chapter 9

Email

What is Email?

Electronic mail is an electronic message, usually simple text, typed on a computer and transmitted over a network to another user.

With the Internet's growth, businesses adopted Internet standards for local network mail services because it's less expensive, simpler, not tied to a vendor, and provides a wider choice of email client applications.

Benefits of Email

1. Easy to use: Email facilities are user-friendly, allowing easy sending, receiving, and saving of electronic messages.

2. Fast: Emails are delivered instantly worldwide.

3. Reply option: Original messages can be attached when replying, providing context to the recipient.

4. Automation: Autoresponders can be set up to automatically reply to emails with standard content, such as vacation notices.

5. Environmentally friendly: Emails do not use paper.

6. Multimedia attachments: Multimedia files like birthday cards, newsletters, audio clips, or videos can be attached.

7. Advertising: Businesses can advertise sales or product launches to a large audience quickly.

Web Mail vs Email Clients

Both web mail and email clients use the internet to read and send emails. When someone sends you an email, it is stored on an email server, this server can belong to a web-based email provider, an ISP (Internet Service Provider), or a web hosting provider. How you collect your email will depend on what type of email account you have.

Web Mail

With web mail, emails are stored on the email server unless deleted. Users read and send email through a browser and the web mail interface.

Examples: Yahoo Mail, Gmail, and Hotmail.

Functions:

• Special web interface residing on a web server.

• The web server can be on any network connected to the Internet.

• Accessible from any computer with Internet access.

• Requires a username and password to log in.

Email Client

An email client (Network e-mail) is a software program on your computer used to read and send emails. Advantages include storing emails on your computer for faster access and composing emails offline to send later.

Examples: Outlook Express, Outlook, and Thunderbird.

Functions:

• The e-mail software programme resides on each user's network computer.

• The mail server is connected to the same network as the users.

• Mail can only be accessed from a computer connected to the network and with appropriate rights.

• A username and password may or may not be required, depending on the network setup.

Open Microsoft Outlook

Three ways to open Microsoft Outlook:

1. Double-click the Outlook 2016 icon on your desktop.

2. Click on the Outlook 2016 in your taskbar.

3. Click the 'Start' button, navigate to Outlook 2016 in the list of programs, and click on it.

When accessing Outlook 2016 for the first time, the appearing window allows configuring email accounts for use with Windows 10.

Alternatively, click the Start button, point over All Programs, browse to the Microsoft Office 2010 folder, and click the Microsoft Outlook icon.

A login window may appear requesting a username and password, depending on the network setup.

Components of Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook has the following components:

• Tabs

• Navigation bar

• Title bar

• Item menu

• Reading pane

Items

The following are tasks that can be completed in Microsoft Outlook:

• Notes: Quickly record reminders.

• Tasks: Manage and create scheduled tasks.

• Mail: Send, receive, read and manage your electronic messages area.

• Calendar: Schedule meetings and events, and send invites to contacts.

• Contacts: Enter all the contact and personal details of your contracts in here for quick referencing.

Folders

Two frequently used folders in Outlook: Favourite folders and Personal folders. These folders are used to organise your e-mail in such a way to keep track of all the various types of e-mails you might receive.

The following options are found under 'Personal' folders:

• Deleted Items: Any deleted messages are stored here.

• Drafts: Messages in progress are stored here, so that you can complete and send them later on.

• Junk email: Spam mail is kept here.

• Outbox: This stores unsent messages until they are delivered.

• Sent items: Copies of messages that you have sent to others are held here.

• Search folders: This allows you to find emails using different keywords and search criteria.

Working with messages

Creating a new message

When you create a new message, Outlook displays a message form that contains a few text boxes in which you enter specific information. The four main text boxes in the message form are:

Under the Home tab, click on the New E-mail icon to start composing a new e-mail message.

When you compose a new message, a message window with several text boxes appears. The four primary text boxes in the message window are as follows:

1. To: Recipient's email address or username.

2. Cc: Email addresses of secondary recipients who need to see the message but not act on it.

3. Bcc: Addresses of recipients whose identities should be hidden from other recipients.

4. Subject: Concise title for the message.

Step 1:

In the 'To' text field, type the name of the user to whom you want to send the mail:

• If you want to send the message to more than one recipient, separate the user names
  with a semicolon (;). This is sometimes done automatically for you.

