Windows Mail,
what are its possibilities ?

When you get Window Vista you also get Windows Mail for free. This free mail program is integrated in Vista.

If you configure it as default e-mail program, you can open it by clicking 'Start' and then by clicking 'E-mail'. If it isn't in the Start menu, you can open this e-mail tool by clicking 'Start' -> 'All Programs' -> 'Microsoft Windows Mail'.

When you start it for the first time, there will be started a wizard to configure your e-mail account. Follow this wizard to configure your account using the data you received from you Internet Service Provider. Click 'Cancel' to stop the wizard and to start the mail program.

In the image below you see the main parts of it.

As you can see it looks almost the same as Microsoft Outlook. The title bar, menu bar, and the buttons are the same as in other programs. Beside that there are some extra tools in Windows Mail.

To choose which parts you want to display, you choose 'View' in the menu and then 'Layout'. In the windows that appears you can select the layout you wish.

Account settings
Before you can use this e-mail program to send e-mails you have to configure it first. For this configuration you need the information from your Internet Service Provider, may it be broadband, dial-up, or cable-based.
Not every e-mail account can be configured with Windows Mail, this depends on where you have your e-mail account.

Now, what information do you need?

• E-mail address: We think there is no need for an explanation here.
• Account type: There are several account types but most of the time this is POP or HTTP.
• User name: This is the name you received from your internet service provider.
• Password for e-mail: This is the password you have set for your e-mail account. If you haven't set your own then your internet service provider gave you a password. Check your documentation.
• Server for outgoing e-mail (SMTP): Here you have to enter the exact server name of your internet service provider for outgoing e-mail. Check your documentation or the internet service providers' website.
• Server for incoming e-mail (POP3): Here you have to enter the exact server name of your internet service provider for incoming e-mail. Check your documentation or the internet service providers' website.

Then start Windows Mail and do the following:

• Click 'Tools'
• Click 'Accounts'.
• Click 'Add'.
• Select 'E-mail account'.
• Click 'Next'.
• In the 'Display Name' box, type the name you want to use as sender. For examle your name and surname.
• Click 'Next'.
• Type your e-mail address.
• In the 'Set Up E-mail servers' window you enter the information from your internet service provider.
  
  
  
  
• Click 'Next'.
• Type your e-mail address and password.
• Click 'Finish'.

Now you have added the new account to the page 'Internet accounts'.

Click on the button 'Send/Receive' to test your account. If there is an error, you probably have made a mistake during entering your account data.
To review this and edit your account, you click 'Tools' -> 'Accounts'.
Click on the name of the new account and click 'Properties'. Now you can edit your account.

Check Spelling
If you want to check a new e-mail message you are going to send on spelling, you can do that by doing the following:

• Click on the 'Create Mail' button to start writing a new e-mail.
• In the 'New Message' window you click 'Tools' -> 'Spelling'.
• Then Windows Mail gives you suggestions for the words which aren't spelled correctly so you can retype the word or pick on from the suggestions list.

Add background image, color or sound
You can add a background image, a color or even a sound to your new message. You can do this as followed:

• Click in the 'New Message' window 'Format' -> 'Background'.
• If you select 'Color' then you can pick a background color.
• If you select 'Picture', you can browse for a background image.
• If you select 'Sound', you can browse for an audio file. You can make some settings as well there. The sound will be played as soon as the e-mail will be opened.

Request Read Receipt
If you want to be sure that your e-mail has reached your recipient and that it has been read you do the following:

• Click 'Tools' -> 'Request Read Receipt' in the 'New Message' window.
• Type you e-mail and send it.

Forward e-mails
If you want to forward an e-mail you open the e-mail and you click on the 'Forward' button. Then you enter the e-mail address of the recipient and click 'Send'.

What are the options for an e-mail
If you need to know what you can do with an e-mail, you right click on an e-mail in you inbox. Now there is a menu with all the things you can do with your e-mail.

Attachments
In Windows Mail you can also add attachments to your e-mail. You can send documents, pictures, music files, video files, etc. to your e-mail.

Every internet service provider has a certain limit for sending attachments. This limit is different at every provider. Often the limit is 10 MB. To be sure what your limit is you should contact your provider.

