introduction to e mail - libnet handouts/introductionemail.pdf1 * class description this covers the...
TRANSCRIPT
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ClassDescriptionThis covers the creation of an e‐mail account in both Gmail from Google and Yahoo! Mail. It explains how to sign into
and sign out off an account; how to create and send an e‐mail message; how to reply to and forward an e‐mail message;
how to add an attachment to an e‐mail before sending and how to save an attachment from an e‐mail which has been
received. It also covers some basic e‐mail netiquette.
ClassLengthOne and one‐half (1½) hours
IntroductionElectronic mail, commonly called e‐mail or email, became available in 1993. It is a method of exchanging messages from
an author to one or more recipients with an option to include digital attachments (such as documents, spreadsheets,
databases, pictures, videos, sound recordings, and more). E‐mail messages are received just seconds after they have
been sent, but replies can be delayed to a time more convenient to the recipient and the messages can be saved as a
record of communication.
Objectives Create an e‐mail account
Learn how to sign into an account
Learn how to sign out of an account
Learn how to compose an e‐mail message
Learn how to reply to an e‐mail message
Learn how to forward an e‐mail message
Learn some basic e‐mail netiquette
Learn how to attach a file to an e‐mail being sent
Learn how to save a file from a received e‐mail
Thisisahandoutforyoutokeep.Pleasefeelfreetouseitfortakingnotes.
Introduction to E‐mail
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CreatinganE‐mailAccountThere are a number of no‐cost, web‐based e‐mail providers:
NAME Web Address Mailbox Storage*
Maximum Attachment Limit
Inactivity Time Allowed Before Account Closure
AOL Mail http://webmail.aol.com/ Unlimited 25 MB 3 months
ContactOffice http://www.contactoffice.com/ 500 MB to 15 GB
50 MB 9 months block / 12
months account deletion
Gmail https://mail.google.com/ 15 GB 25 MB (10 GB per file via Google Drive)
9 months
GMX Mail (gmx.net)
http://www.gmx.net/ 1 GB 20 MB 6 months
GMX Mail (gmx.com)
http://www.gmx.com/ Unlimited 50 MB 6 months
Lycos http://www.mail.lycos.com/ 3 GB 35 MB 1 month
Mail.com http://www.mail.com/ Unlimited 50 MB 12 months
Mail.ru https://e.mail.ru/signup Unlimited 25 MB 6 months
Outlook.com (was Hotmail)
http://outlook.com/ Unlimited 25 MB (Unlimited via
OneDrive) 270 days
ProtonMail https://protonmail.com/ 500MB Unknown Never
Rediffmail https://mail.rediff.com/cgi‐bin/login.cgi
Unlimited 25 MB 2 months (Mailbox deletion), 3 months
(Deactivation)
Tutanota https://tutanota.com/ 1GB 25 MB Never
Yahoo! Mail https://mail.yahoo.com/ 1TB 25 MB 12 months
Yandex Mail https://mail.yandex.com/ Unlimited
22 MB per file, total 30 MB per mail (2 GB per file via Yandex
Disk)
24 months
Zoho https://www.zoho.com/mail/ 5 GB 20 MB 4 months
* = Services which claim to have unlimited mailbox storage may have some ‘fine print’ which limits actual size
There is a more complete list of web‐based e‐mail providers and features available at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_webmail_providers, but the list there includes services which require
payment.
We will look at two of the most popular providers: Gmail and Yahoo!
The first step is to open a web browser and go to the address of the service
you want. If you don’t know the address, enter the name of the service in a
web search engine and follow the link.
The process for creating an e-mail account is very similar for all web-based e-mail services, but they frequently change in small details. The directions given here and the screenshots were accurate as of December 2015.
3 *
CreatingaYahoo!AccountWhen you go to the https://mail.yahoo.com/ page, you will be automatically
redirected to the login page:
Like most web‐based e‐mail, the login page also contains a link for creating a new
account. Click on the link to open the Sign up page:
Enter a first name and last name in the fields provided.
CreatingaGoogleAccountWhen you go to the https://mail.google.com/ page, you will be automatically
redirected to a login page (there are two types).
Both have a link to ‘Create an
account’.
4 *
After entering a first and last name, Yahoo! suggests possible user names. You
can click on one to use
it or create your own
user name. If the name
is already taken, you
will be prevented from
moving forward.
If you want to use a suggested username, click on it with the mouse.
The next step is to create a password.
Yahoo!’s arrangement is less common than the one used by Google. The
password is only entered once, but there is an option to display the characters.
After entering a first and last name, Gmail
does not suggest a username — until you
enter something already taken.
