How to send email

This article provides detailed instructions for beginners on how to send email from their computer.
Though this may be a simple process for many, I understand that the technologically challenged can be
confused with tons of options available. My aim is to provide easy straightforward instructions with little
or no "techie" language so that beginners are able to take full advantage of the new age communications
tool and interact with their friends and family.
You need an account to send an email
The prerequisite for sending an email is to have an email account. If you don't have one, there is no
reason to be distressed because I'll soon show you how to create an email account for free in less than 15
minutes. However, before that, let me give you a brief of the email technology, explain what it is and how
it works - obviously, through analogies.
What is an email account?
An email account is like your own post box on the internet. Each email account comes with an email
address that typically has the format someone@somewhere. The someone part is the ID while somewhere
is the place at which the email account resides. For example, if you have box no. 9 at the Trafalgar Square
Post Office, in the email language it can be referred to as box9@Trafalgar Square Post Office.
How to send an email (letter) from your box to another?
Now if you have to send a letter to someone who holds box no. 16 at the London Bridge Post Office
(box16@ London Bridge Post Office), you put this address in the envelop and drop it in your box. The
letter (email) would "magically" be sent almost immediately to the recipient. Thus, when sending email
you need to specify ONLY the email address of the recipient and it shall be transferred over the internet.
If you have been reading intently (and racking your brain at the same time), you would undoubtedly
understand that email addresses need to be unique - just like the post office boxes! No two email accounts
can have the same address else because if it were not so, your email message will each multiple
recipients, right?
OK, that's enough to get you started with the email technology. Let's see how to get an email account for
you.
How to get an email account for free
There are hundreds, if not thousands of free email service providers and choosing one can be sort of
tricky. The best bet is to pick up an email account from one of the three leading providers - Google,
Microsoft or Yahoo! Each of these companies offer free email accounts and you now need to decide
which one to use - sorry can't help you with your choice here but personally, I use Google's Gmail email
service more than the other two. Click on one of the links below to be taken to a different page that has
step by step instructions on how to get an email account. Be sure to come back or keep this page open for
instructions on how to send an email.
 Create a free account at Google's Gmail email service
 How to create an email account at Microsoft's Hotmail service
 Get a Yahoo email address
What should an email message contain?
There are just three things you need to send an email to someone:
 the recipient's email address: you will not be able to send the email without one!
 the email subject: this is like a one line description of the contents. Putting a subject to your
message is not a requirement though advisable.
 the message: again, not required, but why would you like to send a blank email to someone?
Email from Google's Gmail
If you opted for a Gmail account, you need to read this section to send an email. Log in or sign in to your
account (if you haven't done so already). Click on the Compose Mail link under the Gmail logo to open
the new email window. Enter the email address of the recipient in the To: box, the email subject line and
finally your main message. Confused? Please refer send email from Gmail for step by step instructions
and screenshots.
Compose and send email from Hotmail account
All Hotmail email account holders, please refer compose and send email from Hotmail account for
detailed instructions. You might also be interested in going through the article on how to use a hotmail
account.
Send an email from Yahoo! Mail account
Assuming you are using the newer version of Yahoo! Mail, click on the New link under the logo and
select Email message. You should now be presented with a blank email message window. For step by
step instructions, please refer compose and send email from Yahoo.
Last notes on how to send email
 An email message can be sent to more than one recipient and you can do this by entering email
addresses one after the other in the To, Cc or Bcc fields. Refer send email to many people.
 You can attach any kind of digital files to an email message. This means, you can easily send
photographs taken from your digital camera to your friends and family.
 You can also use email programs such as Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail,
Thunderbird, Apple Mail, Outlook etc. to send email messages. At this point, you don't need to
worry too much about these, but if you are intrigued, there are tons of articles on this web site;
please use the search function at the top of the page.
Send email to multiple recipients
Sending an email requires just three things, 2 of which are optional but it's advised that you include them.
The most important is the recipient's email address; the second is the email subject (a single line
describing the email contents); and the message itself. I suppose you already knew that, right? Now, if
you need to send the same message to many people, you don't need to go through the exercise of
composing the email all over again. There are actually several ways to send an email to multiple
recipients and on this page I shall tell you how to do that with screenshots from Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail
and Gmail email services as well as popular email programs like Windows Mail Vista, Outlook Express
and Windows Live Mail.
3 ways to send an email to more than one recipient
To send email to multiple recipients all you need to do is to enter email addresses one after the other,
separated by the comma, in the To, Cc or Bcc fields. So what's the difference? Firstly, the Cc and Bcc are
the ones that should be used when sending a message to more than one recipient - that's simply the
proper way of doing this.
What is the difference between Cc and Bcc?
Cc stands for Carbon copy and Bcc is Blind carbon copy. When Cc is used, recipients will know all the
people to whom this email was sent. Bcc, as its name suggests, hides the email addresses of the recipients
from each other. However, both the Cc and Bcc will require you to have at least one email address in the
To field. A smart way of using the Bcc field is to put an alternate email address of yours in the To field
and all the other recipients in the Bcc.
Locating the Cc and Bcc in web based email accounts and email programs
Yahoo! Mail email account

The Cc field is displayed by default. To bring up Bcc, you need to click on the not-so-inconspicuous link.
Gmail email compose screen
Both Cc and Bcc fields are hidden and can be displayed by clicking on their corresponding links.
Hotmail accounts

