTBOX. If my ISP's computer has any problem(s) sending the e-mail to Capili's e-mail account (INBOX) my ISP's computer will inform me of this by e-mailing me back with a message such as "E-Mail could not be sent....etc". This is known as a bounced e-mail (like a Bounced Cheque or Return To Sender).

If you have more than one e-mail to be sent then obviously the OUTBOX will have more than (1) displayed next to it. Also. A 1KB sized e-mail will be sent quicker than a 100KB sized e-mail for example.

So just to recap. You create an e-mail and then click on the SEND button. Your ISP's computer then verifies/authorizes the e-mail account details sent to it by windows mail (i.e the contactjohn e-mail account details). If all goes well the e-mail is then sent from windows mail's OUTBOX to the e-mail account's (contactjohn's) OUTBOX that resides on your ISP's computer. Your ISP's computer, after verifying the e-mail further (for Viruses and Spam/Junk content for example), then sends the e-mail to the recipent's (Capili's) ISP's computer. It in turn puts the e-mail into the recipent's (Capili's) e-mail account INBOX. When the recipent (Capili) then checks his e-mail he should find your e-mail in his INBOX.



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