If you want to use a suggested username,
click on it with the mouse.
The next step is to create a password.
Google’s arrangement is more common than
the one used by Yahoo. Characters are hidden
and the password must be entered twice to
ensure you know what you have typed.
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If you mistype the
password, the
mistyped characters
will be your password. In this situation, it is
strongly recommended
you click on ‘Show
password’ to ensure
you know what is
entered.
The colored bar at the
bottom of the
password field is a
measure of the
password’s strength —
but it is not foolproof.
It will start as red, grow from left to right as the password gets longer, and turn to
green when the password is judged to be okay. If the password is deemed too
weak, what you entered will disappear after you click on ‘Create account’ and
you will remain on this page. No explanation is given.
The next field in the Yahoo! sign‐up is to enter a mobile phone number. It is a
required field, but you can enter a landline number. If you do use a landline
number, see the note below.
A colored bar in
the pop‐up to the
left will change
from red to yellow
to green and
lengthen (left to
right) as the
password is typed.
If the passwords
do not match, you
will see: These
passwords don’t
match. Try again? It isn’t a question; you’ll have to re‐type until both fields
match.
If the password is a commonly used word or common keyboard pattern such as
‘qwerty’, you will see: Common words are easy to guess. Try again? It isn’t a
question; you’ll have to try a different password.
The birthday is entered with a drop‐down menu for the month, but a fill‐in‐the‐
blank for date and year. (If you use a fictitious date, be sure to make it
memorable as you may need it for password recovery.)
Make a ‘Gender’ [sic]
selection.
Password Tip: Passwords should use upper AND lower case letters AND numbers AND ‘special characters’ (e.g. ! @ # $ £ € ¥ % ^ & * ( ) = + [ { ] } \ | < > ? / ¶ ). They should not be words out of a dictionary (of any language) nor common keyboard patterns (e.g. qwerty or asdfg). Eight characters should be an absolute minimum; longer is better. Every account should have a unique password.
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The birthday is entered with
three drop‐down menus,
one each for month, date,
and year. (If you use a
fictitious date, be sure to
make it memorable as you
may need it for password
recovery.)
Click on either ‘Male’ or ‘Female’ (required).
The ‘Optional recovery number’ provides an alternate number to aid in password
recovery.
If you click on ‘Yahoo Terms’ or ‘Privacy’, the pages will open in a new tab. When
the required items have been supplied, click on ‘Create account’.
If you supplied a landline
phone number instead of a
mobile number, Yahoo!
detects it (see screenshot at
left), but will allow you to
continue.
If you continue, or if you
have supplied a mobile
phone number, you will see
a screen notifying you a
verification code will be
sent. You can opt for a text
message (Short Message
Service) instead of a phone
call.
The ‘Mobile phone’ and ‘Your current
email address’ fields are optional, but a
good idea for security and password
recovery..
The next section includes a photo‐
graph, typically of a building number or
a street sign. You can either enter the
number or the name into the ‘Type the
text’ field, or you can click on this box
to enter a checkmark and remove the
photo and the fields beneath it.
If you want to try a different photo,
click on the circle‐with‐arrow.
If you would rather listen to something,
and your computer is configured for
sound, click on the sound icon.
Click in the box indicating your
agreement to Google’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If you click on one of
the links, a new page will open in a new tab.
When all the information has been supplied, click on ‘Next step’.
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Enter the code received via
phone call or SMS in the
correct field and then click
on ‘Submit code’.
If successful, you will see
the Congratulations
message with a countdown.
After the countdown, you
will see a Welcome
message:
If you get a message like the
one shown at right, you can
click on the ‘Skip setup’.
You will get to
the Inbox with a
welcome
message. More
messages from
Yahoo! will
follow.
If successful, you will see a screen like this:
The first time
you continue
to Gmail, you
may see a series of screens similar to this:
You can click through the
series using the ‘Next’
button in the lower‐right
corner, or click on the × in
the upper‐right corner to
skip directly to your Inbox.
The Inbox will have
messages from Google
waiting for you.
8 *
SigningIntoYourAccountGmail
Go to http://gmail.com (no need to type the http:// portion) — you’ll be automatically redirected to a login page:
Click the Sign in link.
You’ll be taken to the Sign in page:
Enter your e‐mail address in the box. If it is a Gmail account, it is not necessary
to type the ‘gmail.com’ portion:
Either click on the ‘Next’ button or
press J.
Enter your password.
Either click on the ‘Sign in’ button or
press J.
If you are on a computer which is not
yours, remove the check from the
‘Stay signed in’ box.
