In the rest of these Windows Live Mail 2011 sections I assume you have created an E-Mail Account (see previous section), have a live connection to the internet and have Windows Live Mail 2011 open. Assuming YES to all of these requirements the next thing to do is Create An E-Mail. You could Receive An E-Mail first so that you can Reply to it, but here I will explain how to create an e-mail first.

To create an e-mail begin by clicking on the EMAIL MESSAGE button (located on the far left of the Ribbon - The ribbon is the main toolbar). Doing so will open the New Message window (Fig 1.1).

Fig 1.0  Click on the EMAIL MESSAGE button to open the New Message window




Fig 1.1  The New Message window allows you to create a new email

Although the New Message window might look daunting, 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 deniseoakdale@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 deniseoakdale. 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: Denise Oakdale AT Hotmail dot CO dot UK or put another way: User Name deniseoakdale has her 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 the e-mail address of the person you are writing TO

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 European 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 meaningful 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

After clicking on the SEND button, look immediately at the bottom-right corner of the windows live mail 2011 status bar (window) and you will see various status notifications appearing.

The first status notification is Connecting... which means windows live mail 2011 is trying to connect to your particular E-Mail Account (in this example the contactjohn e-mail account). Or put more precisely. Windows live mail 2011 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 live mail 2011 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 live mail 2011 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 separate window providing details about the error.

Fig 2.2  Windows live mail 2011 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 live mail 2011 INBOX. In this example, because it is the first time to use windows live mail 2011, there are no e-mails inside the windows live mail 2011 INBOX.

Fig 2.4  Defaulting back to the number of e-mails inside the windows live mail 2011 INBOX

Another thing to look at, after clicking on the SEND button, is the main windows live mail 2011 folder called LOCAL FOLDERS. It contains the sub-folders INBOX (Received 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 live mail 2011 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 live mail 2011 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 live mail 2011 OUTBOX will become empty and you should not of received any errors from windows live mail 2011 (or from your ISP's computer). And secondly, there should be a record of the sent e-mail inside the windows live mail 2011 SENT ITEMS sub-folder. To check the windows live mail 2011 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 Denise Oakdale 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 Denise Oakdale'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 live mail 2011 (i.e the contactjohn e-mail account details). If all goes well the e-mail is then sent from windows live mail 2011'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 recipient's (deniseoakdale's) ISP's computer. It in turn puts the e-mail into the recipient's (deniseoakdale's) e-mail account INBOX. When the recipient (Denise Oakdale) then checks their e-mail they should find your e-mail in their INBOX.

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