This document provides basic tips, as well as some advanced functions on using the email program Outlook Express 4.0 for the Macintosh effectively.

As email becomes an increasingly important way to communicate, many of us are beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of email that finds its way into our "In" boxes. How can we make sure that  important messages reach us, while avoiding the distraction and wasted time of reading and sorting unimportant messages? And how can we make it easier to find messages in the vast "compost heap" of old mail most of us have stored?

The good news is that the latest generation of email programs have simple and powerful tools that can help you get a handle on the flood of email hitting your desk. This document will provide you with instruction on the basic operation of Outlook Express 4.0, a powerful email program, available as a free download from the Microsoft Website as a component of Internet Explorer 4.0. We�ll also give you some hints, tips, and tricks to help you make email a powerful tool, rather than a drowning flood.

Online Help

One of the most important things to know about Outlook Express is where to find online help. This program�s built-in help is very good at walking you through performing common tasks. You can access Outlook Express� help from the Help pull-down menu in the File menu bar.

Setup and Configuration

Outlook Express has lots of options and settings you can customize to help you effectively and efficiently manage your communication needs. Although the program�s capabilities can be complex, we recommend you start with these tips, go slow, and don�t worry too much about what you�re missing. As you become more experienced and comfortable with Outlook Express, you can begin to explore some of its more sophisticated features.

Basic Email account setup

Before you run Outlook Express, you should have three pieces of information from your Internet Service Provider:

1. The name of your emailbox (e.g. yourname)
2. The name of your ISP�s email server (e.g. mail.isp.net)
3. Your emailbox password

Upon initial launch, Outlook Express will walk you through a wizard to configure your email account (or, if you have Internet settings already established, will ask if you would like to import them).

If you ever need to access your settings, choose Preferences from the Edit menu.

Default to sending "Plain Text" email

The only major correction you need to make in Outlook Express� preferences is to change the format for outgoing mail from HTML to "Plain text" formatting. To do this, select Preferences from the Edit menu. Click on the Message Composition tab under Outlook Express and select the radio button for Mail sending format to Plain text.

Understanding the Mail toolbar

The Inbox toolbar provides quick and easy access to most of Outlook Express� main features. Here�s a quick tour, left to right:

 New message:  This button allows you to create new mail messages. Click the button, and a new message window will appear.

Reply to Sender:  Starts a new message to the sender of a currently open or selected message.

Reply to All Recipients:  Starts a new message to the sender and all other recipients of the currently open or selected message

Forward:  Forwards the currently open or selected message to another recipient.

Add Contact:  Adds the sender of the currently open or selected message to your Address Book.

Delete:  Sends the currently open or selected message to the Trash.

Contacts:  Opens your Address Book.

Find:  Finds specified text in your messages.

Send & Receive:  Directs Outlook Express to check for new mail and send any outgoing mail.

Preferences:  Opens your Outlook Express Preferences file.

Checking your email

To check for messages immediately, click the Send & Receive button on the toolbar. Any messages in your Outbox are sent, as well. You can also press <command-M> to perform the same function.

1. Click the Open Preferences button on the toolbar.
2. Select General under Outlook Express
3. Check the box next to Check for new messages every ___ minutes
4. Specify how often you want Outlook Express to check for new messages

Understanding the Incoming Message toolbar

When you open a new incoming email message window, a special set of tools appears in this window�s toolbar.

Previous:  Opens the previous message.

Next:  Opens the next message.

Reply:  Starts a new message to the author of this message.

Reply All:  Starts a new message to the author and all recipients of this message.

Forward:  Forwards the message to another recipient.

Delete:  Moves the current message to the Outlook Express Trash.

Attachments:  Opens any document(s) that are attached to this message.

Sending email

To begin composing a new email message, click on the New Message button. A New Message window will open. In the appropriate spaces, type in the recipient�s email address, any other recipients, a subject, and then the text of your message. When you�re finished, click on the Send button at the top of your message. As discussed above, you can reply to or forward a mail message from the Inbox window simply by highlighting it and clicking on the Reply, Reply to All, or Forward buttons.

