Once upon a time, people chatted around the water cooler or over lunch, but that’s all changed now. Now the place to spend your time communicating is online.

Although instant messaging from your cell phone is all the rage, e-mail is still the cornerstone of online communication. You’ve probably sent an e-mail (unless you were brought up by wolves in the forest), but you might not be familiar with the ins and outs of using Windows Mail, the e-mail program from Microsoft that’s built into Windows Vista.

To make your e-mailing life easy, this tutorial takes a look at these tasks:

➟ Receive, send, and forward messages. Deal with the ins and outs of receiving and sending e-mail. Use the formatting tools that Windows Mail provides to make your messages more attractive and readable.

➟ Add information into the Address Book. You can quickly and easily manage your contacts as well as organize the messages you save in e-mail folders.

➟ Set up the layout of all Windows Mail features. Use the Folder bar and Layout features to create the most efficient workspace.

➟ Manage your e-mail account. Set up an e-mail account, and then create, modify, and add rules for your account to operate by.

Open Windows Mail and Receive Messages

1. Choose Start➪All Programs➪Windows Mail.

2. In the Windows Mail window, press Ctrl+M to send and receive all messages.

3. Click the Inbox item in the Folders list to view messages. New messages sport a small closed envelope icon; those with attachments have a paper clip icon as well

To organize messages in the Inbox, click any of the headings at the top, such as From (to sort the messages alphabetically by sender), Received (to sort by the date they were received), and so on. If your mail doesn’t come through it’s probably because your e-mail provider’s servers are experiencing technical problems. Just wait a little while and try to retrieve your mail again. If you still can’t get mail (and you know you should have received some by now) contact your e-mail provider to find out what the problem is and when it will be fixed.

Note that if an e-mail has a little exclamation point to the left of it in your Inbox somebody has flagged it as urgent. It’s usually best to check out those e-mails first!

Manage an E-Mail Account

1. In the Windows Mail main window, choose Tools➪ Accounts.

2. In the resulting Internet Accounts dialog box, do any of the following:

• To remove an account, click the Remove button on any of the tabs. A confirming message appears. To delete the account, click Yes.

• Select an account and click the Set as Default button to make it the account that Windows connects you to when you go online. In the case of the mail server, the default is the one used to send any message. 3. To set up a new account, click Add.

4. In the resulting Internet Connection Wizard, choose an account type: E-mail, Newsgroup, or Directory Service for online search services used by the Contacts feature to search for people.

5. Click Next. In the following screen, follow the set-up instructions.

Following the Internet Connection Wizard often requires that you provide certain information about your Internet service provider (ISP), such as its mail server or connection method. Keep this information handy!

6. When you finish setting up accounts, click the Close button to close the Internet Accounts dialog box.

Create and Send E-Mail

1. Choose Start➪All Programs➪Windows Mail.

2. Click the Create Mail button on the Windows Mail toolbar to create a new blank e-mail form.

3. Type the e-mail address of the recipient in the To field text box and an address in the Cc field text box to send a copy of the message.

4. Click in the Subject field text box and type a concise yet descriptive subject.

5. Click in the message window and type your message.

Don’t press Enter at the end of a line. Windows Mail has an automatic text wrap feature that does this for you. Also, keep e-mail etiquette in mind as you type. For example, don’t type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This is called shouting,which is considered rude.

Do be polite even if you’re really, really angry. Your message could be forwarded to just about anybody, just about anywhere, and you don’t want to get a reputation as a hothead. Do be concise. If you have lots to say, consider sending a letter by snail-mail or overnight delivery. Most people tire of reading text onscreen after a short while.

6. When you finish typing your message, spell-check it (unless you’re the regional state spelling champ). Click the Spelling button; possibly misspelled words get highlighted, and the Spelling dialog box appears. At this point, you have some choices:

• Click the Ignore button to ignore this instance of the misspelling.

• Click the Ignore All button to ignore all instances.

• Choose a suggested alternate spelling and click the Change button to change that instance; or, click the Change All button to change all instances of the word.

• Click the Add button to add the current spelling of the word to the Spelling feature dictionary so it’s never questioned again.

7. Click the Close button to close the Spelling Checker. Click the Send button. The message is on its way!

If the message is really urgent, you might also click the Priority button to add a bright red exclamation mark to the message header to alert the recipient. Click twice again to return the priority to Low.

Remember that when creating an e-mail, you can address it to a stored address by using the Address Book feature. Click the To button, and your Address Book appears. You can then select a contact from there.

Windows Mail also allows you to just begin to type a stored contact in an address field (To or Cc), and it fills in likely options while you type. When it fills in the correct name, just press Enter to select it.

Send an Attachment

1. Create a new e-mail message, address it, and enter a subject.

2. Click the Attach File to Message button.

3. In Open dialog box that appears, locate the file that you want and then click Open.

4. With the name of the attached file now in the Attach field text box, type a message (or not — after all, a picture is worth a thousand words).