• When you start typing the name of the recipient, you will be presented with a list
  of possible matches from which you can simply select to add the address of the
  recipient. Or you can click on the "To:" to access the address book search window to
  search and select a recipient from the list given to send the message to.

Step 2:

Enter a subject in the Subject field - keep this short and descriptive for the recipient to quickly get an idea of what the e-mail is about.

Step 3:

Type your message in the message area.

Step 4:

After you have completed your message, you can set a specific status to your e-mail. This is optional.

Step 5:

Click on the Send button to send the message.

Note: When the message arrives, a message alert is displayed briefly in the lower-right corner of the Outlook window. It contains the sender's name, the subject, and the first few words of the message.

Formatting messages

You can format text in your message just like you would in MS Word. You will not find all the tools at your disposal, only the most commonly used to help you emphasise certain aspects of your message.

You will also be able to insert various objects such as tables and pictures to mention only a few. Spell checker is also readily available to ensure your e-mail is up to standard.

Opening a message

Messages received in the Inbox are displayed with one or more message symbols next to it. These symbols represent the type or status of the message.

Here are a few common symbols and their meanings, there are many more:

Attachments

If the e-mail contains an attachment/s, you can do one of two things here:

• To view the attachment: double-click on the attachment to view the content.

• Save the attachment: right-click on the attachment and select a download option to save it onto your computer.

Creating folders

By default, all of your e-mail messages are placed in the Inbox folder as you receive them. Imagine you get 50 e-mail messages per day. It will take up a lot of time to go through all of them in an unstructured way. It would be much easier if one could group all the related messages together in some way.

In MS Outlook you can create extra folders to assist you in grouping and organising related messages into meaningful sections based on specific message criteria. By creating folders with descriptive names, you can organise your received messages into those folders.

This is how you can create a new folder:

Step 1:

Right-click on Personal Folders, drop-down menu is displayed.

Step 2:

Choose the New Folder option to display the Create New Folder box.

Step 3:

Enter a descriptive folder name for the folder in the Name field.

Step 4:

In the 'Select where to place the folder' list box; select the location where the new folder will be created.

Step 5:

Click OK to complete the process.

You can also go to the Folder tab in the ribbon of MS Outlook 2010 and select the New Folder option and continue from Step above.

Moving messages to a folder manually

Related messages should be grouped together in a folder with a descriptive name to make searching for a specific message easier and faster.

Here follows the steps to move a received e-mail message manually from the Inbox to a specific folder:

Step 1:

Right-click on the e-mail message you want to move.

Step 2:

Select Move from the drop-down menu and then select the 'Other folder' option from the expansion menu.

Step 3:

Select the folder to which you want to move the message to from the list and press OK.

Working with contacts

A contact is a person with whom you communicate on a business or personal level and whose personal or business information (or both) is stored in the Contact folder. When you create or add a new contact, Outlook displays a Contact form that contains tabs and text boxes in which you can enter all the information related to that contact.

Adding contacts to the Address Book

The following steps are used to add a new contact to your address book:

Step 1:

On the Home tab in the ribbon, click on the 'New Items' option to display the drop down list.

Step 2:

Select the Contact option, after which you will view the new contact window.

Step 3:

Enter the desired information in the appropriate text boxes provided.

Step 4:

After completion, click on the 'Save & Close' button to complete the process.

Deleting contacts

Keeping your address book up to date is important and deleting contacts that are no more of use is part of that process.

Here are different ways to delete a contact:

Option 1: Select the Contacts menu item on the left-bottom corner of the Navigation pane to view all the contacts. Select the contact that you would like to delete and then click on the Delete button on the Home tab.

Option 2: Select the Address Book option on the Home tab; select the contact to be deleted and use the keyboard combination; Ctrl-D to delete the contact.

Working with electronic calendars

In Outlook you can schedule meetings and appointments with ease. You can mark scheduled time as busy, free, or tentative. You can also schedule a time when to go to a meeting and Outlook will remind you.

