Assuming you have been following the last two sections, and have connected to (dialled up) your ISP's computer and then opened windows mail, I will now show you how to Attach A File to an e-mail.

Remember. An e-mail must have the TO, SUBJECT and MESSAGE edit boxes filled in before it can be classed an e-mail. These are the three main components that make up an e-mail, just the same as a Letter for posting must consist of a Letter, a Stamp and an Envelope. And just the same as a Letter can have something enclosed inside the envelope, such as a Photograph or a Cheque, so can an e-mail. One external file, such as a photograph file, enlcosed inside an e-mail is known as an Attachment and two or more external files are known as Attachments.

Although a photograph file for example could be inserted into an e-mail, as a signature or background for example, most of the time it is easier to just insert the photograph file as an Attachment (as an external file). That way people can seperate the photograph file from the message. In other words. They can read the message and then save the attached photograph file, as a seperate file, onto their computer for example.

To attach a file to an e-mail you first need to create an e-mail. You do this in the same way as the last (Create E-Mail) section. So click on the CREATE MAIL button (Fig 1.0) and then fill in the TO, SUBJECT and MESSAGE edit boxes (Fig 1.1).

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



Fig 1.1  Fill in the TO, SUBJECT and MESSAGE edit boxes

When you fill in the TO edit box for a second time, as you start typing the first letter of an e-mail address the AutoComplete feature will match that letter to one or more previously typed e-mail addresses. For example. If you have previously typed yoingco@hotmail.co.uk and yoingco@yahoo.com typing the letter y will automatically suggest the two e-mail addresses. If you want to use one of the suggested e-mail addresses either use the Up/Down Cursor keyboard keys to highlight an e-mail address and then press the ENTER keyboard key to select it or simply click on an e-mail address to select it. If you do not want to use one of the suggested e-mail addresses carry on typing out your wanted e-mail address.

Fig 1.2  Type a letter into the TO edit box....




Fig 1.3  ....so you can select a previously typed in e-mail address.

The e-mail address, by default (normal behaviour), is always shown twice in the TO edit box (Fig 1.1 above). The second e-mail address is the proper e-mail address enclosed with < > brackets, but the first e-mail address is meant for the person's name. If you want to change the first e-mail address right click on the e-mail address, to bring up its Optins menu, and then select the ADD TO CONTACTS menu-item to then bring up the Properties window for that e-mail address (Fig 1.5 below). From there, click on the NAME AND E-MAIL tab (window) to change the First and Last name for the e-mail address.

Fig 1.4  Right click on an e-mail address and then select the ADD TO CONTACTS menu-item



Fig 1.5  The Properties window for the selected e-mail address



Fig 1.6  Change the First and Last name for the selected e-mail address

The summary TAB (window) in Fig 1.5 above states that the Name (person's name) for the selected e-mail address is the same as the e-mail address itself. This is because the FIRST NAME edit box in Fig 1.6 above initially has the same e-mail address inside it. In this example though I have changed the first and Last names, which is what you need to do as well. When they have been changed click on the OK button to exit the Properties window and go back to the New Message window. The TO edit box, on the New Message window, will still have the two e-mail addresses inside it. To see the changed first e-mail address (the person's name) you must close down Windows Mail completely and then re-open (re-launch) it. When you go to create a new e-mail again the person's name will then show instead of the first e-mail address.

Fig 1.7  The person's name is now shown instead of the first e-mail address

Making the e-mail address a contact (Windows Contact), instead of just an e-mail address, is a good idea. Especially if you are using a Junk E-Mail Safe List that blocks certain e-mail addresses but at the same time allows/trusts your contacts (Windows Contacts).

If you want to e-mail more than one person, type each person's e-mail address into the TO edit box seperating each e-mail address with a Space and a Semicolon. Alternatively. Click on the TO button (Fig 1.8 below) to open the Select Recipients window (Fig 1.9). From there, select a recipient's e-mail address and then click on the TO: -> button to add that recipient's e-mail address to the Message Recipients list (Fig 1.10). Keep adding recipient's e-mail addresses in this way and when you have finished click on the OK button to take you back to the New Message window.

Fig 1.8  Click on the TO button to open the Select Recipients window



Fig 1.9  Select a recipient's e-mail address and then click on the TO button to add it to the Message Recipients list



Fig 1.10  Click on the OK button to return to the New Message window

To select more than one recipient's e-mail address in one go either hold down the CTRL keyboard key as you select each recipient's e-mail address (Fig 1.11) or click on the first recipient's e-mail address and then hold down the SHIFT keyboard key before clicking on the last recipient's e-mail address (Fig 1.12). This causes a range of e-mail addresses to be selected whereas the CTRL keyboard key method allows you to select/de-select a particular e-mail address. If you select a range of e-mail addresses you can still de-select/re-select an e-mail address within that range using the CTRL keyboard key method.

