This section of our Know How help pages is dedicated to Microsoft EXPRESS e-mail programs.

Sections in this category:

• Outlook Express For Windows
• Outlook Express For Macs

Using Outlook Express For Windows

This section of the help pages is to help you learn how to use Outlook Express's most commonly used features.

1. How do I create and send a new e-mail message?
   • Click on the button in the toolbar at the top of the screen (or select New Message from the Message menu)
   • Type the destination email address into the
   • Type the message subject into the
   • Type your message in the large blank area at the bottom of the new message window

      

   • Click on the button to deliver the message.
   • Each outgoing message will be listed in your Sent Items. To review a previously sent message, click once on the Sent Items folder on the left-hand side of Outlook Express and then double-click on the appropriate message.
   • Your outgoing messages will appear in the Outbox during the delivery. The messages are then moved from here into your Sent Items once the messages have been successfully sent.
   
   

2. How do I check for new mail?

   • Click the at the top of Outlook Express (or select Send and Receive from the Tools menu)
   • After any new messages have been downloaded to your computer, each incoming message will be listed in your . Click once on the on the left-hand side of Outlook Express and then double-click on the message to read it.
   
   

3. How do I view the contents of the deleted folder? , , ,

   • Simply click once on the appropriate folder on the left-hand side of Outlook Express
   • The selected folder contents will appear on-screen
   
   
4. How do I reply to a message?
   • Highlight or open the message you wish to reply to.
   • Click on the button in the toolbar at the top of the screen (or Reply to Sender from the Message menu). This will create a new message containing the original message contents preceded by quote characters (>) at the beginning of each line.
   • Type your reply in the area below, where the quoted text appears
   • Click on the button.
    
5. How do I empty the Deleted Items folder?
   • Right-click on the folder on the left-hand side of Outlook Express then select the Empty Folder option
   • Click Yes to permanently delete all messages in the folder
    
6. How do I forward a received message to another email address?
   • Highlight or open the message you wish to forward from within the
   • Either click on the button at the top of Outlook Express, (or select the Compose, Forward menu item.
   • Type the email address you wish to forward the message to into the To: field
   • Make any necessary changes or additions to the original message
   • Click on

   NOTES: This will resend the message with the original message headers listed at the top of the message and quote characters (>) at the beginning of each line, indicating that the message contents are being quoted. When you forward a message in Outlook Express, the return address of the original sender is replaced by your own.

7. How do I resend a previously sent message?
   • Highlight or open the message you wish to resend from within the Sent Items
   • Either click on the Forward button at the top of Outlook Express, or select the Compose -> Forward menu item (or press CTRL + F).
   • Type the email address you wish to send the message to into the To: field
   • Make any necessary changes or additions to the original message
   • Click on Send
    
8. How do I format the look of the text used in my email message?
   • Create your message
   • Highlight the desired word, sentence or paragraph(s) you wish to format by clicking (and holding) on the beginning of the desired portion, dragging the mouse to the end of the portion and then releasing the mouse button
   • Use the formatting buttons in the middle of the new message window (below the Subject: field, above the main message section) to change the font face, point size, text style, color and many other options. All of the formatting options are also available in the Format menu item.

   NOTES: Selecting the Format -> Plain Text menu item clears all formatting from the message. If you wish to decide to make formatting changes again, simply select the Format -> Rich Text (HTML) menu item.

9. How do I enable full email header display?
   • Click on a message
   • Select the File -> Properties menu
   • Select the Details tab

Attachments

1. How do I attach a file to an outgoing email message?
   • Create your message
   • Select the Insert -> File Attachment menu item
   • Navigate through your computer and double-click on the appropriate file name
    
2. How do I access a file that is attached to an incoming email message?
   • Open the message by double-clicking on it
   • Double-click on the file attachment icon shown at the bottom of the message window

Managing your e-mail

1. How do I create a new custom folder?
   
   • Select the File -> Folder -> New Folder menu item
   • Type the name of the new folder
   • Select the folder in which to create the new folder. It is recommended that you use the default 'Outlook Express' folder. This way your new folder will be listed alongside of the Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, etc.
   • Click OK
   
   How do I transfer messages from one mailbox to another?
   • Highlight the message(s) you wish to transfer by clicking on them once. You can select more than one message by holding the CTRL or SHIFT buttons while clicking.
   • Select the Edit -> Move To Folder menu item
   • Select the destination folder from the list then click on OK

   NOTE: This is an excellent way to archive old email messages without having them clutter up your Inbox and Outbox folders.

