9742C: Use and Maintain Personal E-Mail Housekeeping...1 Introduction...1 Using folders...1 Archiving emails...8 Housekeeping Introduction In this section you will learn how develop good email housekeeping techniques. You will learn how to copy or store emails and/or attachments, develop mailing lists, archive emails and empty inboxes. Email is an accepted form of communication in the business world today. You need to be able to maintain an effective housekeeping system to ensure you keep control of your email account. It is anticipated that this topic may take around four hours to work through the reading notes, supporting online resources and assessment events. However, this will vary depending on the conditions for the learner. If you have any problems, discuss them with your facilitator. Using folders To effectively use an electronic mailing system you need to be able to file emails to refer to at a later date. In this topic you will learn how to move emails into predefined folders. In Microsoft Outlook, you store information in folders the same way you store documents in Windows Explorer. You use a variety of folders based on the type of Outlook item you're working with and the type of email account you have. Where these folders appear in the Folder List varies based on your account type and where the data is stored. By default, Outlook displays folders under Outlook Today for each of the item types: Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, and Journal. It also provides the following folders: Drafts Sent Items Deleted Items Outbox stores unfinished items you are working on stores copies of items you sent to others stores temporarily deleted items until you permanently delete or retrieve them stores items created offline that you want to send the next time you are online
If you're using a Microsoft Exchange account, your email is delivered to the Inbox folder. You can create your own folders to further organise and track Outlook information. You can also work with file folders on your computer and folders on any network drive you are connected to. To work with all folders, use the Folder List. To work with just the standard Outlook folders, use the shortcuts on the Outlook Bar. Add a new folder 1 At the Outlook main screen, click on the File menu. 2 Click on New. 3 Click on Folder. 4 You are presented with the Create New Folder dialogue box. In the Name: field, key in a descriptive name for the new folder. In the Folder contains: field, click on the down arrow and make sure Mail and Post Items is selected. In the Select where to place the folder: click on the folder where the new folder will become a subfolder e.g. inbox Click on OK. Select either Yes or No if you want a shortcut placed onto the Outlook Bar. Note: Right clicking in the Folder List area offers a number of options relevant to Folders, such as deleting, moving, copying, renaming, creating new and adding a folder to the Outlook Bar. When you add a folder to the Shortcut Bar, the shortcut is added to whichever Outlook Bar was active when you created the shortcut. Moving emails into folders 1 Right click on the message to be moved. 2 Choose Move to Folder. 3 The Move Items dialogue box is presented. 4 Choose the folder you want to move the item to (or click on New to create a new folder - this saves having to create the new folder in an earlier, separate step). 5 Click on OK. Note: you can also use the drag and drop method to move items and/or folders. Printing folders 1 Select the folder e.g. Inbox. 2 Select the file menu, then Print.
3 Select print style options e.g. table style and all rows, A4 paper. 4 Select Print. Read an attachment 1 Open the mail message with the attachment (a paper clip next to the message indicates an attachment). 2 Double click on the attachment. Save an attachment 1 Open the mail message with the attachment. 2 Right click on the attachment and click on Save As (or click on the attachment, from the File menu choose Save Attachments). 3 The Save Attachment dialogue box is presented. 4 Click on the Save in down-arrow and then click on the required location. 5 To open a folder in the selected location, double-click on the folder. 6 Click on Save. Print an attachment 1 Open the mail message with the attachment. 2 Right click on the attachment and click on Print or from the File menu, click on Print. 3 Under the Options tab, select Print all linked documents. 4 Click on OK. Note: Opening, saving, printing and copying attachments can also be performed in the Preview Pane. Click once on the attachment to select it, then right click on the attachment. A drop-down menu appears allowing various choices. Mailing lists Mailing lists are a special feature you can use when sending electronic mail. In this topic you will learn how to create a mailing list. There may be times when you want to send an email to a group of people, for example, your friends, your family or a group of work colleagues. In Outlook you can create a mailing list of people s names and their email addresses. This list is called a distribution list. Mailing lists are an easy way to send messages to a group of people. For example, if you frequently send messages to your basketball team, you can create a distribution list called Basketball Team that contains the names of all members of the team. All messages sent to this distribution list go to all recipients listed in the distribution list. Recipients see their own names and the names of all other recipients on the To: line of the message instead of seeing the name of the distribution list. You can easily add and delete names in a distribution list, send the list to others and print it.