Fig 1.11  Keep the CTRL keyboard key held down as you select each e-mail address




Fig 1.12  Select the first e-mail address, keep the SHIFT keyboard key held down and then select the last e-mail address.




Fig 1.13  More than one e-mail address will be sent this e-mail

When you have filled in the TO, SUBJECT and MESSAGE edit boxes click on the ATTACH button to bring up the Open file requester. It will allow you to open a file (Fig 1.15) which will then be attached to the e-mail (Fig 1.16).

Fig 1.14  Click on the ATTACH button to attach a file



Fig 1.15  Find/Select the file you want to attach and then click on the OPEN button to continue

Once you have found, selected and then OPENed the file you want attaching to the e-mail the file requester will close and you will be sent back to the New Message window which is now renamed after the Subject (i.e the Photograph Attached window). Underneath the SUBJECT edit box you will notice a new, uneditable, Text Box called ATTACH. This displays the name and size of the newly attached file. If you want to delete the attached file (attachment) simply click on it and then press the DEL (delete) keyboard key. To attach another file follow the above two steps again (Fig 1.14 and Fig 1.15). In this example I only attached one photograph file (john.jpg). When you have finished attaching your file(s) click on the SEND button to send the e-mail.

Fig 1.16  Click on the SEND button to send the e-mail and any attachment(s)

If you need more examples of using a file requester look at the example in the Open A File section and the example in the Save A File section.

With regards to the size of each attached file (attachment) it is always a good idea to calculate the combined file sizes, as many e-mail accounts are restricted on how much data they can send/receive at any one time. Not only that. It is always curtious to send only a few files at a time due to the storage capacity of someones INBOX. For example. If my friend's INBOX has a capacity of 10 Megabytes and I send him 7 Photos of 1 Megabyte each, that leaves only 3 Megabytes for his other friend's and/or himself to use. And how would I know the storage capacity of my friend's INBOX? Answer. I would not know. The only way I would know is when I send him an e-mail and I get an error: "Could not send e-mail", "Recipient's INBOX is full" or errors to this effect.

If you need to preview an attached file, perhaps because you have forgotten what is inside it, you can double click on it and it will be opened - usually by the program that made it or by a program associated with its file extension (file type). For example. If you double click on a photograph file (i.e john.jpg) the Windows Photo Gallery viewer program will open that file if it is the default program associated with the .jpg file extension.

Fig 2.0  Double click on an attached file to preview it

To delete one or more attached files select each attached file in turn, right click on one of the selected attached files to bring up the Options menu and then click on the REMOVE menu-item. Alternatively. Do as just said but press the DEL (delete) keyboard key instead of right clicking on an attached file.

Fig 2.1  Right click on an attached file to bring up the Options menu

Deleting one or more attached files only removes their entry from the Attach list. The original file(s) will not be deleted. Hence the name REMOVE instead of DELETE.

Clicking on the OPEN menu-item is the same as double clicking on an attached file. The program associated with the file's extension will be opened. So if the file extension is .docx Microsoft Word 2007 will normally open that kind of file, unless some other program has been set as the default program for opening .docx files.

Clicking on the ADD menu-item is the same as clicking on the ATTACH button. A file requester will open so that you can find/select a file to be attached.

After clicking on the SEND button (Fig 1.16 above) 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 3.0  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 3.1  Authorizing... access to this particular E-Mail Account's OUTBOX

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



Fig 3.3  Oh dear! There seems to be an Error.

At this stage, because a file is being sent with the e-mail as well, the sending time to the ISP's computer will be longer. It is times like these, especially with a large file, when a simple Sending Mail... notification is not adequate. You could be looking at the Sending Mail... notification for 10 seconds (broadband) or 10 minutes (P.A.Y.G) for example. So it would be nice if windows mail had some sort of guage. And fortunately it does. Just double click on the Sending Mail... icon and the guage will appear.

Fig 3.4  Double click on the Sending Mail... icon to see the progress guage



Fig 3.5  The progress guage shows how much of the e-mail has been sent

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

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 4.0  One e-mail is waiting to be sent

Fig 4.0 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 4.1  Click on the SENT ITEMS sub-folder to check if your e-mail was sent

As you can see, the e-mail and attached file was sent to my friend Capili successfully. The attached file is denoted by the Paper Clip icon. 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.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.

All HTM files in the yoingco.com folder and its sub-folders are (c) John White, August 3rd 2005 - 2008. All Rights Reserved.    FREE Vista Helpline: Contact John