The New Message window

The New (Compose) Message window has a toolbar of its own. Its features allow you to send the message, save the message in your "Drafts" folder, attach files, add a signature to your message, and open your address book.

Printing messages

To print a message, select Print  from the File menu.

Contacts

"Contacts" is Outlook Express� address book, and can be a very useful resource for you: it allows you to easily store and retrieve not only your colleagues� email addresses, but also their street addresses, phone numbers, and other pertinent facts. You can also create your own personal "email lists" of folks you regularly communicate with as a group.

1. Open Contacts, and select the Create a New Contact button on the toolbar.
2. Type the first and last names for the contact.
3. In each of the fields, add the relevant information
4. Click OK to save.

To add contacts to your address book from messages you�ve received

When you receive email, you can add the sender�s name and email address to your Contacts from within Outlook Express.

• Highlight the message, then click the Add Contact button in the Toolbar.

Creating Simple Distribution Lists (outgoing messages only)

If you have a group of people you regularly send information to or communicate with, you can easily create a simple Mailing List in Outlook Express. After establishing a Mailing List, just type the group name in the To box when you send messages. You can create multiple groups, and contacts can belong to more than one group.

To create a mailing list

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then choose Mailing List.
2. A new, untitled mailing list is created in the folder list under Contacts.
3. To name the mailing list, click and hold the mouse for a moment in the name field of the untitled mailing list, and then type a name.
4. Click the mailing list in the folder list to view its contents.

To add a contact to an existing mailing list

Everyone in a mailing list must be defined in your Contacts in order for them to receive mail. There are three ways to add contacts to a mailing list.

Drag and Drop:

1. Open Contacts. Make sure you can see the mailing list icon in the folder list.
2. Click the contacts you want to add to the mailing list and drag them onto the mailing list icon in the folder list.

Add an existing contact

1. Open Contacts.
2. Open the mailing list.
3. Type the name of a contact in the Look Up Contact box at the top of the mailing list window.
4. Click the Add To List button to add the contact to the mailing list. If the Add To List button remains unavailable, the contact does not exist in your Contacts.

Create a new contact in the mailing list:

1. Open Contacts.
2. Open the mailing list.
3. On the File menu, point to New, and then choose Contact, or click the New button on the toolbar. The new contact will be added to the mailing list and to your Contacts.

NOTE: This method of creating your own email list is very different from the email discussion lists hosted by U. S. Health Care Reform. For information on these very powerful tools, send us an email .

 Attachments

To attach a file to an email message, click on the Add Attachments button in the New Message toolbar. A dialog box will open, allowing you to choose a file to attach. Select the desired file, click the OK button, and the file will appear as an icon in your message.

File attachments can be a source of unreadable email. 

To view a received file attachment

• At the bottom of the message window, double-click the file attachment icon

or

• In the preview pane, click the file attachment icon in the message header, and then click the file name.

Managing your email

With ever increasing use of email as an efficient and effective communication tool, activists must watch out for the problem of "information overload." One of the best methods we�ve found for managing this influx is by customizing your email programs by using Folders and Rules. Folders in Outlook Express are almost exactly the same as the folders on your hard drive or in your file cabinet; they�re places to categorize and store messages. Rules allow you to automatically file specified messages, such as email sent to a particular list or from a certain person, into an appropriate folder.

FoldersFolders

Creating folders for your messages allows you to organize your email into an electronic equivalent of file folders in your filing cabinet. Your many email messages are easier to retrieve, less confusing, and much more manageable when placed in their own subject area (folder) than having them all unsorted in your "In" box. You can even create "nested" folders to more fully organize your email library.

The Folder List

The Folder List is a hierarchical list of all the folders in your Outlook Express mailbox file. Folders that contain subfolders have little symbols next to them. Click on these symbols, (not the folders themselves) to show and hide the folder hierarchy.

Creating Folders

To add a folder:

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then choose Folder.
2. Type a name for the new folder.