You’ll be taken directly to your Inbox.
9 *
Yahoo!MailGo to http://mail.yahoo.com or just http://yahoo.com (no need to type the http:// portion)
Click either ‘Sign In’ or ‘Mail’.
You’ll be taken to a page with something like
this superimposed on a large advertisement:
Enter your e‐mail address (it is not necessary to type the ‘yahoo.com’ portion.
(You can press N to move from the box for your
e‐mail address to the box for the password.)
Enter your password.
If you are on a computer which is not yours, remove
the check from the ‘Keep me signed in’ box.
Either click on the ‘Sign in’ button or press J.
Depending on the steps you took to sign in,
you may be returned to the Yahoo! home
page with a personalized greeting. From
here you can click on either ‘Mail’ link to be
taken to your Inbox.
SigningOutFromYourAccountUnless you know your computer will not be used by anyone else, you should sign out of your e‐mail account when you
are finished.
GmailIn the upper‐right corner, click on the icon or picture (this is a generic icon).
Click the ‘Sign out’ button.
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Yahoo!MailIn the upper‐right corner, move the mouse to (hover over) your name (if this pop‐up does
not appear, click), then click the ‘Sign Out’ button.
11 *
CreatinganE‐mailmessageBoth Gmail and Yahoo! Mail have a ‘Compose’ icon in the upper‐left corner of the
Inbox. Other e‐mail services and applications may use slightly different language
such as ‘Write’ or ‘New’ or ‘Create’. Most seem to have the
icon for creating a new e‐mail in the upper‐left area. Simply
click on it to start.
Yahoo’s Compose
window (left) takes up
most of the browser’s
window. Gmail opens a
small window in the
lower‐right corner of the
browser’s window.
Sometimes, it will include an advert, which can be easily closed by clicking on the × in the upper right of the advert
window. If preferred, a click on the middle of the three icons in the upper‐right area (circled at right) can
be clicked to open the Compose window into a larger screen.
When composing a message, there will always be a TO field.
This is for the e‐mail address of the person to whom you are
writing. There are two other types of address fields: CC and BCC. These terms, standing for ‘carbon copy’ and ‘blind
carbon copy’ respectively, were used long before e‐mail existed but have been carried over. It may be necessary to click
on a field to reveal these fields. Use CC when you want someone to get a copy of the e‐mail, but they are not to whom
the message is directed. Anyone receiving a copy of your e‐mail will be able to see the e‐mail address of everyone in the
TO and CC fields, and frequently will see the names associated with those addresses. Use BCC for anyone you want to
receive a copy of the message, but don’t want their e‐mail address to be seen by those receiving the message. If, for
example, you send an e‐mail to yourself with ten e‐mail addresses in the BCC, those ten people will receive the message
and see it was addressed to you. (Because this is a frequent tactic of people sending junk e‐mail, commonly known as
‘spam’, it increases the chance it might be blocked by a spam filter and not reach your intended recipient’s Inbox.)
Gmail limits each message to a total (TO + CC + BCC) of 500 non-Gmail addresses. Yahoo! mail has a limit, but does not disclose the actual number.
12 *
Both Gmail and Yahoo! mail have a row of icons across the
bottom of the compose window. To see what an icon does, move
the mouse pointer to the icon — without clicking — and hold it
still. Within a few seconds, a pop‐up will appear with the icon’s
label.
An icon of a paper clip is widely used for attaching one or more
files to an e‐mail. An icon of a trash can is widely used for
discarding the e‐mail without sending. The Gmail bar
(immediately below) …
and the Yahoo! mail bar (immediately above) use these icons.
To send a plain‐text e‐mail in Yahoo! mail, click on the left‐pointing
double‐angle quotation mark — « — to the left of the trash can icon.
To send a plain‐text e‐mail in Gmail, click on
the down‐pointing arrow to the right of the
trash can icon to open the ‘More options’
menu and select ‘Plain text mode’.
When the message is completed, click the ‘Send’ button. Your message will be sent to all the addressees and, if it gets
past filters they have configured, will usually appear in their Inbox in a matter of seconds. The number of addressees
does not affect how quickly your message is sent, however messages sent to hundreds of e‐mail addresses (especially if
the addresses are all in the BCC field) are more likely to be caught in spam filters.
Receiving&ReadingE‐mailmessagesNormally, you don’t have to do a thing to receive messages; most e‐mail services don’t even have a button for
downloading messages as they appear in the Inbox as soon as they are received. However, clicking on the ‘Inbox’ will
sometimes refresh the browser window more quickly and reveal new messages.