5. Click the Send button to send.

If you want to send somebody your own contact information, create a business card in your Address Book and attach it to an e-mail. This is saved in vCard format, and the recipient can then import it into his or her Address Book. Just create yourself as a contact. Then, in the Address Book window, right-click the contact and choose Send Contact (vCard). A blank e-mail opens with the card attached. Some e-mail programs limit the time that the program attempts to get mail from your server. If you sometimes get a message that your connection timed out, choose Tools➪Accounts, select your e-mail account, and then click Properties. On the Advanced tab, move the Server Timeout slider a bit to the right to allow for a longer time period before timing out.

Read a Message

1. Click an e-mail message in your Inbox or double-click it to open it in a separate window. Unread messages sport an icon of an unopened envelope to the left of the message subject.

2. Use the scrollbars in the message window to scroll down through the message and read it.

3. If the message has an attachment, it shows a paper clip symbol when the message is closed in your Inbox; attachments are listed in the Attach box in the open message. To open an attachment, double-click it.

4. In the Mail Attachment dialog box, click the Open button. The attachment opens in whatever program is associated with it (such as the Windows Fax and Picture Viewer for a graphics file) or the program it was created in (such as Word for Windows).

If you’d rather save an attachment to a storage disk or your hard drive, right-click the attachment name in the Attach field and choose Save As. In the Save As dialog box that appears, choose a location and provide a name for the file; then click Save.

Reply to a Message

1. Open the message you want to reply to, and then select one of the following reply options:

• Reply: Send the reply to only the author.

• Reply All: Send a reply to the author as well as everyone who received the original message.

2. In the resulting e-mail form, enter any additional recipient(s) in the To and/or Cc text boxes and type your message in the message window area. 3. Click the Send button to send the reply.

If you don’t want to include the original message in your reply, choose Tools➪Options and click the Send tab. Clear the Include Message in Reply check box, and then click OK.

Forward E-Mail

1. Open the e-mail message that you want to forward.

2. Click the Forward button on the toolbar.

3. In the message that appears with Fw added to the beginning of the subject line, enter a new recipient(s) in the To and Cc fields, and then enter any message that you want to include in the message window area.

4. Click Send to forward the message.

Create and Add a Signature

1. Choose Tools➪Options to open the Options dialog box. Click the Signatures tab.

2. Click the New button to create a new signature and then enter your Signatures text.

3. Select the Add Signatures to All Outgoing Messages check box and make sure that the signature is selected as the default. (Note: Select the Don’t Add Signatures to Replies and Forwards check box if you want to add your signature only occasionally.)

4. Click OK to save the signature. To manually add a signature to an open e-mail message with the message open, choose Insert➪Signature and select a signature from the list that appears to insert it.

If you have different e-mail accounts and want to assign a different signature to each one, go to the Signatures tab of the Options dialog box. There, select a signature in the Signatures list box, click the Advanced button, and then select an account to associate it with. Remember that if you attach your signature to every outgoing e-mail including e-mail replies, whoever you communicate with will get the information provided there. Consider issues of identity theft before you provide your address, phone number, and other personal information to all and sundry.

Format E-Mail Messages

1. Create a new e-mail message or open a message and click Reply or Forward.

2. Select the text that you want to format.

3. Use any of the following options to make changes to the font.

• Font drop-down list: Choose an option from the drop-down list to apply it to the text.

• Font Size drop-down list: Change the font size here.

• Paragraph Style button: Apply a preset style, such as Heading 1 or Address.

• Bold, Italic, or Underline buttons: Apply styles to selected text.

• Font Color button: Display a color palette and click a color to apply it to selected text.

• Formatting Numbers or Formatting Bullets buttons: Apply numbering order to lists or precede each item with a round bullet.

• Increase Indentation or Decrease Indentation button: Indent that paragraph to the right or move (decrease) it to the left.

• Align Left, Center, Align Right, or Justify buttons: Adjust the alignment.

• Insert Horizontal Line button: Add a line to your message.

Add Stationery

1. Click the arrow on the Create Mail button in the Windows Mail main window and select a stationery option listed in the menu that appears, or choose the Select Stationery command to get more choices.

2. In the Select Stationery dialog box that appears, select a stationery from the list.

3. Click OK to apply the stationery to the new message.

4. With a new, reply, or forwarded message open, you can apply stationery using either of these methods:

• Choose Format➪Apply Stationery, and then click a stationery to apply.

• Choose More Stationery to access the Select Stationery dialog box.

You can also insert a picture in an e-mail. With the e-mail form open, choose Insert➪Picture. Locate a picture in the Picture window that appears and click Open. The picture fills the background of the e-mail message area.

