EMAIL Using Outlook Live
Contents: What is?... 3 Using... 3 Address... 3 Password... 3 The Windows Live Hotmail Welcome Screen... 5 Online Notification Status... 6 Help... 6 Inbox... 7 The Mail Inbox Toolbar... 7 Sending Mail... 8 Attaching Files / Sending Attachments... 9 Working with Incoming Mail... 10 Reading mail... 10 Reading & downloading attachments... 10 Replying to mail... 11 Forwarding mail... 11 These notes do not explain every feature of the program therefore you are expected to make use of the Help facility. The system is dynamic and may be changed and slightly different from the instructions given here. Note: This icon denotes important information read it carefully. Tasks This icon denotes a task which should be carried out to help you gain the skills required. If you have any comments or queries, please contact your School s Learning Development Centre: School of Health and Life Science: LDC_HLS@gcu.ac.uk School of Engineering and Built Environment: askldc@gcu.ac.uk Glasgow School for Business and Society: ldcgsbs@gcu.ac.uk 2
What is? Electronic mail (email) is the use of electronic equipment (computers, tablets, mobile phones) to send messages to and receive messages from other people including tutors, colleagues and friends within the University and further afield. Many types of information can be sent and received using email, e.g. plain text, graphics. You can also attach files to be sent with an email message. In some courses, your tutor may communicate frequently with you through the email system, and you may even be required to submit some of your assessments via email. All students at Glasgow Caledonian University are provided with an email account. The student email system used at the University is a Web based system, which means it, can be accessed through any electronic equipment that has access to the Internet. Using All students are provided with a student email account and unique email address. The email service for students is run by Microsoft (Outlook Live). Note: You should check your University email regularly as important information will be sent to you, for example your exam results. Address In order to send and receive email, you must have a unique email address. Your e-mail address is one piece of information you do want other people to know, so you must make it known to anyone who wants to send you an email. addresses all adhere to the same conventions so that addresses from any part of the world can be recognised. The standard form of email address for a student at Glasgow Caledonian University is: This part will be the same as your username jsmith99@caledonian.ac.uk Institution (Glasgow Caledonian University) Domain type (ac = academic) Country (uk = United Kingdom) Note: It is important that you record this address accurately the @, as well as the dots, are vital and there must be no spaces between the different parts of the address. Password The email password is the same as your main password (the password you use to log in to the Network on campus, Blackboard and ). You will use this password with your email address to access your email account. The student email system is Web-based, and can be accessed using Internet browsing software such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Chrome. Once you have started the 3
browser software, there are 2 ways to access the student email system: Through the student homepage - click on the email link and the web page will open. If the Student homepage does not open or you are not in University you can access it using the following address: http://www.gcu.ac.uk/student Directly using the following address: http://www.outlook.com The Outlook Sign In screen appears. Enter your full email address, e.g. jsmith99@caledonian.ac.uk Click in the Password field and type in your password. Note: You can change your email password using the options in your Outlook account, however, please note that when you change your domain password this will automatically change you email password to the same. When you log into your email account for the first time only, the Outlook option settings screen will be displayed allowing you to set the language, viewing experience (for visually impaired students) and time zone, Figure 1. Set these by clicking on the down arrow and choosing from the drop-down list displayed. Once you have done this click on the OK button. Figure 1: The Outlook option settings screen You may also be asked to accept Terms and Conditions of Use. Task 1 Go to Outlook using any of the methods described above and login. Set your language, viewing experience and time zone. Accept the Terms and Conditions if you are asked to do so and go to your Inbox. Sign out from your email and close down the Internet browser. 4
Once you have accepted you will be taken to the Outlook inbox screen (Figure 2). The Windows Live Hotmail Welcome Screen Name and Online Status Mail Toolbar Folder List Inbox Sign Out Find Someone search Search Entire Mailbox Help Options dropdown menu Quick Links List (no content) Figure 2: The Outlook Inbox screen Reading Pane (Message content will be displayed here to read) From this screen you will be able to access the various folders in your email account, some social networking sites and an email search facility. The Default folders are: Unread Mail filters only unread mail for quick access. Sent Items holds messages that you have sent to others. Drafts holds messages that you have started but have not finished and/or sent. Deleted Items holds deleted messages; if you delete a message from this folder it is permanently deleted. Junk filters out suspected junk emails and stores them in the Junk folder. They are deleted from there after few days. Note: If the folders are not showing, the arrow beside the word Folders will look like this. You can reveal the folders by clicking on this arrow. It will then change to look like this. 5
Online Notification Status Online Notification drop down menu Figure 3: Online Notification Status Outlook Live also has an Instant Messenger function which can be used to keep you in touch with online contacts. If contacts are online you can have private chat sessions with them. The notifications are colour coded: Green Online Red Busy Yellow Away Grey Appear Offline By default when you login you will appear Online, to change this status you must click on the down arrow of the Online Notification drop down menu and choose the status you wish. You can also Sign Out of Instant Messenger and Change your Profile picture from this menu. Task 2 Open an Internet browser again and login to your email account. When your account opens: Identify the Help icon Check your Online Notification Status and update as appropriate. Help There are comprehensive Help facilities included within the email system. Outlook Live Help can be accessed by clicking on the Help icon at the top right hand side of the window beside the Options link. When you click, a drop-down menu appears with different Help options. Choose Help from the list to open the Help window, Figure 4. 6
