Chapter 7

E-Mailing Family and Friends

Get ready to . . .

⇒ Use the Mail App

⇒ Write an E-Mail Message

⇒ Format E-Mail

⇒ Read and Respond to Incoming E-Mail

⇒ Send E-Mail from Other Apps

⇒ Change Mail Settings

⇒ Add an E-Mail Account to Mail

E-mail has largely replaced the notes and letters of previous centuries. Every day, billions of e-mail messages circle the globe, conveying greetings, news, jokes, even condolences.

E-mail also provides a way to send and receive attachments, such as documents or photos. Who needs faxes or postcards?

The Mail app gives you access to e-mail using your Microsoft Account. A glance at the Start screen can tell you whether you have unread e-mail and if so, who it is from.

Your Microsoft Account can be associated with an e-mail address from any e-mail service provider, including Microsoft’s own Hotmail (www.hotmail.com), Live (www.live.com), Outlook (www.outlook.com) or Xbox (www.xbox.com). You can also use e-mail services such as Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and Gmail (www.gmail.com) without having a Microsoft Account. However, you have to access non Microsoft Account e-mail using a web browser. See Chapter 6 for information on browsing the Web.

In this chapter, you use the Mail app for e-mail. You compose, format, and send e-mail, as well as respond to incoming e-mail.

If you don’t have a physical keyboard, see Chapter 1 for information on using the virtual keyboard.

Use the Mail App

1. For e-mail on Windows 8, select the Mail tile on the Start screen. If you are not currently signed in using a Microsoft Account, enter your e-mail address and password on the Sign In screen that appears, and then select Sign In. (See Chapter 4 for information on creating a Microsoft Account.)

2. The first time you use the Mail app, you may not see much, if you haven’t used your Microsoft Account for e-mail on another computer. Who would have written you already? You may, however, see a message or two from Microsoft.

3. On the Inbox screen, select the back arrow in the upper-left corner. (“Back” seems odd given that you haven’t been to the screen you’re about to see. Computers aren’t as consistent as people believe.) The Mail panel slides in from the left, replacing the Inbox panel, as shown in Figure 7-1.

If the screen resolution is high enough to allow more information on the screen, you may see the Mail panel and the Inbox panel side-by-side. At lower resolutions, these panels replace each other as you choose them.

4. Select any of the following categories in the Mail panel, and then use the back arrow to return to the Mail panel:

• Inbox: E-mail you have received but not moved elsewhere appears here, including both read and unread e-mail.

Figure 7-1

• Drafts: As you compose e-mail (next section), you can save your message as a draft until you are ready to send it.

• Sent Items: Copies of the e-mail you send are stored here, appropriately.

• Outbox: When you send e-mail, it moves to the Outbox until it has been processed, which may be instantaneously. If you’re not connected to the Internet, e-mail waits here until you establish a connection, and then it is sent.

• Junk: Messages are moved here — either automatically or by you — instead of the Inbox, if they are suspected of being, well, junk. The more common term for unwanted e-mail is spam. (It’s a long story.) You may want to check this folder occasionally to see if a message was misfiled here.

• Deleted Items: Self-explanatory? You can move messages out of Deleted Items if you change your mind.

As you switch categories, Mail syncs with the Web to display items in that category. You may not see anything other than Syncing or Up to date until you send and receive e-mail.

5. Proceed to the next section, “Write an E-Mail Message.”

You can say “send me e-mail,” instead of “send me an e-mail message.” I, for one, never say “send me an e-mail.”

After you’ve received some e-mail messages, you can search for specific messages by displaying the charms bar, selecting Search, and then selecting Mail and typing the content you’re searching for in the search box, such as subject, sender, or something in the message. This process works anywhere — you don’t have to be in the Mail app.

Write an E-Mail Message

1. To compose an e-mail message in the Mail app, select the New button (it looks like a plus sign) in the upper-right corner of the screen. (It doesn’t matter which panel appears on the left.) The Compose screen appears, as shown in Figure 7-2.