Add Contacts to the Address Book

1. In the Windows Mail main window, click the Contacts button to open the Contacts window.

2. To create a new contact in the resulting Contacts window, right-click on a name and choose New➪Contact. (Note: New Contact Group can be used to create a group of people from existing contacts, such as your car pool members.)

3. In the resulting Properties dialog box, go to the following options tabs to enter contact information:

• Name and E-mail tab: Enter the person’s name and e-mail address. (This is the only information you must enter to create a contact.)

• Home tab: Enter the person’s home and Web site addresses as well as phone, fax, and cellphone numbers.

• Work tab: Enter information about the company that the person works for as well as his job title and pager number. You can even add a map to help you find his office.

• Family tab: Enter the person’s family members’ names, as well as his or her gender, birthday, and anniversary.

• Notes tab: Enter any notes you like to in the form on this tab.

• IDs tab: Ensure secure communications. Digital IDs are certificates that you can use to verify the identity of the person with whom you’re communicating.

4. Click OK to save your new contact information, and then close the Contacts window.

Customize the Windows Mail Layout

1. Choose View➪Layout to open the Window Layout Properties dialog box.

2. Select various check boxes in the Basic section, to select items to display in separate panes, including

• Folder List: A pane containing a list of all folders.

• Folder Bar: A bar near the top of the screen that includes a drop-down list of folders.

• Toolbar: The bar containing tools you use to create and work with messages, such as Create, Reply, Forward, and Print.

• Status Bar: The bar across the bottom of screen that lists the number of messages in all your folders and the number of unread messages.

• Views Bar: A bar under the toolbar containing a drop-down menu with three commands: Hide Read Messages, Hide Read or Ignored Messages, and Show All Messages.

• Search Bar: The bar that allows you to search your mail for keywords or other criteria.

3. Select various options in the Preview Pane section to preview a message selected in the Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Sent Items, or Deleted Items folders.

4. Click OK to apply and save all your layout settings.

Create Message Folders

1. Choose View➪Layout to open the Window Layout Properties dialog box.

2. Select check boxes to display the Folders list and Folder bar and then click OK.

3. In the Folders list, click any folder to display its contents.

4. Choose File➪Folder➪New.

5. In the resulting Create Folder dialog box, select the folder that you want the new folder to be created in and then enter a new folder name.

6. Click OK.

Typically, you select the Local Folders item in Step 5 so that the new folder is at the same level as the Inbox, Outbox, and so on. Alternatively, you could select the Inbox item to place the new folder within the Inbox folder.

Organize Messages in Folders

1. In the Folders list, click an arrow symbol to the left of any folder to display its contents.

2. To place a message in a folder, you can do one of these actions:

• With a folder (such as the Inbox) displayed, click a message and then drag it into a folder in the Folders list.

• With an e-mail message open, choose File➪Move to Folder or Copy to Folder. In the dialog box that appears, select the appropriate folder and click OK.

• Right-click a message in a displayed folder and choose Move to Folder or Copy to Folder. In the dialog box that appears, select the appropriate folder and then click OK.

3. To delete a message, display the folder it’s saved to, select it, and then click the Delete button or press Delete (on your keyboard).

If you try to delete a message from your Deleted Items folder, a message appears asking whether you really want to delete this message permanently. That’s because when you delete a message from another folder, it’s really not deleted; instead, it’s simply placed in the Deleted Items folder. To send it into oblivion, you have to delete it from the Deleted Items folder, confirming your deletion so that Windows Mail is really convinced that you mean what you say.

Create Mail Rules

1. Choose Tools➪Message Rules➪Mail.

2. In the resulting New Mail Rule dialog box select the check box to set a Condition for the rule. For example, if you want all messages that contain the word Sale in the subject line to be moved to a Junk Mail folder, select the Where the Subject Line Contains Specific Words option.

3. Select the Select the Actions for Your Rule check boxes to choose rule actions. In the example in Step 2, for instance, you would select the Move It to the Specified Folder option.

4. In the Rule Description area, click a link (the colored text). Click the phrase Contains Specific Words. Fill in the specific information for the rule in the dialog box that appears.

5. Click OK to save the description and return to the New Mail Rule dialog box. Fill in the Name of the Rule text box with a name that you can recognize, and then click OK. After you create a rule, open the Message Rules dialog box (choose Tools➪Message Rules➪Mail) and then click the Modify button in the Message dialog box to make changes to the rule, or click the Remove button to delete it.

Here are some rules that people find handy to create: Place messages marked as priority in a Priority folder, or put messages with attachments in an Attachments folder. When you’re on vacation, choose to have all messages forwarded to somebody else, such as an assistant; or, if a message is from a certain person, mark it with a color. Note: If you use the autoforward feature, you have to leave your computer on and also leave Windows Mail open while you’re away.