Figure 4: Windows Live Hotmail Help Centre From here you can access help topics or use the search field to search for help on a specific topic. Inbox The Inbox holds all messages that you have received, and will by default open when you sign into your email account. The messages are normally displayed in date order (the date they were sent) with the Newest emails at the top of the list and the Oldest at the bottom, this order can be changed by simply clicking on the Newest on top option under the Search Entire Mailbox field. This will change it to the Oldest on top option. The Mail Inbox Toolbar Figure 5: The Mail Inbox toolbar This area displays different options for the messages received in the Inbox. New - You can create a new mail message by clicking on this option. To use some of the options you must first select a message(s). To do that, check the box before the message by clicking on it. The box will now have a tick in it. Delete - This does not actually delete the selected message but instead puts the message into the Deleted folder. Move - This allows you to move selected emails to any of the folders available. Filter - This allows you to filter items in the folder by Sent to me; CC ed to me; Unread etc. View - This allows you to change the view of your email. You can change to view by Group of Conversations which groups messages with the same subject together. You can also change how 7
you view the reading pane. You can move if from the Right to the Bottom or turn it off altogether. Print Opens a printer friendly view of the email and the Print dialogue box. To print an email you must double click on the email to open it in a new window. The Print icon will then be visible at the top of the message. Check Messages Refresh your Inbox to check if new messages have been sent while you have been viewing mail. Task 3 Familiarise yourself with the Inbox and the Mail toolbar. Change the order of your messages. Reorder them to display them in From: order and Subject: order. Look at the Move to drop-down menu on the Mail Toolbar, and the different options available in there. Sending Mail To send a new mail message, click on the New link on the Mail toolbar. This displays the Untitled Message screen, which allows you to enter the details for the message. The fields displayed are: Figure 6: New Message Screen To: - Type the email address of the person you are sending the message to. If the message has to be sent to more than one person, type each email address separated by a semi-colon (;). You can click on the To: button and it will show you the contacts saved in your Contact list as well as contacts you have recently emailed. Cc: - This is used if the message has to be copied to another person. Subject: - Enter a title for the message. 8
Another field available is the Bcc fields and by default it is not shown. To show it click on the To: option, the Address book will open, at the bottom is the Bcc field. Enter an email address in this field and click on the OK button. The Address book will close and the field and entry will be included in the email. Bcc: - This is used for sending a blind copy. The people in the To: and Cc: fields will not know that the person receiving the blind copy will be receiving a copy of the message. The only fields that must be completed are the From: and To: (or Cc: or Bcc:) fields. However it is good practice to enter a subject in the Subject: field. Once the appropriate fields have been completed, the message can be typed in the text entry area underneath. When you have typed in your message and are ready to send it click on the Send link at the top left corner of the message window. The message will be sent. Note: One of the basic email etiquette rules is not to send email text in capitals. IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be very annoying for the recipient of the email. Task 4 Send an email message to a member of your class and your ICT Skills tutor. Send an email message to 2 or 3 members of your class at the same time. Note: You must know their email address to complete this task. Attaching Files / Sending Attachments You can attach almost any file (reasonably sized) to an email message e.g. a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, etc. To attach a file to an email message first open a new email message. Click on the Attach File link above the To: field of the message. The Open dialogue box will be displayed. Navigate to the file you wish to attach. Attach the file by double clicking on the file name, or click once on the file name and then click on the Open button. The file name and information will show in the Attached field below the Subject: field. If you want to remove a file already added as an attachment, click on the Delete icon next to the file name. Task 5 Send an email message to a member of your class and attach a file (e.g. a Word document) to it. 9
Working with Incoming Mail Reading mail Usually, any mail you receive will appear in your Inbox which opens by default. If you are unsure the active folder will be the one which is shown with a grey band across it in the folders list. New messages in your Inbox will be in a white band. Click anywhere on the message you wish to read, the band colour will change to yellow and a tick will appear beside the message title. The full message will be displayed in the Reading Pane. When the message is displayed more options will appear beside the senders name enabling you to perform operations on the message, e.g. replying to or forwarding messages received. Reading & downloading attachments Attachments are files which have been sent along with an email message. If one or more attachments are included, they will be displayed above the email text in the Attachments field. You can either open the file to view in a Browser or download it, (i.e. save it to your computer drive). Note: Some files cannot be opened in a browser to view due to the content of the file. If the file contains content that cannot be viewed in a browser, an option to view the file in a compatible application will be offered. To open or download the file, click on the file name link. The File Download toolbar will be displayed with options, Figure 7. Figure 7: File Download toolbar To open the file click on the Open button, but remember if you choose to open the file without downloading (saving) it first, any changes you make to this file will may not be saved even if you click on the Save icon within the document. To save the file to your computer, click on the down arrow of the Save button and choose Save As. The Save As dialogue box will appear. Navigate to your user workspace (H: drive or the drive where the file has to be saved) and click on the Save button. Task 6 Check your Inbox and read any messages you have received. If you have received any messages with attachments, download and read the attachment. 10
Replying to mail To reply to a message, simply open the message and click on the Reply icon in the Message toolbar. The Reply All icon lets you send the reply to all people who were sent the original message (excluding those which received Bcc:). The New Message screen will appear with the To: field automatically completed. Enter your reply in the text window and click on the Send option. Task 7 Send a reply to one of the messages you have received. If you have a message that was originally sent to several people, try replying to all of them. Forwarding mail This passes the original message to a new person. Open the message and click on the Forward icon, enter the email address of the new recipient in the To: field. Type any additional message you may want to add in the text window and then click on the Send option. Task 8 Forward a message you received to another member of your class, adding a brief introduction/explanation at the start of the message. 11