Composing Email

Composing new email messages (Back to Top)

  1. To compose a new email message click the Compose tab. A blank compose pane displays.  
  2. Enter the email address of the person or persons to whom you are sending the message in the To: field. You can also add addresses to the Cc or Bcc. To look up a person's email address, on the compose toolbar click . You can search the contact lists for specific names. Check whether the name should be added as a To, Cc, or Bcc address.
  3. Enter the subject of the email in the Subject line.
  4. Enter the body of the message in the text box below the Subject line. See Using the rich text editor

If you configured a signature, your signature is added automatically to your message.

  1. To add an attachment, click Add Attachments.
  2. If you want the message flagged as high priority, change the priority selected.  This is found on the right of the subject line.
  3. Click Send to send the message. If you have enabled, Save copies of messages to Sent folder, a copy of the message is saved in your Sent folder.

If you do not want to send the message immediately, click Save Draft. The message is saved in the Drafts folder.

Parts of an email message (Back to Top)

An email message consists of the following general components:

Headers

The message headers contain information concerning the sender and recipients. The exact content of mail headers can vary depending on the email system that generated the message. Generally, headers contain the following information:

  • Subject. Subject is a description of the topic of the message and displays in most email systems that list email messages individually. A subject line could be something like "2007 company mission statement" or, if your spam filtering application is too lenient, "Lose weight fast!!! Ask me how."
  • Sender (From). This is the senders Internet email address. It is usually presumed to be the same as the Reply-to address, unless a different one is provided.
  • Date and time received (On). The time the message was received.
  • Reply-to. This is the Internet email address that will become the recipient of your reply if you click the Reply button.
  • Recipient (To:). First/last name of email recipient, as configured by the sender.
  • Recipient email address. The Internet mail address of the recipient, or where the message was actually sent.

Body

The body of a message contains text that is the actual content, such as "Employees who are eligible for the new health care program should contact their supervisors by next Friday if they want to switch."  The message body also may include signatures or automatically generated text that is inserted by the sender's email system.

Attachments

Attachments are optional and include any separate files that may be part of the message.

Adding your signature automatically (Back to Top)

You can create signatures for your email messages. Your signature can include your name and additional closing text to the maximum number of characters that your account allows.

For example, your signature could read:

John Smith
Vice President of Engineering
Widgets Division
Acme Corporation, Inc.
303-555-1212 x111
john.smith@example.com

If you create multiple identities, you can create multiple signatures and assign them to different addresses. See Mail Identities.

To create a signature:
  1. Open Preferences and select the Signatures tab.
  2. In the Signature Name field give your signature and identifiable name.  This is not your signature.
  3. In the Signature text box, type the signature information exactly as you want it to appear in your messages.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Go to the Accounts tab to select the signature to display in your messages. In Primary Account Settings, Signature field, select the signature name created in step 2.
  6. Click Save.

Automatic address completion (Back to Top)

The autocomplete feature suggests names as you type directly into the To, CC, and BCC boxes for a new message. A list of possible addresses from your contacts list that start with the text you typed is displayed.

As you continue to type into the To: field, the list of matching addresses will become smaller, as fewer matches are available. The list disappears if there are no more matches.

Example

For example, suppose you wanted to send an email message to David Brinks, whose email address happens to be dbrinks@acme.com. As soon as you typed the first "d" into the address field, a list appears showing all possible matches, with the matching portions highlighted. In this case, it might display:

Dale Edwards <ded@acme.com>

David Brinks <dbrinks@acme.com>

Erica Dodd <erica878@xyz.com>

As you type more characters into the To: field, the corresponding list of matches grows smaller.

Matching

The autocomplete feature matches the text you type against the following parts of a contact:

  •  First name
  •  Last name
  • Email address

Matching is always done against the beginning of the field. The text "bob" will match "bob smith" but not "billybob smith".

Using autocomplete

Once your text matches one or more of your contacts, the matches will be displayed in a list below the field you are currently editing. By default, the first match will be highlighted.

Several keys you can type trigger special behavior. The mouse may also be used to select a match.

  • The comma, semicolon, Return/Enter, and Tab keys all trigger completion. The text you have typed will be replaced by the currently selected match.
  • Click the ESC key hides the list.
  • Clicking the mouse on a match selects it for completion.

The fact that a single key (such as semicolon) causes completion can be used to quickly enter addresses. If you know a few characters that will cause a certain contact to be the first match, you can type those and then a semicolon, and that contact's address will appear. For example, if I know that "db" results in a first match of David Brinks, I can type "db;" and the full address "David Brinks <dbrinks@acme.com>" will appear in the address box.