Special Features

• To open the Address Book window, select the Tools -> Address Book menu item (or press CTRL + SHIFT + B)
• Either click on the New Contact button at the top of the Address Book, or select the File -> New Contact menu item (or press CTRL + N).
• Type in the recipient's First Name, Last Name, etc. as desired (i.e.: John Smith)
• Type the person's nickname (i.e.: John) into the Display: and Nickname: fields
• Type in the recipient's actual email address (i.e.: smith@Domain_Name.com) into the Email Addresses / Add New: field near the bottom of this window and then click on Add
• Click on OK to save the entry

NOTE: Once the new Contact listing has been created for someone, email can now be sent to them by typing in their Nickname into the To: field rather than the full email address

• To open the Address Book window, select the Tools -> Address Book menu item (or press CTRL + SHIFT + B)
• Either click on the New Group button at the top of the Address Book, or select the File -> New Group menu item (or press CTRL + G).
• Type the desired nickname for this group into the Group Name: field (i.e.: Family)
• Click on New Contact to add new Contact listings into this group
• Click on Select Members to add existing Contact listings into this group
• Click on OK

NOTE: Once the new Group listing has been created, email can be automatically sent to each and every of the Contacts within that group by simply typing the Group Name into the To: field

• To open the Inbox Assistant window, select the Tools -> Inbox Assistant menu item
• Click on Add
• Type the desired criteria (i.e.: unwanted@email.com) into the appropriate field (i.e.: From:)
• Select the desired action (i.e.: Move To:), click on the Folder button, select the desired folder (i.e.: Deleted Items) then click on OK
• Click on OK

NOTE: The above Inbox Assistant example scans all incoming messages for the address 'unwanted@email.com' in the From: field, then automatically sends any to the Deleted Items folder. This is a good example of how to avoid incoming email messages from a particular address.

• Select the message you wish to search through
• Select the Edit -> Find Text menu item
• Type the string of text you wish to search for then click on Find Next

• Select the Help -> Contents and Index menu
• Use the Contents tab to browse through an indexed list of help topics, or use the Search tab to search for help on a specific topic

• Select the Tools -> Options menu item
• Select the Read tab
• Click on Fonts
• Adjust the font faces and size here then click on OK to save any changes

NOTE: If you are using a high screen resolution (e.g. 1024 x 768), increasing the point size makes working within Outlook Express much easier.

• Highlight or open the message you wish to print
• Select the File -> Print menu item (or press CTRL + P)
• Click OK to print

Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts for Outlook Express functions are as follows:

Accessing additional e-mail accounts

You can set up Outlook Express for additional email accounts by the following procedure:

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. From the Tools menu, choose Accounts.
3. Click Add --> Mail
4. Type the name of the person associated with the additional account, and click Next.
5. Type the full e-mail address and click next.
6. Enter the following information, then click Next
   1. POP3 server: mail.Your_Domain_Name.com
   2. SMTP server: mail.Your_Domain_Name.com
7. Make sure the dot is in the top circle. Your POP Account name is the first part of the email address, before the @. If the email address were "me@Your_Domain_Name.com", the POP Account name would be "me". Also, make sure you type the password where prompted. Click Next.
8. Name the account a nice name that you want to see every day. It can be anything that isn't already used. In the me@Your_Domain_Name.com example, I would recommend Your_Name Mail or something similar.
9. Make sure the dot is next to "Connect using the phone line" or "Network" if you are using a DSL or Cable Modem, then click Next.
10. Click Finish.

Copyright © 2024 Sanborn Web Designs