Download EMAIL MESSAGING Pre-requisite: Unit I Level I and more Study notes Information Technology in PDF only on Docsity!
EMAIL MESSAGING
Pre-requisite: Unit I Level I
Elemen t No. Element Name Total Hour s 1 Composing Email and Attaching Files 30 2 Sending, Forwarding and Receiving Emails 3 Organizing Emails and Managing Contacts 4 Scheduling Appointments Using Online Calendar Services 5 Email Etiquettes and Best Practices
Ignite Mind
"The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment"
Dorothy Nevill
Learning Objectives
After studying this unit the students will attain competencies to: Compose an email and attach Files Send, Forward and Receive Emails Organize emails and manage contacts Schedule appointments using online calendar services Adopt best practices and etiquettes for emails
Introduction
Information and Technology (IT) tools, such as Email, Gchat, Facebook, etc., have created new online communities, reduced the geographic barriers, and brought people closer to each other. Electronic mail, commonly called as
Email is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. It has distinct advantages over postal services and phones. Email is cheaper and faster than a letter, less interfering than a phone call and less hassle than a FAX. It can be easily forwarded and sent to numerous people simultaneously without the consideration of geographical locations and enables the recipients to respond at their convenience. Because of these advantages, email use is increasing. However, emails do not convey emotions that we communicate through face-to-face conversations or telephone conversations. It lacks vocal intonation and gestures. When e-mail is used skillfully, it enables effective communication. When not used effectively, email can become a huge drain on time and efforts. Etiquettes of emailing are therefore fundamental to effective communication. There are many free email service providers such as Google (Gmail), Yahoo (Yahoo! Mail) and Rediff (RediffMail). To access an email service on the Internet, you must have an email address with at least one of these providers. Each of these companies offer free email accounts and have different interfaces. An email can be easily sent and forwarded to numerous people at once. Today, the email system is based on a store and forward model of messaging and it is carried by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), first published as Internet Standard 10 (RFC821) in 1982. The email service providers accept, forward, deliver and store messages. In this Unit, we will learn about the effective use of emailing for communicating with other people and organizing email contacts and account for efficient use of resources and time.
Resource Requirements
Hardware
A working computer system A modem to connect to the internet
Software
A Web Browser (Preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox)
Element 1: Composing Emails and Attaching Files
For sending and receiving emails, you should first create an email account. If you already have an account you just have to sign in. Once you have created an account, you get an online mailbox to send, receive and store contacts. A mailbox is identified by an email address. The email address is similar to a postal address or a phone number. An email address is a character string that identifies an email user. An email address consists of two parts, separated by @ symbol. The first part is the username and the second part is the email service provider’s domain name. The username may be up to 64 characters long, is generally case-sensitive and cannot contain any spaces. The domain part cannot be longer than 255 characters and is case insensitive. There are many free email service providers such as Google (Gmail), Yahoo (Yahoo! Mail) and Rediff (RediffMail). Each of these companies offer free email accounts and have different layouts. It is always helpful to get to know a program's layout and elements before you start using it. When using email, you will interact with several windows, including the Inbox window, the Email Message window and the Compose Message window. Depending on the email provider, these windows may look and feel different, but the way they function is essentially the same. For ease of understanding, the steps presented in this unit will focus on one of the most popular services - Gmail. Gmail (also called Google Mail) is a free, advertising supported email service provided by Google. In many ways it is like any other email service: you can send and receive emails , block spam , create an address book , and do other basic email tasks. But it also has some more unique features such as Priority Inbox , Conversation View , and the ability to call any phone in the world , that help to make it one of the most popular email services on the web.
Figure 1.1 Gmail Sign in Section Useful Features of Gmail A few of the useful features offered by Gmail worth exploring are as follows:
- Spam Filtering: Spam is another name for junk email. Advanced technologies are now being used by Gmail to keep spam out of your inbox. Emails marked as Spam by you or recognized by Gmail are automatically sent to a separate Spam folder. The mails in Spam folder are automatically deleted after 30 days.
