E-Mail Tips #1



81.   MAIL AND NEWS TOO 

Every month we receive questions very similar to this one from 
Vlado S. 

"I have Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 installed on my computer, 
and the e-mail is Outlook Express. But I don't have a way to read 
newsgroups. Can I use Internet News for this? How do I set it up?" 

Many new Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 users are under the 
impression that Outlook Express works only for e-mail. This is 
definitely not the case; Outlook Express works just fine for 
News as well as e-mail. 

Let's say you open Outlook Express. With the program running, 
choose Go, News. To set up a News account, choose Tools, Accounts 
and click Add, News. Now, follow the wizard to set up your News 
account. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can provide you 
with the server information you'll need to enter in order to 
get started. 

You'll find that Outlook Express works just fine in News. 


*2.   E-MAIL ON THE DESKTOP 

"When I read your Tip of the Day on adding e-mail addresses to 
Favorites, I thought it was a great idea. [From the desktop, 
choose New, Shortcut. When the Create Shortcut dialog box opens, 
type 

mailto:myaddr@whatever.com 

and then click Next. Enter a name for your new mail address, 
and click Finish. Then drag each new shortcut icon into 
Windows\Favorites\.] 

I modified the tip just a little to make it a bit easier for my 
wife and myself. We have a daughter in college, and both my wife 
and I send e-mail to her frequently. I created the new shortcut 
per your tip, but then I left it on the desktop. This might not 
work very well for someone wanting to make shortcuts for a large 
number of e-mail addresses, but if you e-mail only a few people 
frequently, this is a handy method." 


*3.   SIZE MATTERS 

Want to view the size of all messages in your Inbox (or Sent 
Items) folder, right in the message list? Add the Size column to 
that view, if it isn't there already. This option comes in handy 
if you frequently send or receive a lot of attachments. 

1. Switch to the folder to which you'd like to add a Size column. 
2. Choose View + Columns to open the Columns dialog box. 
3. Under Available columns, select Size and click Add. 
4. Use the Move Up or Move Down button to position the column in 
   relation to others. 
5. Click OK. 

Now when the sender of that huge video attachment tries to tell 
you it wasn't that big, you've got the facts to fight back. 


*4.   TIP: PRINTER POINTERS: IT JUST KEEPS GETTING 
BETTER--PART 3 OF 5 

January 5th, 1999 

Remember the old days with Windows 3.1? If you do--and you often 
print multiple copies of the documents you create in Windows 95 
applications--then you could have a problem. See, in Windows 3.1, 
the number of copies that you set in the Printer Control Panel 
was the number of copies your printer would print. But in Windows 
95, you specify the number of copies in the Print dialog box, 
which is more flexible and requires a lot less work. 

To specify the number of copies you want to print: 

1. Choose File + Print. (Note: DON'T click your application's 
   Print button; it may bypass the Print dialog box.) 
2. Under Copies, specify the number of copies of the document 
   you want to print. 
3. Click Print. 

You'll get all the copies you ordered


*5.   TIP: THAT GIANT "E" ACTUALLY HAS A PURPOSE 

January 6th, 1999 

As you may already know, anytime you see an underlined Web 
address (a link) in one of your e-mail messages, you can click it 
to open your browser window and jump directly to that URL. But 
what you may not know is that even with no links in sight, 
Outlook Express still provides one-click access to the Web. Just 
click the giant "e" in the top-right corner of your OE window. 
Instantly, Internet Explorer appears on-screen and opens to your 
home page. Assuming you have a specific address in mind, click 
Stop (there's no point waiting for your home page to finish 
loading), replace the Address line's contents with the desired 
URL, and then press Enter. 


*6.   HOW BIG IS YOUR SUMMER READING LIST? 

January 7th, 1999 

Curious about the size of one of your ever-expanding storage 
folders, like the "Will Read Eventually, I Promise" folder? You 
can check the total size of all messages in a folder by using a 
simple right-mouse button command. 

1. In the Folder bar or Outlook bar, right-click the folder you 
   want to size up. 
2. Select Properties. 
3. Read the size (in parentheses) next to the number of files 
   in the folder. 

Wow--a larger group than you thought, eh? Now would be a good 
time to select all that stuff and click the Delete button. Let's 
be honest. If you haven't read these messages by now. . . . 

(Tip-in-a-tip: Although the Properties dialog box also reveals 
the number of messages in a folder, you don't need to access the 
dialog box to get that information. You can view this info for 
the selected folder in the status bar--the bar across the bottom 
of your OE window. If you don't see the status bar, choose 
View + Status Bar.) 


*7.   LABEL YOUR DOWNLOADS

As you've probably learned by now, speed or perceived speed on 
the Web is critical. However, every once in a while your visitors 
may opt to wait for a large graphic, audio or video clip they may 
be particularly interested in if they now how long it will take 
to download. Consider clearly labeling any file available above 
50K with the file size, so that your visitors will know exactly 
what to expect if they decide to download it.
 