My Mailbox is Full - Now What?

Most email messages don't take up lots of space. What does take a lot of space is images which can be in advertisements or as attachments in messages from friends and family. 

One first step would be to create folders for the email that you want to keep and to delete the ones you do not want to keep. When you delete mail it goes into the TRASH folder of your email. Mine is set to empty automatically every 30 days, so that keeps space from filling up. 

Since every email program is set up a little differently here are a few tips to help you set up folders.

• Look for the words "Manage Folders" 
• In Gmail folders are called Labels and in order to make a new one you have to open an email message first. At the top of the screen next to the word "more" is a picture of a Label.
•  When you click that it gives you an option of putting the message in a label already created or creating a new one. When you create a new one it shows up on the left side of the email page.
• To check how often your trash empties or if it empties automatically look for a GEAR and click on it. Somewhere in the list that comes up you will see "settings"
• Click on Settings and look for the trash settings. Change them to what you want them to be.

In Gmail folders are called Labels

This is a Gear. you can find Settings when you click the Gear.

One other thing you can do is to save email that you want to keep to your computer and delete it from your email. This is called Archiving your mail. In Gmail when you click to archive your mail you can find it again by searching or if you open All Mail. It is stored on the Google server and there is lots of space for it to go to.

In Outlook you can actually create a file to hold your archived mail. Right click on the "On My Computer" heading at the bottom of your folder list and choose New Folder. Name the folder Archived Mail or something like that. Now you can move messages into that folder or create a Rule that will automatically move messages to the archive after a certain time. 

Setting up a rule is also called filtering in Gmail. In some email setting up Rules is under the Tools menu. In others you will find the words "filter" or "rules" in the Settings. A rule is a sentence like  "When a new mail arrives"__________________ and then it gives you several choices for what to do with that message, like "move to archive folder" You also usually have to fill in a few more things like when it should be done (i.e. after 120 days) Once you have the rule created you usually have to click to enable it.

With Gmail archived messages can be found by clicking on All Mail. All Mail getspretty full, so you may have to search for the message that you archived using a word from the message or the email address of the sender. With Outlook you are moving your messages from the server to your own computer. You should be able to find the folder called Archive in your Documents folder.

If you have a lot of mail with photos that you want to keep it is better NOT to keep the photos in your email. When you get a picture in an email message you can right click on it and choose Save Image or Save Target. Your computer will open up a window and you can choose the Picture file for your photo to be saved in. Be sure to rename it because pictures are often named things like img566.jpg and you will not be able to tell by the name what it is later. 

Once you have saved all of the photos from your email, delete the messages and it will create more space.

Email Woes

Email can seem like a tyrant. If you don't read it the messages pile up until it will take you hours to catch up and you might miss an important message. Even when you read it regularly it can take over. 

I decided to go one whole week without reading my email.... and without sending a message or newsletter. Anyway today I am starting to read again and I have 602 messages in my personal account and 32 in my business email account. It is not like I shop online or subscribe to lots of lists. So what is in my email?

• Facebook
• Meet Up
• Pinterest
• Professional Organization
• Austin Business Journal
• Children's Defense Fund
• Environment Texas
• Change.org
• Long Center for the Performing Arts
• Advertisements - New Egg
• A few personal messages from friends
• Messages from my doctor

email lists in Facebook

Here is what I did with my 602 messages.

1. First I scanned the content to see what I was receiving.
2. Then I did an email search for the FROM line of messages that I no longer wanted to receive. Sometimes it came up with exactly what I wanted.  After found the messages that I didn't want used the checkbox at the top to choose all of the messages to trash and then clicked the trash can and they were thrown away. You can do this without marking them unread. Just delete them. It is so satisfying!
3. Finally, I emptied the trash in my email. 

I know that everyone has different email programs that look a bit different and use different words, but all of them can do something similar. It may just take some searching to find out how it is done in your program. I use Gmail.

LEARNING ABOUT UNSUBSCRIBE
What I learned is that some organizations have MANY LISTS. Facebook is a good example. I learned that if I just searched for FACEBOOK I got all kinds of email in my list, but when I searched for Facebook birthday I only got back results when FACEBOOK was notifying me of someone's birthday. When I went to the message I unsubscribed from the FACEBOOK Birthday list, but I still have email from Facebook.  I guess as I go I will find the different lists and unsubscribe from them. I finally found all of their lists and unsubscribed from them. See the list above. I found it in the Settings on Facebook under Notifications.

