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The Microsoft Outlook E-Mail and Fax Guide
Last Updated 7/27/2009 2:10:28 PM
Chapter 10: Sending Email Messages with Outlook
Sending a message with Outlook requires four separate steps: addressing the message, composing the message and attaching files, sending the message, and delivering the message to the mail server that will forward it to the recipient. This chapter covers each of these steps in detail.
In this chapter and in Chapter 11, we finally reach the heart of Microsoft Outlook — sending and receiving messages. Sending a message requires four separate steps:
- addressing the message
- composing the message and attaching files
- sending the message (which places it in the Outbox folder)
- delivering the message to the mail server that will forward it to the recipient
Each of these steps is essential (though, in many cases, delivery is automatic) and a section of this chapter is devoted to each step. We also discuss WordMail as an alternative e-mail editor and look at the techniques for sending mail from within Windows applications. Throughout the chapter, we review various settings that affect how Outlook sends a message.
USING THE NEW MESSAGE WINDOW
Let’s begin with a look at the New Message window, where you create messages. To start a new message, click the New Mail Message button, or press Ctrl+Shift+M.
If you’re currently in the Inbox or another mail folder, you can also choose Compose, New Mail Message. An Untitled - Message window appears (Figure 10.1).
Here are several more ways to start a new message:
- Select one or more names from the Contacts folder, then drag them to the Inbox icon on the Outlook Bar. This feature, called AutoCreate, creates a message that’s already addressed to those contacts.
- In the Contacts folder, select one or more names, then choose Contacts, New Message to Contact or click the New Message to Contact button.
- Use a special template or form. Choose Compose, Choose Template to pick from the Outlook template .oft files on your system, or choose Compose, Choose Form to use any of the available forms. (See Chapter 18 for more information about forms.)
Working with the Toolbars
Most of the commands you commonly use in creating a new message have corresponding buttons on the toolbars. Choose View, Toolbars to show or hide the Standard or Formatting toolbar.
The Formatting toolbar is active only when you are working on the text of a message. We look at it under “Composing Messages” later in this chapter.
Table 10.1 lists the buttons on the Standard toolbar. Two are available only if you connect to an Exchange server.
Allowing Blind Carbon Copies
By default, only the To and Cc boxes are visible for new outgoing messages. However, blind carbon copies — copies where the recipient name is not shown to other recipients — can also be sent by entering addresses in the Bcc box. To enable the Bcc box, choose View, “Bcc field” in any new message window. The Bcc box appears below the Cc box and will be on every message until you turn it off from the View menu.
One important use for the Bcc box is to send to personal distribution lists (see Chapter 16). If you put the address for the list in the Bcc box, then recipients will not see the names and addresses of the other people that you sent the message to.
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Special Note: If you are using the Internet Mail service rather than the Microsoft Exchange Server service, you may want to see “Reply To Address” later in this chapter for another way to change the address people use to respond to your messages. |
You can also use the View menu to show the From box. However, this is meaningful only if you connect to an Exchange server and are sending on behalf of another person, as we discuss in Chapter 19.
ADDRESSING MESSAGES
There are three main ways to enter an address for a message, if you didn’t create a message from the Contacts folder:
- pick from the Address Book
- enter a name and let Outlook match it with an Address Book entry, either automatically or manually
- enter the recipient’s full address
Using Addresses from the Address Book
To pick recipients from the Address Book, click the Address Book button or choose Tools, Address Book. (You can also click the To, Cc, or Bcc button.) In the Select Names dialog box (Figure 10.2), select a name in the left pane, then click the To, Cc, or Bcc button to add it to the message. To pick several recipients at once, hold down the Ctrl key as you click each name in the left pane, then click the appropriate button to add it to the message.
The address list you see when you open the Address Book is governed by your profile. (See “Adjusting Addressing Settings” in Chapter 3.) You can switch between Contacts lists in the Outlook Address Book, names in the Personal Address Book, and any other address lists (such as the Global Address List from Exchange Server). Just pick a different list from the “Show Names from the” list at the top of the dialog box. To see details about an address, select the address, then click the Properties button.
If the name you want isn’t already in the Address Book, you can create a new address entry by clicking the New button. You have the option of using that address just for this message or also adding it to the Personal Address Book (see “Adding PAB Addresses” in Chapter 15). You cannot create a new entry in the Contacts folder from this dialog box. However, once you have an underlined address in the To box of the message, you can right-click the address and choose Add to Contacts to add it to your Contacts folder. See the next two sections for details about when Outlook underlines a name to indicate that it has been “resolved” and is ready to send to.
If you have a large address list and want to search for an individual, click the Find button shown in Figure 10.2. For most address lists, you can search for names only. But for Exchange Server address lists, including the Global Address List, you can search for both names and other details, such as company, department, office, or city.
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Special Note: Outlook lets you separate addresses with a comma as well as a semicolon, but this can get confusing with address lists that use a “last name, first name” format. To turn off the comma separator, choose Tools, Options, then switch to the Sending tab and clear the check box for “Allow comma as address separator.” |
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