When deciding how to organize your folders, think first in broad terms: are there certain people that send you only "personal" email? Are you subscribed to different email lists? Does your organization�s staff and board send you email? These are all excellent subjects for separate folders. For example, if you receive email from members of your family, you can create a folder called "personal," to which you can transfer all emails from your brother. Or, you can create a folder for particularly busy email list you're subscribed to, and transfer all those emails to their own folder. (One advantage of doing this for very busy lists is the ability to search that folder for keywords or issues that concern you.) As you determine your folder needs over time, you can create more specific folders, rename them as topics change, and delete those that are no longer of use to you.

• To move folders in the Folder List, simply drag the folder to its new location.
• To move messages between folders, open the folder they�re in, and drag the messages into the destination folder in the Folder List

Rules

One of the most powerful features of Outlook Express is its ability to automatically filter your incoming and outgoing mail into specified folders. Outlook Express can automatically examine the headers of messages your both receive and send, and take actions based on criteria you have established.

The most common use of Rules is to automatically move messages from particular people or email lists to a designated folder.  You may also with to create folder/rule pairs for particular people, other email lists, your Board, etc.

When deciding how to filter your messages, think about the folders you created, the types of emails you receive, and what keywords and/or parameters the Rules should look for when transferring your messages to folders. This may take some tweaking after seeing how Outlook Express interprets your rules and in what order your messages are filtered. It�s easy to fine-tune your Rules by following the instructions that follow.

To setup your Rules:

1. On the Tools menu, choose Inbox Rules.
2. Click the New Rule button on the toolbar.
3. In the Rule Name box, type a name for the rule.
4. Make sure that the Enabled check box is selected so that the rule will apply to incoming messages once you have finished creating it. You can turn off the rule later by clearing the Enabled check box.
5. In the Criteria area, choose an item from each menu, moving left to right, and then type the text that applies to each rule in the text box.
6. If you want to create a second or third criteria, select the check box beside the Criteria menus and repeat step 5.
7. From the Execute Actions If menu, specify when you want the rules to be applied to a message.
8. From the Action menus, specify how Outlook Express should handle files that match the criteria. Outlook Express will perform the rule in sequential order starting with the Action 1 menu.
9. Press OK.
10. If you have set up multiple rules, Outlook Express will perform the rule in the order displayed in the Inbox rules list. Click the Move Up or the Move Down button on the toolbar to prioritize the rules.

Example

The following rule will automatically move any messages containing the word ONEList in any of the message�s headers into a folder called ONEList. Outlook Express will tell me that a new message has been filtered into the ONEList folder by making that folder�s icon Bold.

Tips

• If you want to stop applying a rule, clear the Enabled check box. If you want to permanently remove a rule, choose Inbox Rules from the Tools menu, click the rule name, and then choose the Delete Rule button from the toolbar.
• To apply a rule to existing messages, click the message(s) in the message list, point to Apply Rules on the Tools menu, and then choose the rule.

Signatures

A signature is a brief message that can be automatically added to the end of outgoing messages. It can include your name, address, telephone number, web address, or whatever you like. We highly recommend you use a signature file in emails to discussion lists or to people with whom you communicate on a professional basis - it gives folks other ways of contacting you. It also gives your emails a sense of authenticity. You should, however, keep your signature file short (not more than 4 or 5 lines), and avoid the clever "drawings" you sometimes see people using in their emails.

1. On the Edit menu, choose Preferences.
2. Under Outlook Express, click Message Composition.
3. In the Signature box located at the bottom of the dialog box, type any information you would like to appear in the messages you send, such as your name, job title, organization, phone and fax numbers, and your Web site address.
4. If you want this signature to appear in every message you send, select the Automatically Add Signature To All Messages check box. If you don't select this check box, you'll have to use the Insert Signature command from the Format menu to add the signature you created in step 3 to a message.

To add a signature to individual messages

When you create your signature in Preferences, you can determine whether you want to add it to all outgoing messages. If you don't choose to do this, you can use the Insert Signature command to add your signature to individual messages.

1. Select the message to which you want to add your signature.
2. On the Format menu, choose Insert Signature.

� U. S. Health Care Reform. All Rights Reserved.