You can schedule activities in your Outlook calendar as appointments, meetings, events, or tasks. Your choice of entry type will depend on who else is involved and how you want the entry to appear.

There are two quick ways to view the calendar:

View 1:

Click on the Calendar menu item in the Navigation Pane on the left-bottom corner. You can change the way to view the calendar by choosing a style in the Arrange group in the Home tab.

View 2:

Click a date on the Date Navigator on the right hand side of your window, which you'll find at the top of the To-Do Bar.

To show or hide detail:

1. Click on Day, Work Week, Week or Month to quickly switch views.

2. Forward and Back buttons allow you to easily move through your calendar.

3. Point over an existing calendar event to view the details.

Now that you can view your calendar, you can start scheduling. You'll choose from four types of entries.

By knowing the difference between the types, you can more effectively schedule your activities.

1. Appointment: An appointment is an activity that involves only you, at a scheduled time.

2. Meeting: A meeting occurs at a scheduled time, like an appointment, but you invite other people by using a meeting request that's sent via e-mail.

3. Event: An event is an activity that lasts all day long. With an event, you can still have other entries appear in your schedule for that day.

4. Task: A task is an activity that involves only you, and that doesn't need a scheduled time.

How to schedule appointments using the calendar

Scheduling an appointment is easily done.

Step 1:

Make sure you are in Calendar view mode - make sure you have the Calendar menu item selected in the Navigational pane on the left hand side.

Step 2:

Click on the New Appointment button on the Home tab in the ribbon. You will be presented with the Appointment setup window.

Step 3:

Any appointment needs a descriptive subject and specified location. An appointment also has a scheduled start and end time and in some cases it may take up the whole day - for which an 'All day' event checkbox is provided. There are many settings one can set in order to have total control over your scheduled appointment.

Step 4:

Click on the Save & Close button to complete the process.

How to schedule a meeting using the calendar

Meetings consist of more than one person. Scheduling a meeting involves notifying other people via e-mail of the meeting and scheduling it accordingly.

Step 1:

Make sure you are in Calendar view mode - make sure you have the Calendar menu item selected in the Navigational pane on the left hand side.

Step 2:

Click on the New Meeting button on the Home tab in the ribbon. You will be presented with the Meeting setup window.

Scheduling a meeting is very similar to scheduling an appointment. This time you need to involve people to attend the meeting you are about to schedule, meaning that you need to let them know of the intended meeting. How?, by e-mailing them. You will insert their e-mail address in the "To:" field provided.

You can add the individuals one at a time, or if you work in a team on a project it would be advisable to add your team members to a group within the contacts section.

The 'To' field is where the addresses of attendees are added. When it comes to project management, using 'Groups' is advisable. To send a meeting invite to a group, simply click on 'To', and the groups will appear in bold. Click on your desired group(s), and all the members of that particular group will be notified about the meeting when you send the invite.

Creating a Group in the contact section

Step 1:

Select Contacts in the Navigation Pane to go to Contacts view.

Step 2:

Click on the 'New Contact Group' button. You will be presented with the Group creation window.

Step 3:

Give this new group a descriptive name in the 'Name:' field.

Step 4:

Now add members to this group by clicking on the 'Add Members' button. You have the choice of where to get these contacts. Assume you will use the address book to do so, click on that option, search for the contact, select it from the list and click on the Members button below to add this contact. Repeat the process to add another contact.

Step 5:

After you have added all the contacts, press OK. You will view the list of members in your group.

Step 6:

Press the Save & Close button to complete the process.

How to use the Help function in Outlook

By pressing the function key F1 when Outlook is open, you will access the help function for Outlook.

You can also click on the blue circle with the question mark in the top right hand corner to gain access as well.

Remember to type in key words that will describe your problem the best. Stick to the words used throughout the program, example: don't type 'get rid of', rather type 'delete'. Another example; don't type 'I want a new folder', instead type: 'create a new folder'. Keep the search criteria short and to the point.

The search results will be shown in a list, and you should choose the one that seems to provide help on the exact topic you require.