Figure 7-2

2. Note your name and e-mail address above the To box. This is the information your e-mail recipient will see in his or her e-mail app as the Sender or From line.

3. In the To box, type an e-mail address. (Feel free to write me using markjusticehinton@hotmail.com.) If the e-mail address is incomplete, it will be highlighted in a red box. Press the Tab key, touch the screen, or use the mouse to move to the next option.

Instead of typing an address, you can use the plus sign next to the To box to select contacts from the People app (Windows 8’s address book), but you probably don’t have any contacts at this time. See Chapter 8 for information on adding contacts to the People app.

To send e-mail to more than one person at once, press Enter after you type an address. The To box expands for another e-mail address. You can also enter an e-mail address in the CC box. (Once upon a time, CC stood for carbon copy, and then it became courtesy copy.) Technically, it makes no difference whether you use additional To addresses or the CC. To send a copy without revealing you’ve done so, select Show More, and then enter addresses in the BCC (blind or blocked CC).

4. Select the box that displays Add a Subject (that prompt disappears when you select the box). Enter a few words describing your message content or purpose. Using lowercase is fine.

5. Select below the Subject line. Type your message. Avoid all caps — purists consider caps to be SHOUTING! No need to press Enter as you approach the end of the line — this isn’t a typewriter.

Some people start a message with a salutation, such as Hi, Mark, but many people do not. Some people sign e-mail using their initials. E-mail can be as formal or casual as you choose to make it.

Words underlined with a red squiggle aren’t recognized by Windows 8 and may be misspelled. Right-click or tap and hold to see a pop-up list of suggested spellings. If the spelling is correct, use Add to Dictionary for words you use frequently or Ignore for those you don’t.

6. When you’re ready to send the message, select the Send button, which looks like an envelope. If you aren’t ready to send the message, select the Close button (an X) and then choose either Save Draft or Delete, depending on whether or not you want to continue with this message at another time.

Not surprisingly, you can select the Drafts category in the Mail panel to see a message you saved as a draft. To resume editing, select the message there. Then you can send the message or save it again.

7. If you select the Send button, your message is sent and you return to the screen you were on at the beginning of Step 1.

8. Repeat from Step 1 as needed.

Format E-Mail

1. If you want to add bold, italics, even color to e-mail, select the text you want to fancy-up. If no text is selected, your formatting will apply to the word in which the cursor (the blinking vertical line in the content) is located.

• Mouse: Click and drag the mouse pointer over the text you want to select.

• Touchscreen: Tap and drag over the text you want to select.

• Keyboard: With the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to select, hold down the Shift key as you press the right or down arrow to select text. Release the Shift key only after you have completed your selection.

To apply formatting to one word, double-click or double-tap that word to select it and display the app bar in one step.

The keyboard shortcut to select all text is Ctrl+A. No mouse or touchscreen method is quite so complete.

2. The formatting app bar appears as you make your selection, as shown in Figure 7-3. Select any of the following formatting options:

• Font: Choose a font by name and specify the size of the text. For example, the text in this book is Giovinni Book and the font size is 12.5. The older I get, the larger the font I use.

• Bold: Bold is used for emphasis to make text stand out.

• Italic: Although italic can also be used for emphasis, it may be harder to read than normal or bold text.

• Underline: Because links are usually underlined automatically, you may want to avoid underlining text that isn’t a link.

• Text Color: Choose from the colors that pop up when you select this option.

• Emoticons: This option opens a panel on the left. The top row of choices changes the emoticons (smiley faces and other small pictures or symbols) available in the panel. Choices are Recently Used, People and Faces, Activities, Food and Things, Travel, Nature, and Symbols. These options could keep you busy for days.

See Chapter 1 for information on using the virtual keyboard’s emoticons.

• More: This button displays four more options: Bulleted List (like this one), Numbered List, Undo, and Redo.

The keyboard shortcut for Undo is Ctrl+Z. For Redo, press Ctrl+Y.

