| REPLY TO AN E-MAIL |
Continuing from the previous, Open An E-Mail, section. To reply to an e-mail you normally open it, read it and then reply to it. I say normally because instead of opening an e-mail in order to reply to it you can also right-click on an e-mail and select its REPLY TO SENDER menu-item in order to reply to it, but this is a rare thing to do. So sticking with the traditional method of reply, make sure you have an e-mail open and then left click on the REPLY button.
After clicking on the REPLY button (Fig 1.0 above) you will then be presented with the above E-Mail Reply window. It contains the standard reply
information (TO, FROM and SUBJECT) and may also contain the Original E-Mail Message, but this depends on your settings. And any
attachments the e-mail had will not be included in the reply e-mail. Hence why the above e-mail's two attachments (two photo files) are missing.
This automatic process of windows live mail 2011 stripping out the attachments on a reply e-mail is a good thing, especially if those attachments are not
meant to be seen by other recipients you may be including in your reply. For example. I am replying to the original sender of the e-mail, so it would not
matter if they saw the attached files (attachments) because they sent them to me of course, but if I were to then add more recipients to the TO edit box
they might be recipients who, I forgot, should not see those attachments. Hence the good reason.
The bad side of this automatic stripping process though is that if you did want all recipients to see the original attachments you would have to re-attach them, after saving them from the original e-mail onto your computer for example. Fortunately, windows live mail 2011 has a FORWARD function just for this purpose (explained in the next section).
TO
The TO edit box is already filled in for you with the sender's Display Name. In this example with my friend Denise Oakdale's display name. Even though
windows live mail 2011 knows the e-mail address behind the display name it protects you by putting the display name only into the TO edit box.....just in
case anyone is looking over your shoulder. If you decide to change the reply e-mail, or want to add more e-mail addresses, for whatever reason(s) you can
do so by clicking on the TO button (explained in the Attach A File
section).
When you reply to an e-mail the sender's e-mail address is normally added to your Contacts List (Address Book) automatically, if the AUTOMATICALLY PUT
PEOPLE I REPLY TO IN MY ADDRESS BOOK AFTER THE THIRD REPLY setting is switched on (ticked) - Go to Options >> Send. This means you can later go
into the Contacts List (Address Book) and edit the sender's details. However. If you have that setting switched off you will have to add the sender's
details to the address book manually - Right click over their Display Name, in a reply e-mail, and then select the ADD TO CONTACTS menu-item.
FROM
The FROM drop-down menu requires an E-Mail Account to use for the reply. The e-mail address of that e-mail account is used as the reply e-mail address. So in Fig 1.4 below I have the choice of using yoingco@talktalk.net or contactjohn@yoingco.com. The default e-mail account (e-mail address) is normally the e-mail account used in a reply but this can be changed by selecting a different e-mail account from the FROM drop-down menu. In normal circumstances though you would leave the FROM drop-down menu alone, especially if you only have one e-mail account, as the correct e-mail account (i.e. the default e-mail account) will have been chosen for you by windows live mail 2011.
SUBJECT
Subject is another edit box that is already filled in for you, like the TO edit box. In the case of a reply it is always filled in by the prefix Re: and the e-mail's original subject. So in this example Re: Two Photos Attached.
You can change the subject if you want to, to let the sender know you have a new subject to talk about for example, but if you do so it's a good idea to
mention the original subject in your e-mail message. So if the reply subject is Re: Merry Christmas (original subject Merry Christmas) and you change it
to New Year Party (with no Re:) you might need to write your e-mail message something like this: Merry Christmas to you as well my
friend....blah blah.....I'm having a New Year Party at my house and was wondering if you would like to come over....blah blah.
A good reason for changing the subject is when you need to write to more than one person with the same message. For example. Suppose one sender e-mailed
you with the subject Merry Christmas and another sender with the subject Happy Christmas and so on. Instead of replying to each sender's e-mail
individually it might be easier to just use one e-mail as the reply e-mail, change its subject into a common subject and then send it to the relevant
people. And to get around e-mails that have private details in them you might write your reply e-mail without mentioning the private details, like
so: Merry Christmas to all of you. Glad to hear you are all well. I am having a New Year Party, to which you are all invited, so we can have some fun and
catch up on everyone's latest happenings.