Another interesting thing is that I get email regularly from TED talks. The FROM line says "This Week on TED". I tried searching using TED, but that returned email about a friend named Ted and other things. So, I put the whole phrase in - this week on TED - and I still got all sorts of results. Then I added quotation marks - "this week on TED" and up came a whole list of ONLY "This Week on TED" email. I was able to mark all of them and delete them easily.

I now plan to do this every 6 months to a year. I am not sure how I get added to all of these lists. Most of them are things I am interested in.  Maybe I signed a petition or put my email on a list for something else. Maybe they got bought my email from someone. For a few of them I know I have purchased something from their company. The point is that they keep increasing, but they are NOT what I define as SPAM. They are good organizations trying to communicate. It is just that I cannot take in that much communication and don't want to.

MARKING THINGS READ
I like the option of marking messages as read. That allows me to easily see what is new. On a daily basis I go quickly through my email using the right arrow at the top right of my inbox to scan each message. Most of them can be scanned and then discarded, but there are some that I want to read more carefully or respond to. I click on the star next to the messages that I want to keep. Each time I open a message it is marked as read. In Gmail and (I am pretty sure) in most email programs that means that the message goes fromBOLD to regular font. I can then easily go back to my inbox and put checks in the box next to the ones I have scanned avoiding the ones with stars and click delete or archive. Then, theoretically, once a day or once a week I spend more time taking care of the starred messages.

How do I know that email sent to me is safe?

Have you ever gotten an email message that looked exactly like it came from your bank or eBay asking you to click on something? Often it is written in a way that makes you think it is an urgent problem. DON'T click. These messages are called "phishing". They are sent out fraudulently to learn information from you. They are NOT sent from your bank or eBay. If you click on the link you may be allowing a virus to have access to your computer. These messages also sometimes ask for private information (like bank account numbers).  

One common problem is that some virus steals all of the email addresses in your friend's contacts. The virus then sends a message to ALL of those people (including you) with a link to click on. It may say that it is from your best friend. It might say something generic in the subject line like "this is funny" or "you will like this". Even the URL may look innocent. Any mail that comes from your friend with only a link do not click on it is probably a scam. 

How can you be sure that it is not really your bank? 
Here are some steps to take that will protect you from accidentally giving away information or access to your computer.

1.  Read ALL email skeptically. Even if it says it is from your friend do not assume it is valid if it seems suspicious. Do NOT automatically, without thinking, click on anything.

2. Before you click call your friend, the airline, your bank or whoever it says it is from to be sure it is authentic. 

3.  Know that companies and banks are aware of these problems and will never ask for personnel information through email. Most of them have links on their websites where you can report any phishing attacks you have received.

4.  You can usually run your mouse over a link or an email address and in the bottom left hand corner of the screen a box will appear that shows what code is underneath the words you are seeing. The code should match the words you see if it is legitimate.

5. Look at the email address it was sent from. Often the email address is very close to the one that the company uses, but not quite the same. For example it might say that it is from help@aaglobalcommunications.com which would lead you to think it is from American Airlines, but their address is aa.com. 

Most email is legitimate. It is a good way to communicate, but it is wise to be skeptical. Don't let someone who is phishing catch you!

When I change internet providers Do I need to change my email address?

INTERNET PROVIDERS

Recently a client of mine moved.  Because the client was now living in a different part of town the internet provider was different. The internet provider is usually the company that installs cable or your telephone as well as giving you internet service. 

My client's email address was the one that came with the internet provider. The change of providers meant a change in email address also.

Providers give email addresses to their customers for free along with the internet service. That means that they host an email server where all of your email (sent and received) is stored. If you are no longer their customer you must sign up for a new address either with your new provider or with one of the free online providers; Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Zoho.  There are more listed here:

http://email.about.com/od/freeemailreviews/tp/free_email.htm

CLIENTS

It is easy to be confused about email online and email clients. A client is the program that is ON your computer that lets you read your email without going through a browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer. Some common clients are Mail (on the Macintosh), Outlook, Entourage, Windows Live Mail, and Thunderbird. These programs will go and get your mail, put it on your computer and also send your mail from your computer. 