Business Email Etiquette

Many experts agree that your e-mail behaviour has the potential to sabotage your reputation both personally and professionally. It is easy to click on the 'reply' button and then type up a quick response without giving it too much thought. In this way you can easily miss a spelling error while typing out an email on your smartphone, or you may come off as too casual or unprofessional in tone or content.

Let's look at some important business email etiquette rules.

1. Only discuss public matters

   An important thing to consider when it comes to e-mail etiquette is whether the matter you're discussing via email is a public one, or something that should be talked about behind closed doors.

2. Make your email easy to read and understand

   Use complete sentences and avoid random unfinished thoughts. You should include all necessary details in your message to help your reader get the point. Make your message brief, to the point and only concentrate on the subject matter.

3. Use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation

   Structure your sentences properly. It is very important to at least spell the name of the recipient correctly. Refrain from using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS; this is considered shouting according to email etiquette rules. Besides, the ALL CAPS text is difficult to read.

4. Keep your emails clean

   When replying to an email, ensure you get rid of unnecessary clutter first, for example, email that includes excessive carets (>>>) or many pages of email addresses of all the other recipients is very annoying. Refrain from using fancy fonts and multiple font colours, a business email is supposed to look formal and restrained. Avoid patterned backgrounds; they will make your message harder to read

5. Stick to a neutral tone of communication

   Don't become informal in your email before you get to know the recipient better. Avoid using sarcasm or irony, or multiple instances of an exclamation mark (!!!) or a question mark (???), they can be misinterpreted. Do not make use of emoticons in business emails, this may look unprofessional.

6. Always be thoughtful and polite

   Start every email with a greeting and make sure to use an appropriate salutation. Never forget to include a closing phrase at the end of the message, for example, Best regards, Sincerely, or Thank you. If the person with whom you are communicating was of great help, don't hesitate to thank them for that.

7. Be clear in your subject line

   Inboxes get clogged by hundreds of e-mails on a daily basis. It is therefore crucial that your subject line gets to the point. It should be reasonably simple and descriptive of what you have written about.

8. Follow your company's emailing rules and policies

   Do not use your corporate email account for private communications and only forward corporate emails to your company employees, clients, partners or company service providers. There are many other company emailing rules and policies, so ensure you familiarise yourself with them.

9. Manage your emails efficiently

   Make use of a proper email client to help you track all emails in one place and be able to attend to them in a timely manner.

10. Respond in a timely fashion

    It is impossible to be available the instant an email arrives. Depending on the nature of the e-mail and the sender, responding to them within 24 to 48 hours is an acceptable time period.

Getting started with the Internet

The Internet is the world's largest WAN - Wide Area Network. The Internet connects millions of computers all over the world through a system of smaller networks. The WWW - World Wide Web is a system of connected servers on the Internet that hold all of the data to be shared among the Internet users, such as text documents called Web pages. A Web Site is a group of related Web pages grouped together, that resides on a web server and is accessible through a unique address called the URL - Uniform Resource Locator. An example of a URL is; www.abcStores.co.za. These Web pages are each written in a language called HTML - Hyper Text Mark-up Language.

To access the Internet, one has to connect to an ISP - Internet Service Provider. They will charge you a monthly rate based on the amount of data you will be using per month and they will provide you with a modem to do so. A modem is a hardware devise needed to connect through your ISP onto the Internet.

Intranet vs. Extranet

An intranet and extranet are network variations of the Internet. Most companies these days have their own network setup, usually within the confinements of a building. This is referred to as a LAN - Local Area Network. These networks have the same functionality as the Internet, e-mail send among co-workers, sending each other files etc., but just on a smaller scale. This kind of LAN that uses Internet technology is referred to as an Intranet.

The intranet has a server on which all the information resides. This server is placed behind a firewall - a protective layer against intruders such as hackers and viruses. A password and username is required to access the server for security reasons. Access to the Internet is also restricted to certain users within the company.

An extranet is created when a company links with another company's network through the Internet. The two companies' networks function together like one bigger network and this is referred to as an extranet. An example of an extranet is; where a manufacturing company links up with its supplier's network, to streamline the ordering and inventory management process. Strict security features must be implemented to protect each others networks from unauthorised access, but still allow connection between the two to do business - this is referred to as e-business, which supports e-commerce over the Internet.