- Priority Inbox: This feature identifies the most important emails (by number of times you correspond with that email id) and places them at the top in the inbox. This feature is particularly useful if you get many emails every day, as it saves you from the effort of manually sorting through received mails to find the important ones.
- Conversation View: A conversation occurs when you send emails back and forth to another person (or a group of people), often about a specific topic or event. Gmail groups these emails together by default, which helps to keep your Inbox more organized.
- Built-in Chat: Instead of sending an email, you can send someone an instant message chat or use the voice and video chat feature if your computer has a microphone and/or webcam.
- Call Phone: The call phone feature is similar to voice chat, except it allows you to dial a phone number to call any phone in the world. It’s a free service for calls made to people in United States of America or Canada, but for other countries calls can be made at relatively low prices. 6. Different Inbox View Styles: It is possible to view your inbox in different styles like Classic, Unread first, Important first, Starred first and Priority Inbox. These styles help you decide which emails will be displayed at the top of the inbox. To change the inbox view simply click on the small arrow link next to the inbox in the left menu pane and choose the appropriate style from the drop down list.
- Autoresponders: You can use Autoresponders to handle the most frequently requested information people ask from you. This feature is very useful to respond to your mails automatically when you are out of station for a long vacation or official purpose.
Email Recipient Area Email Subject Area
Main Message Area
Email Actions Composing mail The first step towards composing effective email is to define the purpose for the email. Email can range from the formal to the informal. Formal emails should begin appropriate Greeting and end with "Regards". Don't use an informal style unless you know the person very well. After defining the purpose, begin drafting the message. Begin the message by addressing the recipient in the way the contact prefers. Keep in mind that the more concise your message is, the more likely it is that the recipient will read it and take action. If the message requires some details and explanation, be sure to break up the information using bullet points. Let us now compose a new email. Click on the Compose Mail button in the left menu pane (Figure 1.3). Figure 1.3 Compose Mail Link Figure 1.4 Components of Compose Window The user-friendly Compose Mail interface displayed in Figure 1.4 has the following major elements: The To textbox: Enter the email address of the recipients here. This can contain multiple addresses separated by a comma
Signature Line Body Header The Cc/Bcc link: Click on this to display a textbox where the email addresses of recipients who have to receive the carbon copy/blind carbon copy can be entered. The CC and BCC are used to send multiple copies of a message. The CC field allows you to send a copy of the message to multiple people. In this case all the recipients will be able to see all the other recipient addresses. BCC field allows you to send a copy of the message to multiple people without the recipients knowing about the others addresses. The Subject textbox: Enter the Subject line here. The subject line should be short and give a clear indication of the content of the message. It should also indicate whether an action is required. The Message Area : Type the message in this area. While typing a message remember that an email has 3 major parts (Figure 1.5) : (i) Header: The header has information about the sender like the address of the sender, those that the email was sent to and/or CCed, date and time of the message and the Subject Line. Some part of the header is hidden by Gmail as it is only relevant while troubleshooting. (ii) Body: The body contains the text of the email (iii) Signature Line: Line used by the sender to give the recipient some relevant information about the sender. The Attach a file link: Click on this to open up the file browser to select the files to be sent as attachments. Attachments can be digital files for documents, images, videos, presentations or more. These attachments can be opened and downloaded by the recipient.