In most web browsers, a single click on the message will open it. If it extends beyond the bottom of the browser’s
window, you can either scroll with the mouse or use the vertical scroll bar on the side of the window to move down.
E-mail addresses use a three-part format: (1) user ID, traditionally in lower-case without spaces, but sometimes including punctuation (e.g. ann.smith) (2) the symbol @ (3) the organization’s domain name; sometimes, including a subdomain (e.g. reference.gpld.org): [email protected]
Tip: Traditionally, e-mail was plain text. Although many e-mail applications now allow messages to be created using a variety of font faces, font sizes, and font colors, plus emoticons & emoji; not all e-mail applications will display these extras. Also, some recipients do not like (1) the greatly increased size of, and/or (2) the computer security risks associated with these e-mails.
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Netiquette Netiquette is a word coined from Internet + Etiquette to refer to practices advocated for the cooperative interaction
of people in electronic communications. There are many pages on the Internet with a list of proper etiquette for
e‐mail and other forms of communication. Here are some of the more important ones for e‐mail:
The subject line should be accurate and descriptive If the subject has drifted to something different from what it was, change the subject line (it will be easier to find the message later). On mailing lists, never ‘hijack’ a thread by replying to a message to write about a completely different topic; create a new message with a new subject line.
Spelling and grammar are important (especially in business and professional messages) Your writing style says more about you than you realize. While e-mail might be viewed as an informal means of communication, your e-composition skills reflect your knowledge and abilities. Everyone is allowed to make a few typos, but if you're consistently not capitalizing words that should be capitalized, using unconventional punctuation, spelling words incorrectly, etc., you will appear unprofessional and even uneducated.
Avoid ALL CAPS (and large fonts) This is considered to be ‘shouting’ in e-mail — plus, it is much more difficult to read.
Be concise If you can say it in five words, do it in five words instead of an entire paragraph (or more!)
Be aware of ‘tone’ Text lacks the additional context of body language and tone of voice which is present is other forms of communication. This makes misunderstandings much more likely. Consider how others might interpret the message. When writing to a list, pay attention to the word ‘you’: it may be intended to be a plural and generic and be interpreted as a singular and specific.
Avoid reply-to-all; remove people who don’t need to receive the message Even large tech companies have had problems with an employee using the reply-to-all causing others to use the reply-to-all to complain and having so many messages being sent that the e-mail system crashed. Remove people from a reply for whom the contents no longer are of concern.
Don’t ‘flame’ Don’t send messages when you are in a ‘hot’ mood. Wait a day to ‘cool off’ before responding.
Use paragraphs and other formatting Don’t use run-on sentences. Don’t use run-on paragraphs. The results will be easier to read.
Don’t send attachments to those who don’t need them If that ten-page document only has one page of interest to each of ten different people, don’t send all ten pages to all of them. Break it apart and only send what is necessary to each. The same applies for multiple attachments or even one attachment. Send a separate e-mail without attachments to those who don’t need them.
E-mail is permanent
E-mail is not confidential
E-mail is not secure Don’t send passwords; social security, credit card, or bank account numbers; or any confidential material via e-mail. Don’t send anything which might be embarrassing in the wrong hands.)
Don’t send attachments in proprietary formats Unless you are certain the recipient can open in a proprietary format, choose a non-proprietary format. For instance, a PDF document is normally better than one in DOC or DOCX.
When replying (especially on mailing lists), retain only what is necessary for context Keep that which will provide context for someone who may be following dozens of e-mail conversations on various lists and eliminate the rest.
Keep attachments as small as possible Eliminate excess material before sending. With large files, either use a compression program or offer recipients a place from which they can download the file.
Acronyms, abbreviations, and emoticons are fine — unless the recipient has to do an Internet search for them Emoticons — strings like :-) or ;-) — can aid in ‘tone’
Don’t forward e-mails telling you to forward them Chain letters in e-mail are just as annoying as they are in ‘snail mail’
Don’t forward messages which may be inaccurate Check http://www.snopes.com/ if in doubt — or, even better, don’t forward the message at all
Be conservative in what you send and liberal in what you receive.
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ReplyingToandForwardingMessagesThere are two types of replies: ‘Reply’ (to the sender only) and ‘Reply to All’ (the sender and everyone who was in the CC
of the message, but not anyone who was in the BCC of the original message). Unless needed, you should do a ‘Reply’. (If
your sister‐in‐law sends a message to all her relatives [many of
whom you don’t know] requesting shipping addresses for mailing
Christmas gifts, do all those people need your mailing address?)
When reading an e‐mail message, there will be options for Reply,
Reply to All, and Forward.