Malware

Malware, short for 'malicious software,' refers to software programs specifically designed to damage a computer system or do some other unwanted action on it.

Common examples of malware include viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware.

Viruses, for example, are generally disguised as small programmes or attachments to your email and once opened or executed, it can cause havoc on a computer by deleting files or directory information.

Spyware usually gather data from a user's system without the user knowing it. This can include anything from the Web pages a user visits to personal information, such as credit card numbers.

To help protect yourself against these unwanted malware, you can install anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities on your computer that will seek and destroy the malicious programs they find on your computer.

Note: A much neglected aspect about anti-virus programmes is that users don't update the virus definitions on a regular basis. That is very important because new viruses are popping up on the Internet every week and keeping your anti-virus programme up to date will ensure your PC does not get infected.

Data Privacy and Security

Data security is effectively the practice of keeping data protected from corruption and unauthorised access. The whole focus behind data security is to ensure privacy while protecting personal or corporate data.

Data is the raw form of information stored in databases, on network servers and personal computers. This may be a wide range of information from personal files and intellectual property to market analytics and top secret company details. The unauthorised access of this data could lead to numerous problems for large corporations or even the personal home user. Having your bank account details stolen is just as damaging as it would be to the company who was just robbed of all their client information in their database.

Lately there has been a huge emphasis on data security, largely because of the internet. There are a number of options available to secure your data, from software solutions to hardware mechanisms.

You can make use of basic encryption over the internet. Full-disk encryption (FDE) offers some of the best protection available. This technology enables you to encrypt every piece of data on a disk or hard disk drive. Using a strong User Authentication is another part of data security that we encounter with everyday computer usage. This might require individuals to login using multiple factors of authentication, such as using a password, a one-time password, a smart card or even a fingerprint. Finally, data security wouldn't be complete without some sort of back-up solution, to back-up your critical information.

Web Browser

A Web browser is an application that locates and displays web pages. Three of the most popular Web browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape and Firefox. A Web browser helps locate a specific Web site and displays the HTML-formatted Web pages containing text and graphical elements.

Most websites have the following basic structure:

• Home page - This is the first page of the Web site that appears in your browser. It is the table of content or map to the rest of the Web site. The home page will give you an idea of what the Web site is all about.

• Links - Also called hyperlinks, are either a graphic or text that you can click on which will take you to another page or part of the Web site. These links should be user friendly, being able to navigate with ease through the site.

• Search Facility - Most Web sites have a search function to locate what you are looking for quickly. Usually this appears as a small text box on the home page at the top for quick access.

AutoComplete

Internet Explorer keeps track of URLs you enter in the Address bar. Internet Explorer also keeps track of data you enter in data-entry forms on Web pages, such as usernames and passwords, to make it easy for you to re-enter the same data at a later time. Because of this, as you type the same information again, the browser provides you with a drop-down list of previous entries that match what you have typed so far. To use this feature, which is called AutoComplete, begin typing a URL, and then, when the complete URL is displayed automatically in the Address bar, press Enter. This feature can be turned on or off in the Properties dialog box.

Favourites

You can bookmark your favourite website or webpage by saving its URL, so that you can go and select it from a menu list at a later time. This process is referred to as adding a URL to my favourites list.

This action differs from one web browser to another, so we will use Microsoft Internet Explorer as an example to list the steps to bookmark a favourite webpage

How to add a favourite webpage to the favourites list:

We assume you are already at the webpage you would like to bookmark. In the address field you will see a long URL address.

Step 1:

Select Favourites option in the menu bar and select the 'Add to favourites' option.

Step 2:

If desired, you can rename the link and place it in a different folder within the favourites list.

Step 3:

Click OK to add the URL and complete the process.

To view the list of favourites you have saved so far, simply click on the Favourites option in the menu bar or on the yellow star icon in the top right hand corner.