You can also do the above said by creating a NEW e-mail, but the preferred method is to click on the REPLY button instead as it automatically fills in
certain details for you (as explained above) and means you don't have to close the original e-mail's window in order to create a NEW e-mail. By clicking
on the REPLY button the original e-mail's window is transformed into a reply window and automatically closed when you send the reply e-mail.
The E-Mail Message
By default (normal behaviour) the original e-mail message is always included in the reply message, due to the INCLUDE MESSAGE IN REPLY setting being
switched on (ticked) when windows live mail 2011 is first installed on your computer. If you do not want an e-mail's original message to be included in
your reply message you will need to switched off (unticked) this setting (see the WLM Settings
section) but be warned - This setting applies to all e-mails. Meaning. With this setting switched off no reply e-mails will include the original message.
Switching off that setting can save you money if you are on a P.A.Y.G account, as you would not be sending the original message with the reply e-mail. So
it would take less time and money to send the reply e-mail. You also avoid those occasions when you add another person to the TO edit box and then realise
after sending the reply e-mail that that added person should not of seen the original message, perhaps because there were some private details inside it
only meant for you and the sender.
The original message is intended as a reminder to the sender of what you were talking about previously. It is very easy to forget what you was last
discussing with someone in an e-mail when you send out many e-mails per day or per week, either to the same person or to different people, especially
when you or the sender have the INCLUDE MESSAGE IN REPLY setting switched off. So although in some cases you can accidently let someone see what you have
said to someone else in an e-mail that was meant to be private (as said above) overall it is best to keep the setting switched on (even if it costs a
little more on your P.A.Y.G account). You can always edit the original message.
So to recap. After reading an e-mail's message you click on the REPLY button to reply to that e-mail's message. On the reply window the FROM drop-down
menu allows you to choose which e-mail account to use for the reply. With the TO edit box, which is automatically filled in with the sender's details,
you can add more e-mail addresses by separating each one with a space or semicolon (as explained in the
Attach A File section). The SUBJECT edit box is automatically
filled in with the prefix Re: followed by the e-mail's original subject. If you want to attach one or more files you can do (see the Attach A File section).
That just leaves you to type out your new, reply, message before clicking on the SEND/RECEIVE button.
As you start typing your new, reply, message the original message will move down one line each time you press the ENTER keyboard key or whenever the text
is wrapped around to the next line. This is quite normal. When you have finished typing your reply message click on the SEND/RECEIVE button to send the
e-mail to the sender/recipient(s).
After clicking on the SEND/RECEIVE button the e-mail is first put inside the OUTBOX folder (Fig 1.7 below) just the same as when you send a new e-mail.
This is so that if there is an internet connection problem for example, whereby the e-mail cannot be sent straight away, it can be resent later. If all
goes well, now or later, the e-mail is then put inside the SENT ITEMS folder to acknowledge that it has been sent. If the e-mail was not able to be sent,
for whatever reason(s), it will stay inside the OUTBOX folder until the problem can be solved.
| REPLIED-TO E-MAIL |
Once the SEND/RECEIVE button has been clicked the sender's details are automatically added to the Contacts List (Address Book), if they have not been
added before and only if the AUTOMATICALLY PUT PEOPLE I REPLY TO IN MY ADDRESS BOOK AFTER THE THIRD REPLY setting is switched on (see the
WLM Settings section). This will be done regardless if you are online (with an
internet connection) or offline (without an internet connection).
If you are offline the e-mail goes inside the OUTBOX folder as normal but is not sent due to there being no internet connection. In this case an offline
message would appear, which you would close by clicking on its OK button.
Even though you are offline, and the reply e-mail has gone into the OUTBOX, the sender's details will still be entered into the Contacts List (if the AUTOMATICALLY PUT PEOPLE I REPLY TO IN MY ADDRESS BOOK AFTER THE THIRD REPLY setting is switched on). Therefore the Replied-To (Left Arrow) envelope icon, inside the INBOX folder (Fig 2.1 below), means the e-mail has been replied to only but not necessarily sent. So always check the OUTBOX folder for unsent e-mails and the SENT ITEMS folder for sent e-mails.
To view the Contacts List (Address Book) simply click on the CONTACTS shortcut link, underneath the Folders Pane, to view, edit or delete a contact's details and so on.
In the above example the contact called John Cairns is the default address book entry (contact) created by windows live mail 2011. Everyone who uses windows live mail 2011 will automatically have a default address book entry (contact) created for them.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