In case of Hotmail accounts, clicking on the Show Cc & Bcc link will bring up these two fields.
Email programs
The same Cc and Bcc fields can be found in email programs such as Windows Live Mail, Outlook
Express, Windows Mail etc. For example, in Windows Live Mail, the two fields are not displayed by
default and you need to click on the Show Cc & Bcc link. When working on Windows Mail email client,
click on View -> All Headers to display the Bcc field. Outlook Express users, please refer Bcc and bulk
emailing in Outlook Express for details.
Send email to a group of people
The Cc and Bcc columns work well but when you want to send email to the same group of people
regularly, entering their addresses each time in these columns is not... elegant (for want of a better word).
A slicker solution is to put all these recipients in a group. Organizing and categorizing contacts data
might be tedious the first time around, but the rewards are great. Once the recipients have been collected
together in a group, you simply need to put the group name in the "To:" field and the message goes to
everyone. No need to fiddle around with individual email addresses and, yes, a recipient can belong to
one or more groups. Intrigued? Refer how to send a group email using Gmail and send email to a group
through Windows Live Mail.

Types of email accounts - Know your email

Web based email accounts

Email accounts provided by the ISP
Web site email accounts
Web site email accounts
Do you own a web site? Depending on your hosting package, you can create email accounts on the web
site for yourself or your staff. Most web hosting companies let you access emails through a web based
interface or download the messages using email programs such as Outlook Express, Windows Mail,
Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, Apple Mail etc. For more information, please check with your web
hosting company or the people who developed your
Email account from your company
institutions, schools, colleges etc.
Advantages of email -or electronic mail
There are some people who refuse to embrace new technology... and I suppose this is fin. Imagine what a
wonderful place the world would have been if many countries wouldn't have taken up nuclear energy and
developed it into bombs. Anyway, I have no problems with such people as long as they don't throw
foolish criticism without knowing the details. I met a not-so-old gentleman a few days back who kept on
haranguing me on how the internet and email has changed the "social landscape" and is responsible for
most of the problems faced by youngsters. Now this was a little far-fetched so I list here some of the
advantages of email as a communication tool.
Almost instantaneous
Email messages are transferred instantly - well almost. They move as fast as current in copper wires or
light in optical cables, which is pretty darn quick. When you send an email is leaves your computer and
arrives at the recipient's inbox immediately. You can potentially have a conversation with a person over
email - hence, the conversation view in Gmail.
Cost of sending an email is zero or negligible
If you have a 24 hour internet such as a through cable / broadband connection, the cost of sending an
email is zero or very very small. For dialup users, the maximum cost of sending an email will be that of a
phone call or a few (depending on the size of the message and the files attached).
Emails can be sent in bulk
One email message can be sent to multiple recipients almost at the cost of a single email. When compared
to conventional postal service this is indeed a huge saving.
Email attachments - any digital document can be sent over email
As long as a document can be converted into digital format, it can be sent over email. Again, the cost
aspect comes into picture. Imagine the money you will save by sending a 500 page document attached to
an email instead of the same as hard copy printout - not only is the postage more expensive but there is
also the cost of printing and paper to consider.
And the story doesn't end with text documents. Photographs, music and audio files and even video from a
camcorder can be attached along with an email message. To learn more, refer how to send photographs
taken from your digital camera through email.
Though many email services put a limit to the email attachment size, there are workarounds; refer sending
large files over email.
Delivery is almost guaranteed
The delivery of email messages in almost guaranteed. Why do I say "almost"? Because sometimes for
reasons that are beyond the scope of this article, email can get lost in cyberspace but this is very rare.
Request return receipt
Just like with postal and courier services, you can request a return receipt which simply involves a click
of a mouse button by the recipient. But even if the recipient doesn't get back, you know your email has
been delivered - refer point above.
Email is accessible
OK, this is one of the greatest advantages of using email - its accessible anywhere, anytime and through a
multitude of devices - computers, laptops, palmtops and even cell phones.
One can check email from any location as long as an active internet connection is available.
Also email can be sent from any place with the same requirement of an active net connection.
Built in spell checking
Most email programs (or email clients) have built in spell check dictionaries - so you have no excuse of
sending badly written messages. Spell checkers are also found in online email services such as Hotmail
and Yahoo.
Notification of new arrivals
Email programs or devices can also be set up so you get a notification through sound or a flash of light
when new messages arrive at your inbox.
Can be formal as well as informal
Email messages do not signify informality. Just because email is easy to compose and send does not mean
it cannot be used in formal and official correspondences.
Automation
Several, if not all, steps in the emailing process can be automated.
A good example is sending birthday greetings to people. An email program checks the birthday and the
name of the recipient from a list. A message (from a template) is then formulated and sent on the
specified date.
Email storage and management
Storing and managing emails you receive is very easy if you use an email program or a good email
service. Segregating messages into folders and organizing them properly is just like cleaning your desk
and filing your work. However, with email there is no usage of physical space excepting that on your hard
disk, of course. Also, any email client worth its salt has an inbuilt search utility that hunts out the elusive
email in a jiffy.
Email security
The best way to secure your email messages is to use the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) technology.
However, most people are unaware of it but it's very much there!
These were some advantages I could think of. If you come up with others, write to me using the form
below.
It's now time to look at some disadvantages of using email.
Disadvantages of email
Email creates more work
In contrast to the popular notion, email actually creates more work. The easy of sending and receiving
email has transformed businesses throughout the world and we know that the stress levels are increase,
right?
People expect immediate replies
Most people know that emails are delivered instantaneously and hence expect replies immediately. I agree
that the "human" element is kind of lost with email.
Most email messages are not secure
As I mentioned above, though a good secure technology exists for email, the masses seldom bother to use
it... or even know about it. Hence transferring sensitive information over email such as credit card
numbers or bank details (password?) is not advisable.