Organizing E-Mail with Outlook

However, one of the most popular uses for Outlook is reading, writing, and organizing your e-mail. Configuring E-Mail Settings The first time you run Outlook, you’ll need to configure your e-mail account information. To retrieve e-mail from your account within Outlook, you need to know the following:

    Your name
    The username of your e-mail account, which might be  JSmith (for
   Joe  Smith)
    Your e-mail address (such as JSmith@microsoft.com)
    Your e-mail account password
    Your e-mail account type (either POP3 or IMAP)
    Your incoming mail server name (such as pop.microsoft.com)
    Your outgoing mail server name (such as smtp.microsoft.com)
 

Outlook can often recognize many popular e-mail accounts such as HotMail, but if Outlook can’t set up your e-mail account automatically, you will need to ask your Internet service provider (ISP) for all of these details. Configuring an e-mail account the first time you run Outlook, follow these steps:

1. Load Outlook. A dialog box appears, letting you know Outlook is preparing to configure your e-mail account settings.

2. Click Next.

3. Select the Yes radio button and then click Next. (If you click the No radio button, you can always configure Outlook to access your e-mail account later.)

The Add New E-mail Account dialog box appears. In most cases, you’ll use the default setting that has the Microsoft Exchange Server, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP radio button selected.

4. Click Next.

5. Type your name, e-mail address, and password in the appropriate text boxes and then click Next. Another dialog box appears, letting you know Outlook is trying to automatically detect the rest of your e-mail account settings. (If Outlook succeeds in configuring your e-mail account settings, you’re done. Otherwise, continue with the rest of the steps.)

6. Select the Manually Configure Server Settings check box and then click Next.

Most home computers connect to the Internet through the Internet E-mail option, but many corporate computers connect to the Internet through the Microsoft Exchange Server option.

7. Click Next. The Add New E-mail Account dialog box appears that displays text boxes for entering your server settings.

8. Type in your incoming and outgoing mail server settings. The incoming and outgoing mail server settings typically put the letters pop and smtp in front of your ISP’s name, such as pop.isp.com and smtp.isp.com.

9. Click the Test Account Settings button. Outlook attempts to connect to the Internet and send a message to your e-mail account to verify that everything is working.

10. Click Next. Another dialog box appears to inform you that you’re done setting up your e-mail account.

11. Click Finish.

Adding an e-mail account

After you configure your initial e-mail account in Outlook, you can always add (or delete) an e-mail account later. To add a new e-mail account, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Account Settings. The Account Settings dialog box appears.

2. Click New. The Add New E-mail Account dialog box appears.

3. Follow Steps 4–10 in the preceding section, “Configuring E-Mail Settings.”

Deleting an e-mail account

You can always delete an e-mail account at any time. To delete an e-mail account, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools -> Account Settings. The Account Settings dialog box appears.

2. Click the e-mail account you want to delete.

3. Click Remove. A dialog box appears, asking you to verify whether you want to delete your e-mail account.

4. Click Yes (or No). If you click Yes, Outlook removes your e-mail account. If you delete an e-mail account, Outlook still saves any e-mail messages it has already retrieved from your account.

Editing an e-mail account

If you’ve already configured an e-mail account, you may need to make changes to it later, such as changing your password periodically. To edit an existing account

1. Choose Tools -> Account Settings. The Account Settings dialog box appears.

2. Click the e-mail account you want to edit and then click Change. The Change E-mail Account dialog box appears. As an alternative to clicking the Change icon, you can also click the Repair icon to have Outlook try to automatically configure your e-mail account settings.

3. Make any changes, such as changing the password or incoming or outgoing mail server settings, and then click Next. A dialog box appears to inform you that you’ve changed your settings.

4. Click Finish.

Creating E-Mail

After you set up an e-mail account, you can start sending e-mail. The three ways to create and send e-mail are

 Create a message and type the recipient’s e-mail address manually.

 Reply to a previously received message. Outlook then adds the recipient’s e-mail address automatically.

 Create a message and use a previously stored e-mail address. Outlook adds the e-mail address automatically.

Creating a new e-mail message

The most straightforward way to send a message is to type the recipient’s e-mail address and then type your message. To create a new e-mail message and type the e-mail address, follow these steps:

1. Choose Go -> Mail. (You can also press Ctrl+1 or click the Mail button in the lower-left corner of the Outlook window.) Outlook displays the Mail pane.

2. Choose one of the following:

• Click the New button (don’t click the downward-pointing arrow next to the New button).

• Choose Actions -> New Mail Message.

• Press Ctrl+N.

3. Click in the To text box and type the e-mail address of the person you want to receive your message.

Make sure you type the e-mail address correctly. One incorrect character, and your message won’t go to your intended recipient.

4. (Optional) Click in the Cc text box and type another e-mail address to send the message to more than one person.

5. Click in the Subject text box and type a brief description of your message.

Many people use spam filters that examine the Subject line of a message, so it’s a good idea to not type your subject text in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS or use multiple exclamation points!!! Otherwise, your recipient’s spam filter may inadvertently flag your message as spam and delete it before anyone can even read it.

6. Click in the message text box and type your message.

If you click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar, you can store the message in your Drafts folder so you can edit and send it at a later time.

7. Click the Send icon to send your message.

Replying to an e-mail message

Oftentimes. you may receive a message from someone else and want to send a reply to that person. When you send a reply, Outlook automatically copies the original message as part of your e-mail so that way the recipient can read the original message that you’re responding to. Even better, when you reply to a message, you won’t have to retype the recipient’s e-mail address and risk misspelling it. To reply to an e-mail message, follow these steps:

1. Choose Go -> Mail. (You can also press Ctrl+1 or click the Mail button in the lower-left corner of the Outlook window.)

Outlook displays the Mail pane.

2. Click the Inbox folder.

Outlook displays the Inbox pane that lists all the messages you’ve received.

3. Click a message that you wish to reply to.

Outlook displays the contents of that message in a pane on the right side of the Outlook window.

4. Choose one of the following:

• Click the Reply icon.

• Choose Actions -> Reply.

• Press Ctrl+R.

Outlook displays a message window with the recipient’s e-mail address and subject line already typed in along with a copy of the original message.

5. Click in the message text box and type your message. If you click the Save icon on the Quick Access toolbar, you can store the message in your Drafts folder so you can edit and send it at a later time.

6. Click the Send icon.