It is handy to have one of these programs in case you are somewhere that does not have an internet connection. Using one of these programs without an internet connection you can read any email that was downloaded when you last were on the Internet and you can write email or replies. Anything you write will not be sent right away, but the next time you can connect to the internet they will send automatically. Until they are sent they sit in your inbox and wait.

When I don't have an internet connection and try to go to gmail to get my mail this is what I see.

I cannot even read my old email messages. I could write email on Word or another word processor, but I would still have to create a message, copy, paste and send it when I am on the Internet again.

An email client needs to be set up to connect to your internet provider so it knows where to look for your mail. Each provider has different information that you need to set a client up. Search online for your internet provider and look for information about setting up an email client. It should tell you the POP or IMAP server (that is the computer for incoming mail and the SMTP server (that is the server for sending, or outgoing, mail). You can then go to the settings in your email client and enter this information. It should make the client work!

A FINAL WORD

It can cause a lot of frustration to change email addresses. After thinking about this for a while it seems to me that the best way to go is to get a free email address from Gmail, Yahoo or one of the others. Then if you change providers you do  not have to change your email address!

Using Outlook for eMail

Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about using Outlook, especially on a Mac. Below are some of the questions and my response.

I use two different email addresses.  How can I set them up to both send to my same Outlook account?

There are two ways to do this.

1. If you want to have two separate mail boxes which you open separately and that keep one account separate from the other you need to set up a second profile.  Here are the instructions for setting up a second profile. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KbzzVjjn
   
   In this scenario your set up is almost like having two different email accounts. You read and send mail with one account and then switch and read and reply with the other account. You will always have the correct account in the from: area where people reply.
2. Another option is to have two email addresses that both send to the same mailbox. Here are the instructions for setting that up.
   
   Go to Tools>Account Settings in Outlook.  Click "new" and then add your second mail account. Now you have two different accounts that both have the same mailbox.

I have two different email addresses that both feed into my Outlook account. How can I reply to someone with the account I want to use with them?

When you send mail you will notice that below the send button is the word Account with an arrow. If you click the arrow it will give you a list of the accounts that are set up in your system. Choose the account you want to use for your reply and then click send.

You can change the default address for replying if you find that you are having to switch too often.  To do this look under the Tools menu for Account Settings or Email Accounts. You should see a list of which email accounts you have set up. Highlight the one you use most often and click "set as default".

How do I get my Outlook calendar to sync with my phone?

The main thing to realize is that your calendar is a part of your email set up and so when you set up your email you are also setting up your calendar. 

Windows Phone - Flick left to the app list, tap settings, tap email and accounts, tap Add an Account, Depending on your Version of Windows Phone choose Outlook or or Windows Live. Enter your Outlook. com address and password. Tap sign in. 

iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch - Go to Settings-Mail, Contacts, Calendar and choose HOTMAIL. Fill in your Outlook email and passwords. Choose what you want to sync and tap SAVE.

Other Phones - You will need to download an Android app. Go to this link and follow the directions. 

http://tinyurl.com/cobm3rq

Unfortunately this app has fairly poor reviews. Maybe it will be improved in the future. 

What is the difference between an Outlook Exchange account and Outlook that I have at home? 

Outlook Exchange is a set up of Outlook that is run from a server (a server is just a computer that can share everything through a network). The reason that employers like it is that it is a closed system that allows workers from the same company to interact and share among other workers in the same company easily and safely. As a user you do not see a lot of difference between Outlook Exchange and regular Outlook, which is what people use on a home computer.

 If you are using Outlook Exchange at work and you want to access information on a home computer you will need to talk with the System Administrator to get information about how to connect.

Can you explain Outlook Express and Outlook 365?

Outlook Express was a free version of Outlook which came with some versions of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. It was meant for personal use rather than the more robust Outlook that was designed for offices. Right now you are encouraged to download Windows Live Mail instead if you want a free email client (program that works on your computer). 

Outlook 365 is a service with a monthly or annual fee. It uses Windows Sky Drive as an online server which saves all of your mail. Signing up gives you 20 Gigabytes of Sky Drive storage. It does allow you to install it on five machines, so it can be cost effective even though it is a subscription rather than a one time purchase.