Step 3 Type your desired signature in the box. You can also change the font , add other formatting , or insert an image if you want. Step 4 Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save Changes. In Gmail, signatures are separated from the rest of your message by two hyphens. If you don't want your signature to appear on a specific message, you can delete it by highlighting the text (move the cursor over the text) and deleting it (press the delete key) before sending the message. Adding Attachments The next step is to add any attachments if required. An attachment is simply a file (such as an image or document) that is sent along with your email. For example, if you are applying for a job, you might send your resume as an attachment, with the body of the email being the cover letter. It's a good idea to include a message in the body of your email explaining what the attachment is, especially if the recipient isn't expecting an attachment. To add an attachment follow the given steps: Step 1 While composing an email, click Attach a file. Step 2 Choose the file you want to attach and click Open. Step 3 The attachment will begin to upload. Most attachments will upload within a few seconds, but larger ones can take longer. When you're ready to send your email, click Send. Note that you can click Send before the attachment finishes uploading. It will continue to upload, and Gmail will automatically send the email once it's done. Never send attachments to email lists or to large groups of people until necessary. Me Singing.jpg 27 K
Know More! It is possible to attach files larger than 25MB by splitting the files. Split very large files into manageable chunks that are less than 25MB. Further you can also use a compression program (also known as a zipping program) to decrease the file size especially when the file is only a little above 25MB. Generally word processor documents, spreadsheets and PDFs become considerable lighter when compressed. Zipping a file that's a little more than 25MB would probably bring the file size under the maximum value. However, zip programs Instead of sending an attachment, consider putting the text you wish to send in the body of your email. Note that Google wants to keep its Gmail service clean and neat. Executable files, the ones with a .exe file extension are not allowed as attachments - ever! Moreover you can only send and receive files up to 25MB through your Gmail account to other Gmail account. The only thing that you need to keep in mind is that the limit is only applicable to Gmail to Gmail sending and receiving email. Lets quickly review the steps involved in composing an email [1]Sign in to Gmail account [2] Click the Compose button in the left menu pane [3] Fill in the To: and Subject: [4] Click on the CC (copy) or BCC (blind carbon copy) buttons and enter additional addresses of the persons you wish to send the email to(if required) [5]Type your message inside the message screen, [6] Use the formatting toolbar to add font styles (bold, italic, underline) and other formatting features (if required) [7] Click Save Now button on the top to save the mail in the Drafts folder. Saving Draft After composing your message, you might decide to review it thoroughly at a later date before actually sending it. To save the draft message till you are ready to send it, click on Save Now button or use the keyboard shortcut ‘ Ctrl+S’. The message will be saved in the Drafts folder and can be retrieved later for editing. The Drafts folder contains email messages that have been composed but have not been sent. Gmail automatically saves a copy of the message being composed in the Drafts folder periodically to avoid loss of data in case of a browser crash, power failure or other errors.
Summary
_________________________________________ Now I can answer …
- Expand the term Gmail.
- Which tool of Gmail allows you to add formatting to an email message?
- Define the term signature.
- Which added feature of Gmail avoids loss of data in case of a browser crash or other errors?
- Is it possible to attach different types of files (one spreadsheet and one image) in the same email?
Email Select Button with option to select: All None Read Unread Starred Unstarred Archive Button to clear the inbox and send selected emails to the All Mail folder Report Scam button to mark selected emails as Spam Delete button to send the selected emails to the Trash folder Move To button to send the selected emails to desired folders Labels button to mark the selected emails with desired labels More button with misscell- -aneous options like Add Satr, Mute etc
Element 2: Sending, Forwarding and Receiving Emails
Sending emails After composing an email, click the Send button on the toolbar to deliver the email to the specified recipient(s). To retrieve a message saved in the Drafts , open the Drafts folder and click on the relevant mail. After reviewing, click on the Send button. When you send an email, a copy is placed in the Sent Mail folder for your future reference. This is really helpful when sometimes you want to resend or forward the sent message. Figure 1.9: Send button Receiving Email All the received emails are stored in the inbox. The received emails are generally displayed chronologically on the basis of the time when they are received. To open emails simply click on them in the inbox. As soon as you select any email by placing a checkmark in the checkbox next to an email in the inbox, Gmail activates the toolbar that displays different options of actions that can be performed on the selected email as explained in Figure 1.10. “Mashir Shah”