Figure 7-3

The Attachments option opens the file picker, which lets you select documents and photos. When the file picker appears, select a file to attach or select the Files heading to navigate to other locations or apps, such as Camera and SkyDrive.

3. When you have finished formatting the text, select the Send button.

Read and Respond to Incoming E-Mail

1. On the Start screen, you may see an indication that you have received e-mail. Note that the Mail tile may display the following information:

• The wide, rectangular tile displays the sender’s address or name, the subject line, and a portion of each unread message in succession, as well as a count of unread messages.

• The small, square tile displays the unread message count.

• Small or wide, the tile doesn’t display any information if the Live Tile option is off.

2. Select the Mail tile. The Mail app opens on the last screen you viewed — not on the specific message displayed on the live tile, if any.

3. If necessary, select Inbox from the Mail panel. See the section “Use the Mail App” for the steps. Unread messages appear in bold.

4. Select a message under the Inbox heading. The content of that message appears to the right, as shown in Figure 7-4.

Figure 7-4

5. After you read the message, you can select one of the following options in the upper-right corner:

• The New button (the plus sign) starts a new message to anyone.

• The Respond button (with an arrow curving back on an envelope) creates a new message based on the current message.

• The Delete button (the trash can) moves the e-mail from Inbox to Deleted Items.

6. Select the Respond button, and then Select Reply from the list that appears. Reply starts a new message (refer to Figure 7-2) in response to the selected message and includes the text of the selected message. The subject line is automatically Re: [the original subject]. You’ll use this option most often. Complete your message and select the Send button.

In the Respond button list, Reply All sends your response to all the other recipients, if a message is addressed to more than one person. The Reply option sends your response only to the sender. Select Forward to send the selected message to someone else. You can add your own text or remove portions of the forwarded message in the process.

See the sections “Write an E-Mail Message” and “Format E-Mail” for more information on composing an e-mail message.

7. Select any message in the Inbox category. Display the Mail app bar by using a right-click, by swiping up or down, or by pressing +Z. Note the following options:

• Move: Use this option to move the selected e-mail from one category on the left to another. For example, move a message to the Junk category or from Junk to Inbox, if it’s a message you want. When you select Move, the screen appears slightly dimmed. In the Mail panel, select the category to which you want to move the selected e-mail. Categories that disappear during a move are unavailable. If you select Move but don’t want to continue, cancel by double-clicking or double-tapping in the message content area or by pressing the Esc key.

• Pin to Start: Use this option to create a new tile for the specific category on the screen (in this case, Inbox). This tile takes you directly to the selected category (not the selected message). Selecting the original Mail tile takes you to the last screen you viewed. The Pin to Start option is a good one to use with Inbox. When you select Pin to Start, a box pops up. You can change the text that will be displayed on the new tile or not, and then select the Pin to Start button.

• Mark Unread: Use this option if you want the message to appear unread (bold in Inbox). Some people do this with messages they want to deal with later.

• Sync: Mail syncs with the Web automatically. However, if you think Mail is out of sync, use this option.

You don’t have to do anything with e-mail in the Inbox category. Instead, you can read other messages, use the back arrow to select a different category, or switch away from the Mail app to the Start screen. If you let unread e-mail accumulate in your inbox, however, you’ll only have more to deal with later.

If you add e-mail accounts from providers such as Gmail, you may see additional categories or options. See the section “Add an E-Mail Account” at the end of the chapter.

Send E-Mail from Other Apps

1. You can e-mail information from other apps, such as Internet Explorer and News. On the Start screen, select the Internet Explorer tile. See Chapter 6 for information on using the web browser. Enter the web address for the book: www.win8mjh.com.

2. On any web page, display the Share panel using one of the following methods:

• Mouse: Move the mouse pointer to the upper-right corner of the screen. On the charms bar, select the Share charm.

• Touchscreen: Swipe from the right edge of the screen, and then tap the Share charm.

• Keyboard: Press +H (think sHare) to go straight to the Share panel.

3. On the Share panel, shown in Figure 7-5, select the Mail tile.

Figure 7-5

Mail isn’t available for sharing with all apps. You won’t know until you try.

