Organising . page 1 of 8. bbc.co.uk/webwise/accredited-courses/level-one/using- /lessons/your- s/organising-

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1 Organising Reading s When someone sends you an it gets delivered to your inbox, which is where all your s are stored. Naturally the first thing you ll want to do is read it. In your inbox you ll see the name of the sender, the subject, and a few other details; you may also see a preview of the message, but to read the whole thing - just click on the message. page 1 of 8

2 Reading s (2) Just as you can send attachments, there s a good chance that someone will send an attachment to you. When this happens you ll see the familiar paper clip icon, and when you read the you will see the names of the attached files alongside the message. Messages with attachments may take a little longer to receive - especially if the sender hasn t followed the advice about file sizes! Sometimes you may be sent an attachment which isn t recognised or cannot be opened. These unknown file types can be a problem although your computer s operating system may suggest what to do. An online search for the type of file may also lead you to a solution. Reading s (3) Because attachments can be any type of file, there is a possibility that they could contain dangerous content. The best way to avoid any harm occurring is by only opening attachments from trusted contacts. Click the attachment to open it. page 2 of 8

3 Files which have names ending with the extension.exe should be treated with extra caution. These are executable files which can run harmful programs on your computer. Not all exe files are dangerous but your anti-virus software should warn you if you try to open a potentially harmful attachment. page 3 of 8

4 Replying to s It s really straightforward to reply to a message too. All you need to do is press the Reply button and all the address and subject information should already be added for you. It is normal for the original message to be added to the bottom of the reply, so it makes it easier to follow the thread of the discussion; all you need to do is type your reply. Click the reply button to see this in action. Replying to s (2) One of the advantages of is that it can be sent to several people at once, and to continue the conversation you can reply to everyone at once too by using the reply-all feature. This will add the sender AND everyone else who was sent the original message to the recipient list. Click reply to all to join the conversation. page 4 of 8

5 If an has been sent to several people, yourself included, you have the choice either to reply only to the sender or to reply to everyone who was sent the message. The reply button replies to the sender only, while reply-all replies to everyone. Flagging s Sometimes you won t have time or be able to deal with an straight away, and it can be useful to mark these messages for later - you can even set up reminders to tell you when a reply is due. Click in the flag area to mark this message. page 5 of 8

6 Desktop programs have built-in calendars which also allow you to set up reminders and alarms. When the reminder is due the program will send you a message with a sound warning you about your forthcoming task, appointment etc. Webmail providers have similar features and you may need to explore the webmail help menu to find out how they work. page 6 of 8

7 Organising s When you re ing regularly you ll soon find that you ve got lots of messages in your inbox. Many people simply delete messages they don t need any more; others will move messages that they might want to refer back to later to special folders. However you choose to do that, it s important to keep your messages organised. Click the Holiday folder to see some example saved messages. People who use their browser to access online also have different ways to organise messages. Some webmail offers features called labels and filters which enable users to group s together in different ways. These are very useful if you start receiving lots of messages. page 7 of 8

8 Once you ve used for a while you will have hundreds or thousands of messages stored in different folders and it may not be easy to find a particular . The good news is that clients and webmail both have search facilities which allow you to search for a particular sender, address, subject or even piece of text. Why not try the problems topic next. page 8 of 8