If you have a Mac and want a shortcut to get to your Outlook mail the MailTab app for Outlook will do that. Here is a link to the app on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mailtab-for-outlook/id582581625?mt=12  

Here are links to some of the sites where I found the best information:
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Outlook

YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTSn_z3OrpM

Microsoft
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/what-is-a-microsoft-exchange-server-account-HA001230171.aspx

PC World
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2026710/why-office-365-is-a-better-deal-than-office-2013.html

DISCLAIMER: I learned these things from looking them up on the Internet and have not experienced them. I use Gmail and the mail app on my iPhone and iPad. They work well and easily for me.

Freeing up Memory on your iPhone

In order to write this post I looked on line at several pages and I have tried to note below the URLs of the pages that I consulted. You may find more information at these places, but here is a summary with a few additional thoughts from my experience.

Check your usage

Before you start it is helpful to actually know how much memory you have and how much is used. 

• Open Settings and tap on “General”
• Tap on “Usage” and look for the storage available and storage used data points at the top of the installed app list.

Before clearing anything off mine says 2.3 G available, 11.3 G used (the example I show is from the article). I think mine is OK. One of the articles I read said that you should always have more than one G available. if your available amount is in MB you need to clear off some stuff.

Scrolling further down you’ll find how much space individual apps use. This is really helpful because you may find that apps you do not use take up a lot of space. Any apps that you delete from the Phone can be reinstalled for free if you want them back. 

http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/18/check-available-storage-space-and-how-much-space-an-app-uses-in-ios-5/

1. Delete Pictures

Make sure first that you have downloaded any  pictures that you want to save to your computer. If you have a Mac with iPhoto it is easy. You can just plug in your phone and choose iPhoto. It will show your phone on the left side and then you can download any photos that you want to keep by choosing them and then choosing "download selected". You will be asked if you want to take them off of your phone. OR you can choose "download all" and all of your photos from your phone will be downloaded. It helps me to download them in groups because I don't do it often enough and so there are usually several events with pictures. I give them a name, choose the photos and click download selected. I choose delete from iPhone because I do not want to have all of those photos on my iPhone. Later I create albums of certain photos on my Mac and then put them onto my iPhone.

If there are photos on your iPhone that you do not want to have there you can go to Image Capture in your Applications Folder with your iPhone plugged in. It will show all of the photos that you have on the phone. You can choose the ones you do not want OR all of them and press the circle and line icon to delete them. 

You also may have something called a PhotoStream turned on. This is a record of all of the pictures that you have taken. To turn it off go to SETTINGS and choose PHOTOS. In the Photo settings you can turn on or off the PhotoStream. If you turn it off it automatically removes all of the pictures that were in the PhotoStream in the first place which saved me LOTS of space.

I am not including instructions on how to do this on a PC because there are so many different ways. You may use Flickr, Picasa, or some other software. These are all free and are great ways of saving your photos.

2. Change the format of the music you have

"A little-heralded feature of iTunes 9.1 (My addition: The version of iTunes on your computer is the same that is downloaded to your device, so to find out the version go to your computer and look under iTunes>About and it will tell you what version. Mine is 11.0.1.) is the ability to convert higher bitrate songs to 128kpbs AAC files for iPhone or iPod Touch sync with iTunes. How do you do it? It’s a simple check box option in the Summary tab when your iPhone appears in the iTunes source list. When the box is checked, on the next sync, all your songs on your iPhone that are not 128kpbs AAC files will be removed and then re-added, being converted on the fly.
The first time I did it, about 400 songs on my iPhone needed to be converted. It took about ten minutes to do the conversion. Once the first large conversion is done, the iPhone syncs your music as fast (or slow) as it ever did (unless you’re refreshing your iPhone’s library every time you sync). If you keep “convert higher bitrate songs to 128kpbs AAC files” checked, any new songs added to your iPhone will automatically be converted.It’s important to note that this on-the-fly conversion does not alter your original files inside your iTuneslibrary — those will remain at whatever bitrate and in whatever file format you had them in.How well does this work? I saved a whopping 1.5GBs of space on my 8GB iPhone. Others here at TUAW saved between 2-5GBs. Of course, how much space you save will be dependent on what bitrate and file type your songs are now."

http://www.theiphonespot.net/how-to-save-space-on-your-iphone/

Make sure to click on APPLY on the bottom of the screen after you make the changes. On mine it did take a while to download the new versions. I had 352 songs. Now I have 2.6 G available and 11 G used. I saved .3 Gigabytes or 300 Megabytes... not a lot, but some.