4. The Mail panel slides in from the right, as shown in Figure 7-6. Enter an e-mail address under To. The subject line is automatically the title of the web page, but you can change the subject. A thumbnail image of the web page, as well as the site name and address, appear in the content area. You can add, delete, or change any of this. When you are ready to send the message, select the Send button.

Curiously, formatting options aren’t available in this panel, except as keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+I for italic, and Ctrl+U for underline. Repeating the keyboard shortcut removes the formatting. The Delete and Save to Drafts options are also missing here. To cancel this e-mail, select the back arrow next to Mail or select anywhere outside the panel.

The next time you use the Share panel in Internet Explorer or another app that shares with Mail, the e-mail address you used in Step 4 appears near the top of the panel. Select that address to save time in sharing something else with that person.

Figure 7-6

Change Mail Settings

1. In Mail, display the Settings panel, shown in Figure 7-7. Then select Accounts.

2. On the Accounts panel, select your e-mail account at the top of the panel. Note these settings, which are shown in Figure 7-8:

• Account Name: The name of the e-mail service provider. You can change this, if you want. I might use Mark’s e-mail.

• Download New Email: If you don’t want e-mail constantly streaming into Inbox, you can change this setting to every 15 or 30 minutes, Hourly, or Manual, in which case use the Sync button on the Mail app bar to check your mail.

Figure 7-7

• Download Email From: You can limit how far back to download messages to your computer. This setting isn’t relevant in a new e-mail account.

• Content to Sync: Understandably, you want to sync e-mail between your service provider and your computer. However, you may see options to sync Contacts, Calendar, or other information between the service provider and your computer. Generally, you want everything in sync.

• Automatically Download External Images: By default, Mail downloads images attached to or embedded in e-mail messages. Turn off this option to avoid downloading images, if you’re paying for your Internet connection by the minute or byte.

• Use an Email Signature: Mail automatically inserts Sent from Windows Mail into each message. Enter text here that you want automatically inserted at the end of your message. For example, I use peace, mjh as my e-mail signature. If you don’t want any text inserted automatically, select the switch under this option to change it from Yes to No.

• Email Address: This setting is a reminder of your e-mail address.

• Show Email Notifications for This Account: Turn on this setting to see pop-up notifications when new e-mail arrives.

• Remove This Account or Remove All Accounts: If you don’t want to receive e-mail from a specific account, you can remove it from this computer. Doing so has no effect on the account itself, which you can still access through a web browser or by adding the account to Mail or another app.

Figure 7-8

Add an E-Mail Account to Mail

1. If you have another e-mail address, you can add it to Mail. For example, follow these steps to add an existing Gmail account to Mail. In Mail, display the Settings panel (refer to Figure 7-7) and then select Accounts.

2. In the Accounts panel, select Add an Account.

Many people have more than one e-mail address. Your Internet service provider probably gave you an e-mail account and you may have another through work or school. However, this feature isn’t for everyone.

3. In the Add an Account panel, select the service with which you have an e-mail account. If your service doesn’t appear here, select Other Account. If you have a Gmail address (or you just want to see what’s next), select Google.

4. On the Add Your Google Account screen, enter your Gmail address and password in the appropriate boxes. Select Include Your Google Contacts and Calendars, and then select Connect. Cancel if you don’t want to continue.

5. You may see the messages Adding your account and then Syncing. If you don’t see the account, display the Mail panel, if necessary, using the back arrow, and then select Gmail at the bottom of the Mail panel. In Figure 7-9, my Gmail Inbox has one unread message. To see that message, I would select the Inbox. I can select Hotmail rather than Gmail, depending on which I want to use.

Figure 7-9

Gmail uses labels you create to organize e-mail. Other services use folders instead of labels. When Gmail is selected, I see its labels, starting with All Mail, below the standard Mail categories. You may encounter other features supported by one e-mail service but not another.

See the preceding section, “Change Mail Settings,” for the steps to review or change settings for your newly added account.