Content Selector/

There is a Content Advisor built into Internet Explorer that acts like a parental control if you want to see it like that. The purpose of it is to block access to sites with objectionable material. You can adjust the content ratings in four areas of concern: language, nudity, sex and violence. The rating is configured into 5 levels where level 4 is the least restrictive and level 0 is the most restrictive. The catch of this is that, for this rating to work, the Web page must be rated by the Web author when it is created. If it is not rated, the webpage will be shown regardless of the rating settings implemented.

To enable the Content Advisor:

Step 1:

Click on the Start button in the task bar and choose Control Panel - the Control panel dialog box appears.

Step 2:

Click on the Internet Options link.

Step 3:

Select the Content tab.

Step 4:

Click on the Enable button the Content Advisor section to activate it.

Step 5:

For each category you can set the filtering levels accordingly.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

The URL is the address, also called the web address, of a web page on the Web. Each page or document on the Web has a unique URL. The URL structure is as follows:

http://www.myaddressname.co.za

Protocol Web

Domain Name

Domain Type

Protocol: A common protocol used for communication between Internet browsers and the Web server. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is another protocol used to connect to a remote server and transfer files to and from it.

What is a protocol?

A protocol is a set of rules that ensures that data is sent correctly from one place to another. It ensures that the data format is maintained and that the data arrives in one piece. There are many protocols out there used in different setups. The most common are TCP/IP, HTTP and FTP.

WWW prefix: Indicates that it is a document on the World Wide Web.

Domain Name: Most organisations use the name of their organisation as the domain name.

Domain type: Also known as the op-level domain. This part provides a hint as to the type of organisation in which the Internet Hosting resides. Here are a few that you will encounter.

Search engines

Search Engines are websites that are specifically designed to scan through the WWW, using precise keywords to look for specific information such as text, images, video data etc. The user enters a few keywords that explains the information he/she is searching for into a search textbox. The Search Engine then scans through thousands of Web sites looking for those specified keywords. It then returns the URLs of the Web pages containing those keywords with a short extract from each page as preview.

Examples of some search engines are Google, Yahoo, Dogpile and AltaVista, just to mention a few.

How to search the web and getting results

When using the search facilities on the web, knowing how to search effectively can mean the difference between finding appropriate matches or not. The expressions AND, OR and NOT can be used to narrow a search and make your searches more powerful. However, not all search engines accept these keywords or expressions.

How to download a program or file from the Internet

The WWW is a rich source of information in the form of web pages, text, video, sound and files. Data items such as video, music, data files, games and programs can be downloaded to your computer within a few easy steps. Downloading means to transfer the data from another computer onto your computer. Usually a website will provide a link on which you will click to download data from a specific location on the Internet. These links can be text on a web page called 'Download' or even a colourful button with the words 'Download' written on it. This way is the most common way of downloading a file.

Here follows a few steps that can be followed to download a file, such as a learner manual, from an online training website:

Step 1:

Follow the user friendly steps on the specific website to get to the place where you can choose the correct file to download. Click on the hyperlink pointing to the file that says 'Download file' OR in most cases the file name itself is the link on which you must click to download it - the text will be a blue font with a line underneath it.

Step 2:

In Internet Explorer 9, a pop-up notice at the bottom of the page will appear, asking you what to do now. (Be Careful: read the instructions on the website carefully to make sure you download the file correctly. Some sites might request you to select the RUN option if you are downloading a program.)

Step 3:

In general you would click the SAVE As button and specify the location on your computer where to save the file to.

Step 4:

Click SAVE. You will see a progress bar below indicating the progress of the download as a percentage.

Step 5:

After the download has completed, the progress bar will ask you if you would like to open the file to be viewed. You can ignore this and view the file later.

To save an image quickly on a web page

To save an image from a website simply right click on the image and select Save Picture As. Remember that using a picture you have downloaded as your own without the consent of the owner is Plagiarism.

Skype and instant messaging

Skype is an IP or VoIP telephony service provider that offers free calling between Skype users and low-cost calling to people who don't use the service. Skype uses VoIP (VoIP is a method used to transmit voice over networks using IP (Internet Protocol)) to let you make phone calls and video calls over the Internet instead of using traditional phone