You an always just delete the Music you do not listen to temporarily. It is stored in iTunes and can be added back easily.

3. Change email settings:

Download Fewer Emails
You can limit the number of emails that your iPhone downloads for each email account you have configured. Needless to say, the fewer emails downloaded, the less disk space they’ll take up.

• To set this limit low, tap “Settings” from the home screen.
• Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
• In the Mail part of the page that shows up, choose "Show".  In the “Show” line, you can set the phone to show only your most recent 50, 75, 100, or 200 messages. The lower the number you use, the less disk space the emails will take up.

Mine was already set to the lowest, so that is not somewhere I can get space on my phone.

Delete Emails Sooner

When you delete an email on the iPhone, the disk space isn’t immediately freed up. Instead, that happens when the iPhone periodically clears deleted content from its memory.

You can free up disk space by making sure that those messages are actually cleared after being deleted. 

Once you get it set up here is how your iPhone works:  
1. When you click on the Mail program and then get to the INBOX the mail that you have received is downloaded from an email server somewhere to your phone. In SETTINGS>MAIL, CONTACTS, CALENDARS choose your email address. If you then go to ADVANCED you can set up your phone to download 50, 100, 150, 200 messages. I recommend that you download 50. That will give you the 50 newest messages and not take up as much space.

I have a lot of folders for my mail and so if I do not open them the messages that are in those folders on my computer are not downloaded onto my phone and so they do not take up space. If I download them by opening the folder and then want to remove them I have to delete them.

2. You can also set up where your messages go after they are deleted. This is also in SETTINGS>MAIL, CONTACTS, CALENDARS>EMAIL ADDRESS 2X>ADVANCED. I changed mine to go to the Trash. Now when I go to the TRASH folder it shows me all of the mail that I have deleted and I can choose to delete all of them at once. Unfortunately for me, and maybe for you. I have not been doing this for a long time so I have hundreds of messages in my Inbox that I have to move to the trash one by one before I can actually clear them from the phone.

http://ipod.about.com/od/iphoneemail/a/iph_email_store.htm

4. Delete Voicemails

iPhone voicemails aren’t fully deleted until they’re cleared. Sure, you can mark the voicemails as deleted, but they’re still on the phone — taking up disk space — until you clear them.

I usually don't delete my voicemails just because I might want to look at them again sometime. I know how silly that is. Actually there are two steps to deleting the voicemails from the phone. If you don't do the second one, clear the deleted messages, you will still have them on your phone and you can restore them if you want to. Here are steps to fully delete your voicemail.

1. Tap the Phone icon.
2. Tap the Voicemail icon in the bottom right.
3. If you have deleted messages that haven’t been cleared, the Visual Voicemail list will include an item at the VERY bottom of all of the messages called “Deleted Messages.” Tap it.
4. In that screen, tap the “Clear All” button to permanently delete the messages and free up that valuable disk space.

When I did this my usage changed to 2.6G available and 10.9 G used. I guess that .1 G is not worth enough to open up more useable space.

5. Delete Apps that you do not use

iTunes keeps track of all of the apps that you have purchased (including the free ones). Even if you delete them from your iPhone you can download them for free again later. The list you first saw when you checked your usage told you what size different apps are. I found out that I have Pages on my phone. It takes up 289 MB (that is a lot!) I do not use my iPhone for writing, so I will take it off. There are other apps that I have downloaded to try (especially for free!), but don't use, so I can delete them. 

I could delete apps right from the Usage screen. If you click on an app it takes you to a screen with a DELETE button at the bottom. Click DELETE and it is removed from the list.

This made the most difference for me so far.  I now have 4.2 G Available and 9.4 G used.

6. Delete past Chat discussions

Maybe that is not such a necessary tip. It did not change my numbers at all. Maybe it was less than a MB, so it did not show up at all. I am not a big texter, so that may be the reason.


7. Remove watched Videos

In order to delete a video that is on your iPhone you first get to the list of videos and then touch the one you want to delete and drag to the left. The red Delete button appears and when you click on it the video is deleted. 