Attaching files to your message (Back to Top)

Email messages can include attachments. You can attach documents, spreadsheets, pictures, slide shows and other types of files.

To attach a file to a message:
  1. Compose the message as described in Composing a new email message.
  2. Click Add Attachments. A new pane displays, allowing you to upload up to 10 attachments.
  3. To upload a file, click Browse... to locate the file.
  4. Select the file and click Open.
  5. Upload additional attachments in the same way.
  6. To show the images that you upload in your message body, enable the Show images in message body checkbox.  
  7. When all the attachments have been added, click Attach. The attachments are listed under the subject line.
  8. When the message is ready to be sent, click Send to send the message and the attachments.

  • Note: Recipients of your mail message must have the appropriate software to open and read the file. For files created in commonly used packages such as Microsoft Office, other users on a typical desktop system will be able to open them. Common file formats such as text files, HTML files, and images such as .GIF or .JPG files can be opened in a variety of programs. However, it depends on what type of system the user is on.

To delete an attachment, uncheck the box next to the attachment before you send the email message.

Attachment file types (Back to Top)

You can attach any file on your file system that you can find using the browse button.

You can open any file attachment directly from the Mail Client, provided that your workstation has the right application and the extension is not blocked by your system administrator.  For example, to open a document created using Microsoft Word, you need to be able to run Microsoft Word on your computer.

On most computers, the file type is indicated by the extension, which is usually a period followed by a three-letter code. Examples could include files such as expenses.xls or New-Items.doc. If the file type is one that is supported by the installed software on your computer, you can typically double-click the file and your computer will automatically launch the right application for reading that file.

Many types of files can be opened directly from your browser using various plug-ins. Usually, if you click a file link on a page, your browser automatically detects whether or not you have the right plug-in, and prompts you to download it. Note that your system administration policies may not permit end users to download and install any sort of software.

  • Notes:
    On Windows computers, the computer assumes that the file type in the filename matches the actual format. Even if the file is correctly formatted internally, if it does not have the right file type extension in the filename, your computer may not be able to recognize it and open the right application for you.

    An increasing number of computer viruses have been designed to spread via file attachments. Therefore, in some environments, system administrators have opted to block incoming mail containing certain types of attachments, most notably files with the extension .EXE or .ZIP as part of their filename. If you send an email message to someone whose email system has been configured to block certain types of attachments, you may or may not receive any notification that was blocked.

For your reference, here are some widely used file extensions.

  • .TXT - indicates a text file, which is a file containing only text information. Text files can be opened and read using a wide variety of text editors, including Notepad, WordPad, Word, command-line editors, browsers, and even spreadsheet programs.
  • .HTM - Indicates an HTML file, a special type of text file that is usually opened using a Web browser.
  • .ZIP - Indicates a file that has been compressed using ZIP compression. You will need WinZip or another compression program that can read and expand the ZIP file.
  • .EXE - Indicates an executable or program file. Double-clicking such a file usually launches the application.
  • .DOC - Indicates a Microsoft Word document file.
  • .JPG - Indicates a graphical image in the JPEG format. You can open JPEGs in a browser or by using one of a variety of graphics programs such as Paint or Adobe Photoshop.
  • .GIF - Indicates a graphical image in the GIF format. You can open GIFs in a browser or with a graphics program.
  • .MPG - Indicates a movie clip or animation in the MPEG format. Often playable with a browser plug-in or a player such as Windows media Player.
  • .WMV - Indicates a movie clip in the WMV format, which is a Windows-only format.
  • .PDF - Indicates a document in Acrobat Reader format. You can typically open it from within your browser using a plug-in.

Using HTML editor (Back to Top)

You can compose your messages using HTML as the rich-text editor.  Messages created using HTML can have text formatting, numbering, bullets, colored background, tables, and links which can make messages easier to read.

  • Some email clients may not accept messages formatted in HTML.

You set the HTML editor as your default editor and set the default font settings, including style, size and color from the Web Client the Preferences, Composing tab.

Check the spelling (Back to Top)

You can check the spelling in messages you compose when you have the Compose in HTML feature enabled. Enable Compose in HTML from your Preferences, Compose tab.

When you compose a message, the spell-check button appears in the toolbar.

Saving messages as drafts (Back to Top)

You can save your message as a draft to be completed and sent at a later time.  Messages are saved in your Draft folder until you send them or delete them from the folder.

To create a draft to be edited later:

  • Compose your message.

  • Click Save Draft.
  • The draft message is saved to your Drafts folder.
To retrieve a draft message
  • Open the Drafts folder, click on the message.
  • You can compose and send the completed message as normal. When sent, the message is removed from the Drafts folder.