The received mails are displayed in the Inbox. Emails are listed with the name of the sender, the subject of the message and the date received with the most recent at the top. Unread emails usually appear in bold text. Select an email in the Inbox by clicking on it and it will open in the Email Message window. Read the message and determine how to respond to it with a variety of commands:
- Reply: To respond to the sender of the email chooses the reply option. A new compose window will appear just below the original email with the original message in the body. Compose your response and then click on Send button. 2. Reply to all: Sometimes emails may be sent to multiple recipients. To respond to such emails, first decide whether the reply is to be sent just to the sender or to all the original recipients. If the message is to be sent to all original recipients as well as the original sender then choose the Reply All option. 3. Forward: Forwarding means to share a received email message with others. To forward an email click the Forward link and then enter the email addresses of the person(s) to whom the mail is to be sent. Forwarding Email As explained above to forward an email, simply click on the Forward link to open a new compose message window. Note that Gmail automatically fills in the Subject textbox with the prefix Fwd: followed by the original Subject line of the message being forwarded. The prefix Fwd: is used to indicate to the recipient that this email contains a forwarded message. Be careful while forwarding any chain mail message. It is always better to first check the mail for authenticity before forwarding chain mails. Deleting Emails To delete a message, simply click the Delete icon (a trash bin symbol) displayed at the top. Deleted emails are stored in the Trash folder. Deleted emails can be retrieved from the Trash within 30 days of deletion after which they are permanently deleted. Archiving Emails Archiving is one of the original and unique feature of Gmail. This feature has allowed the email users to get past the "I have to delete everything because
I don't have enough storage space" mindset. Archiving a message simply tells Gmail to remove the message from your Inbox folder and keep it in your " All Mail " folder. When you receive an email, it first goes into your inbox. You can read it, reply to it, forward it, trash it, or you can report it as Spam. All emails will remain in your inbox until you specifically "Archive" them. Archiving simply cleans up your inbox. All archived messages are always accessible through the "All Mail" folder and may be easily moved back to the inbox when required. To archive an email simply select the mails to be archived by clicking on the checkbox before them and click on the archive button. Flagging email as Spam You can flag your emails as Spam by [1] Highlight the email message from the list [2] Click the Spam button on the toolbar [3] The conversation is now moved from the Inbox folder to the Spam folder of the relevant mailbox [4] A confirmation message displays at the top of the screen. Recover Email from Spam folder If you receive email in your Spam folder that wasn't spam then you recover them by the following the steps as follows: [1] Click on the email to select it from the list [2] Click on the More actions button on the toolbar above the message list [3] Click on Not Spam. The email will be marked as Not Spam and it will be sent to the Inbox. Searching for mails Because of the large storage space in your inbox, you can keep emails forever and hence there is no need to delete messages frequently. This means you can potentially store tens of thousands of emails. But this could be a cause of a major problem of searching for an email lying in your Gmail account. It's like trying to locate a needle in a haystack. This is where Google's search algorithms come into play! The search field on your Gmail account is located at the top on the right of the logo. It allows you to perform searches on both email messages in your Gmail account and the world wide web (www). To search for an email message follow the given steps:
S.N
o. I am able to… Yes No 1 Retrieve emails saved in the Drafts box and edit them before sending 2 Send freshly composed emails 3 Forward received messages 4 Open and read received emails 5 View attachments in Gmail 6 Download attachments and view them 7 Delete messages permanently from the Inbox 8 Decide when to use Reply / Reply to All options
_________________________________________ Now I can answer …
- Where are all the received mails displayed?
- Is it possible to edit emails saved in the Drafts before finally sending them?
- Which button will you use to finally dispatch mail?
- What is the role of the Sent Mail folder?
- Which of the following options is the most appropriate to share a received message with multiple people: Reply, Reply to All or Forward
Element 3: Organizing Emails and Managing Contacts
Gmail Labels Gmail provides the facility to categorize and organize emails into different folders, known as labels. Each label may be "opened" and it is possible to see all the messages in it. This feature has an obvious advantage. It is possible to put any message in any number of folders. An email can belong to the "Most Urgent" messages as well as to a particular project at work, for example. It can carry the "To-follow-up" and "Professional" labels at the same time, and it can be found under both labels. Creating a label in Gmail Step 1: While viewing the message in your mailbox, click the Labels button Step 2: Select Create new (Fig.1.12). Step 3: Type the desired label name. Step 4: If this label is to be nested under another label then select the name of the parent label from the drop-down list. Step 5: Click Create. Figure 1.12: Creating a label Applying label to a message Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 1 Step 2