This is a video that shows how that works.


8. Prefer Standard Definition Videos

In the explanation above about changing the format of movies I also checked that I Prefer Standard Definition Videos. When there is a choice between Standard and HD it will choose the Standard. This should not affect the way it looks on the iPhone since the screen is so small.


A BIT OFF THE TOPIC, BUT HELPFUL
In writing all of this up I came across a software called Tune Up My Mac that goes through your Mac to see what it has on it that is extra and may be causing it to run slowly. My computer has been running slowly, so I thought I would give it a try. For free you get a scan where it finds those extra files and then in order to remove them you have to purchase the software at $39 for a one year license. I decided to purchase it because I wanted to see how it would work.
Here is a link to it incase you are interested.
Tune up my Mac


P.S. After writing most of this and giving you my final total I found more mail that I could delete and learned about the PhotoStream. My final usage is 5 GB available and 8.6 GB used! I still have mail to delete and remove. It has been great figuring this all out. I hope it is helpful to you.

Gmail Offline and Fun after Fifty!

 GMAIL OFFLINE

I am traveling today and I am also behind in reading my email. I want to catch up while on the airplane, but I use Gmail.

For anyone who is new to email/webmail I want to explain that there are two types of email: Webmail or eMail on your computer. For both of them you have to be online for them to get your new mail and send mail that you write. eMail on your computer can be opened up without getting online, but it does not give you any new mail. It keeps track of anything you write and when you are next online all of it is sent. Webmail only works when you are online.

Until now I thought that because I was using Gmail I only had webmail. That meant that when I was flying I did not have access to my email. That was the first thing that made me unhappy with using Gmail.

Now there is a way to create a mailbox on your computer that can keep up with your Gmail. Unfortunately it only works with Gmail on Google Chrome, so if you have another webmail program you are out of luck. Google Chrome is a browser. [A browser is something that connects you to the Internet like Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and others]. I use Firefox usually and really like it, but for this I have switched to Chrome.

First I had to set it up. I had to go to Firefox and search for Chrome. Then I had to download Chrome. It is free, but takes some time and space on your computer to set up. 



 

When I opened Chrome I had to click to open a new tab so that I could see the Google Web Store Icon. Google offline is an Add On to Chrome which is sort of like an app that works inside the Chrome program. You have to go to the Chrome Store to get it, but it is free. When you have opened Chrome click on the shopping bag to get to the Chrome Store. 

At the store search for "Gmail Offline" and a list of Add Ons will show up. 

The top one is Gmail Offline. You can click on it for more information which will take you to a new window with more information or just click on the button that says, "Add to Chrome". 

 
As soon as you do this the blue M shows up on the Chrome page which had only the shopping bag on it before. 






Now if you are somewhere where there is no Internet access you can open Chrome, click on the diamond shape next to the tab and open up a new tab. On the new tab you will see the shopping bag, gmail offline and other add ons that you have chosen to add. When you click on the blue M it will take you right to your email...offline!!

CHROME ADD ONS
 
One other thing I learned while doing this is that there are all sorts of other Add Ons for Chrome. I need to explore them more to see what is there, but there seemed to be hundreds. One that sounded interesting to me was a remote access app. It would be nice to be able to help people over the phone with their computers and the software I have seen to do that is $40 a month. However, this application (and maybe the others also) makes your computer readable by the company that owns it. They can get all sorts of information from my computer and I did not want to risk that yet. 

FUN AFTER FIFTY
 
As I try to get this business off the ground I am meeting lots of interesting people and today I want to tell you about one of them. Jackie has started a blog called Fun After Fifty (http://www.funafterfifty.com). In one post she says, "My passion is to help people approaching or past the age of fifty to thrive rather than just survive life. What’s your passion?" She told me that she often meets people over 50 who have given up. I guess that they feel that they are past the first half of life and on a downhill slide. She wants to meet people and help them for free! Eventually she hopes to get sponsors that will help her pay for her business. Check it out!

I hope to hear from you.  I need more suggestions of what to write about. I will gladly take time to research and come up with an answer to your issue. Comments of all kinds are welcomed!

Basic Email with Gmail

This next week I will be working with some people who are really new to using technology and want to learn how to do email. I prepared a handout for them and so I thought I would share it here also.