In Yahoo! Mail: Reply Reply to All Forward
In Gmail, a message sent from one person to you alone will only have a ‘Reply’ and ‘Forward’ option:
(The ‘Forward’ option can also be accessed
by clicking this triangle to open a drop‐down
menu.)
But when the message has multiple
recipients, a ‘Reply to All’ option appears.
(In the drop‐down menu at right, the ‘Reply
to All’ option will not appear for a message
lacking multiple recipients.)
If you want to read about the potential problems of using ‘Reply to All’, do an Internet search on ‘email storm’. One example: in August 2015, a Thomson Reuters employee in the Philippines accidentally sent a request for his phone to be reactivated to a mailing list of over 33,000 employees. In seven hours, the use of ‘Reply to All’ resulted in 23 million e-mail messages plus social media (e.g. Twitter) messages being posted.
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AddinganAttachmentOne of the most convenient features in e‐mail is sending other
files as attachments. These can be almost any kind of file: word
processing files, spreadsheets, databases, images, audio, videos,
and more. The steps for adding an attachment are nearly
identical for all e‐mail services.
First, look for a paper‐clip icon. Gmail and Yahoo! Mail are
shown here, circled in red:
Most often, this will open a file manager window.
The image to the right is for Windows 7. The image
below is from the Mac (OS X).
From the file manager, you will need to navigate to the location where the file is located, click on the filename to select
it and then click the button (‘Open’ in Windows, ‘Choose’ in Macs [OS X]) to begin attaching the file. (Most file managers
support double‐clicking on the filename to both select and choose/open in a single step.)
Depending on the browser you are
using, you may be sent to an
intermediate page such as the one
shown below from Yahoo! mail. But
when you click on one of the ‘Choose
File’ buttons, it opens a file manager
window and the process of finding and
selecting a file is the same.
Tip: Some e-mail services restrict the types of attachments which can be sent or received. The most frequently blocked type are program files, things that are considered to be ‘executable’. Placing a file of this type in a compressed file (e.g. a ‘ZIP file’) might work, but many e-mail services routinely scan all attachments (outgoing and incoming) for malware [malicious software] and will block executables even if they have been placed in a compressed file.
16 *
Once, when trying to attach a file in Gmail, this appeared:
The only choices were ‘Try it now’ and ‘Maybe
next time’. (A choice of ‘Never’ would have
been nice!), Clicking on ‘Maybe next time’
closed this pop‐up and opened a file manager
window.
SavinganAttachmentWhen you receive an e‐mail with a file attached, you may wish to save it to your computer. Some image files may display
when you open the e‐mail message, but most files will show some kind of icon from which you can either open it in an
application installed on your computer or save it.
In Yahoo! Mail, the icon representing the file
appears with the name of the file beneath it.
When you move the mouse over the icon …
… a ‘Download’
with down‐
pointing caret
appears with a
pop‐up of the
file’s name.
Gmail works similarly:
Moving the mouse over the icon for
the file causes two smaller icons to
appear with pop‐up
text: ‘Download’
(left) and ‘Save to
Drive’ (right),
meaning to Google
Drive.
Tip: Both Gmail and Yahoo! mail have a feature which works in most web browsers: open your file manager, find the file you want to attach, and click-and-drag it from the file manager directly to the message area of the e-mail being composed.
17 December 2015
In Gmail, if you choose ‘Save to Drive’, it will be
done automatically. A message will appear near the
top of your web browser window and a small box
with the same basic message will appear near the
attachment’s icon which includes an option to move
the file in Google Drive to a specific folder.
In Gmail, if you choose ‘Download’ by clicking on it,
or if in Yahoo! Mail you click on the ‘Download’ with
down‐pointing caret, what happens next depends
on:
A. Your computer’s Operating System
B. How your computer has been configured
C. Which web browser you are using
D. How your web browser has been configured
Usually, one of the following will happen:
1. The file will be automatically saved to your ‘Downloads’
2. The file will be automatically saved to your ‘Downloads’ and then opened
3. The file will be automatically saved to your ‘Documents’ and then opened
4. You will be prompted with something like the image at right, ask if you want
to save the file (2nd choice) or open the file (1st choice, which also allows you
to select which application should be used to open it) Note: The box at right
includes an option for setting a default action when opening the same type of
file in the future.
5. The file be automatically opened (saved on the computer, but in a location where it is nearly impossible to find)
6. A file manager window will open as at right
prompting you to select where you want to
save the file and (optionally) changing the
name of the file.
Questions? Feel free to contact Ross Valentine at [email protected] or call the library at 630.232.0780