Distribution lists are identified with an icon of two heads and are stored, by default, in your Contacts folder, so you can sort and assign categories. Before creating a distribution list you should know about contacts. The Contacts folder is located in your Outlook bar. This folder is your email address book and it contains information about the people and businesses you want to communicate with. The contact folder dialogue box looks like this: When you want to add a contact to this folder you follow these steps: 1 Select the Contacts folder in the outlook bar. 2 Select File from the menu. 3 Select New. 4 Select Contact. Or use the shortcut keys Ctrl + N 5 The following dialogue box will be displayed:
6 Enter information into the fields as required. It may be sufficient only to put information into the Full Name, Phone and E-mail fields. Microsoft will put the details into the E-mail Display as field. This is what is shown in the recipients To: field when they receive the email. When you have completed entering the information select Save and Close. Follow the same steps for all contacts to be added. Creating a mailing list 1 In the Folder List choose Contacts folder. 2 From the Actions menu choose New Distribution List. 3 An Untitled - Distribution List dialog box is displayed.
4 In the Name field type the name you want to give your distribution list e.g. friends. 1 To add members to your distribution list you can use two functions: Select members if you have set up contacts in your contact folder or your organisation has a global list of all employees Add new to enter the details of the person you want to add to your distribution list Selecting members 1 Click the Select Members button, the Select Members dialogue box is displayed. 2 If you are selecting members from your own contact list make sure Contacts is displayed next to the Show Names from the: drop down list box. 3 If you are selecting members from your organisations global list you may have to select another item such as global list from this drop down list box.
4 Click on the name you want to add to your distribution list e.g. Carol Marks and select the Members button. Continue to do this until all names you want in the distribution list are displayed in the Add to distribution list: area. 5 If you have a huge list of names to select from in the Type name or select from list: area, you can key in the person s name and it will automatically be displayed for you to select. 6 Once you have selected all members, click on OK. 7 Save and close the distribution list OR you can add new members to the list too. Add new members 1 Click the Add New button, the Add New Member dialogue box is displayed. 2 Enter the details in the required fields. 3 Click on OK. 4 Do the same to add any new members. When you have added all members to your distribution list your screen will look as follows: 5 Save and close the distribution list. Your screen will look as follows:
Note: you must always select the Contacts folder first before creating contacts or distribution lists. You can select members and add new members to a distribution list. Sending a message to a distribution list 1 Ensure you are in the Inbox. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys and then press M (or File, New, Mail Message). A blank email message is displayed. 2 In the To: field, key in the name of the distribution group e.g. TAFE STUDY GROUP. Press Tab. Notice that the entry is displayed in bold, indicating that it is a distribution list entry. 3 Complete your message details e.g. subject line and send it. Printing your distribution list 1 Select the Contacts folder to display the distribution lists. 2 Right click on the Distribution List you wish to print. 3 Click on Print. Archiving emails It is important to archive or delete old emails. In this section you will learn how to archive emails and delete emails you no longer want. Archiving is placing your emails into folders for storage so that you can access them at a later date or deleting old emails you no longer need to have access to. It is important to archive emails so that your inbox does not become too full. It is also just as important to delete any unwanted emails from the inbox and folder areas. If you do not regularly archive and delete emails you may have problems sending and receiving emails. If your mailbox is too full when someone tries to send you a message, they will not be able to and they will receive a message telling them the recipient s mailbox is full.
Deleting emails 1 Right click on the unwanted email message and choose Delete or 2 With the unwanted email selected, click on the delete icon on the toolbar Removing a folder 1 Right click on the folder to be removed and choose Delete name of folder, (a message asks if you are sure you want to delete the folder). 2 Click on Yes. (This task can also be completed using the File menu, then Folder). Note: When you remove a folder that also has a shortcut on the Outlook Bar, you must also remove the shortcut icon by right clicking on the icon and selecting Remove from Outlook Bar.