EMAIL BASICS

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO EMAILING

We are going to use GMAIL as an example since most email works about the same way. There will be some differences in the way your email looks and works if you use something else.

GETTING STARTED

1.    Go to http://gmail.com

2.    If you have a Google account you can just log in. If you do not have an account you have to choose to create one by clicking on the red button at the top right. Creating one is free.

3.    Fill in the form that comes up.

 You will often see something like this strange word when you are creating an account for something online. If you can type in the letters it means that you are a human with eyes and a brain and not just a computer. If you cannot read the letters you can try your best and it will give you a second chance with a different word OR click on the handicapped sign and hear the letters.

All of this ONLY HAS TO BE DONE ONCE!! Now you have an email account. You should write down your email address and password and keep it somewhere that you will remember.

SENDING A MESSAGE

1.   Click on the button on the left side that says COMPOSE MAIL.

2.   Type the email address of the person you want to write to in the space that says TO. Gmail can also keep all of your contacts, so if you have entered some into it you can click on TO and a list will appear. You can just click on the person you want to write to.

3.   Give your message a subject-this is usually a few words describing the content.

4.   In the big box type your message.

5.   Press SEND. If you do not want to send it you can choose SAVE or DISCARD.

6.   Unfinished email is always kept in the folder called DRAFTS, so if you started one and were not able to finish look there.

All of your sent mail is saved in the SENT MAIL box. This is great if you are not sure if you emailed someone or not or if they want you to send something again that they lost.

READING EMAIL

When you open your email program the first thing you should see is your INBOX. This is the place where all new email goes. Your INBOX shows you who it is from, the subject line in the message and the date that it came in.

New messages are in BOLD. To read you just click on the message and it opens up. After reading a message you can

·      ARCHIVE it-save it, but out of the INBOX. To see it I must go to ALL MAIL.

·      Put it in the SPAM folder by clicking the word SPAM - spam is mail that you do not want to get. The program learns what you put into your SPAM folder and blocks future emails for you.

·      DELETE it-If you are done with this message forever you can delete it. The message is findable for a month or so and then is deleted completely from the server.

·      REPLY-When a message there is a REPLY button on the top right side. Click on this and a new message screen pops up with the message you are answering quoted at the bottom. You can just reply the same way that you send mail.

ATTACHMENTS

Sometimes email that you receive has one attachment or more. An attachment is a separate file that someone has sent you. It is usually a photograph or a document they want to share with you.

Attachments you receive will show up on the bottom of the message. You can click to View them or you can Download them or save them.

You will know that you have an attachment because it will have a paperclip next to the message when it is in your inbox.

If you have something that you want to attach to an email you are writing here are the steps:

1.   Write the email.

2.   Click on Attach a File, which is just below the area where you wrote the Subject of the message.

3.   This will open a window that will allow you to find the file you want to send on your computer. In this example I have saved something to my desktop so that it is easy to find.

IMPORTANT TIPS

• If you type your email in all CAPS it means you are yelling! 
• Since you do not have facial features or gestures to see email can often be misunderstood. Reread what you write and make sure it is clear.
• Only forward email to people that you know might be interested in the content. Too many people forward "cute" things to everyone in their mailbox.
• There are many places on the Internet where you can get keyboard codes that mean that you are smiling :-) sticking out your tongue :-P and many other things.

All email works about the same way. Here is a simplification:

1.   You send email to a friend.

2.   The email you sent goes to another computer, a server.

3.   Your message is relayed to your friend. Now when they open their email program your message will be there.

Replying works the same way

4.   Your friend reads your message and types a reply. It goes to the cloud

5.   The cloud (server) sends it on to you.

There are two ways that people do email: OFFLINE OR ONLINE

OFFLINE: you are using a program in your computer. When you turn on your computer and go to that program all of the messages that have come in since you last checked are automatically put in your list right from the cloud.

ONLINE: If you do your email online you are actually connecting to the cloud directly. If you use Yahoo, GMAIL or Hotmail this is what is happening.

The main advantage of doing your email OFFLINE is that even though you have to be online in order to download your mail you can read and write even when the Internet is not working. As soon as your computer connects to the Internet again your email will be sent. If you do your email only ONLINE there is no way to access it or to write email if the Internet is down.