You can attach multiple files to an e-mail message as long as the limit will not be exceeded.

Send documents directly from folders
You can also send a file via e-mail from the folder where the file is in. Then it will automatically be attached to the e-mail.
You simply right click on the file you want to send and select 'Send To' -> 'Mail Recipient'.
If the file is an image you will see the following window where you can choose on what size the image should be sent.

Click the 'Attach' button to attach the file and Windows Mail will be opened and you can see that the file is attached to the new e-mail message.
Simply type the e-mail address of the recipient and a subject and click 'Send'.

Send mail from Photo Gallery
It is possible to send photos and videos directly from Photo Gallery. You can do this as followed:

• Start Windows Photo Gallery.
• Show the icons for the photo or videofiles you want to send.
• Select the ones you want to send.
• Click on the 'E-mail' button in the toolbar.
• Click 'Attach' to attach the file(s) to the e-mail.
• Type the e-mail address of the recipient and click 'Send'.

Automatic Signature
You can add an automatic signature in Windows Mail so you don't have to type it in each mail you send.
To configure your signature do the following:

• Click 'Tools' in Windows Mail.
• Click 'Options'.
• Click on the 'Signatures' tab.
• Click on the 'New' button.
• Type your signature in the 'Text' area.
• Mark the checkbox 'Add signatures to all outgoing messages'.
• Click 'Ok'

Now your signature is set. Check it by clicking 'Create message'. Now you see your signature already typed in the new e-mail.

Protect against SPAM
A big disadvantage of e-mail is spam. Windows Mail has a few functions build-in to protect you against spam. But sometimes it can be that a normal e-mail is seen as spa. But most of the time the spam e-mail really is spam.

If you want to edit the Windows Mail protection settings you click 'Tools' -> 'Junk E-mail Options'. The following window appears:

Here you can choose the option you like most.

Block Phishing attacks
Phishing is one of the most dangerous risks on the internet. We will not discuss phishing here, you can read more about phishing here.
On the Phishing tab in the window above, you should have enabled both checkboxes to protect you against phishing.

If you have enabled both checkboxes, which you really should have, the possible phishing e-mails will marked with a red shield. You can choose to delete the phishing e-mail or that you want to unblock this e-mail. If you unblock the message it will be placed in you inbox. But be very careful if you unblock a possible phishing message!!! Be absolutely sure that the e-mail isn't a phishing e-mail.

Here on this Microsoft website you can find more relevant information about security: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/

Receive e-mails on more the one computer
Normally you read your e-mails at home using Windows Mail and all your e-mails are being downloaded and stored on your computer at home.
When the e-mails are downloaded to your computer they will be deleted automatically from the server of your provider.

But it can be that you read your e-mails sometimes on a different computer (for example on your work). Now the problem is that all your e-mails are stored on your computer at home and some e-mails are on the computer at work.
This is not what you want because you want all your e-mails together, right?

How to solve this problem?

To solve this problem you have to change the settings on the other computer (like the computer at work).
As I said, the e-mails which were read are being deleted automatically from the server of your provider.
You can configure Windows Mail so the e-mails will not automatically be deleted. This is what you need to do on the computer at work.

Let us explain how we can do this.

On your computer at work (and every other computer except your home computer) you enable the 'Leave a copy of messages on server' option. You can find that option as followed:

• Click 'Tools'.
• Click 'Accounts'.
• Click on your account and click 'Properties'.
• Click on the 'Advanced' tab.
• Then this window appears where you can choose to enable the option 'Leave a copy of messages on server'.

Using your home computer (where the above option is NOT ENABLED) all the messages will be downloaded and deleted from the server of your provider so you will not see the messages each time you open Windows Mail.

From your computer at work (or every other place then on your home computer) you can now read your messages, but if you come home the messages are still there so you can read them also on your home computer. Here they will be downloaded and deleted.

Using this way you keep your e-mails stored on one place.

Import / Export mails from Outlook Express or other Outlook programs
If you have worked with another e-mail program like Outlook Express or Outlook 2003 or even another program, you can import the e-mails from that program into Windows Mail.

To import the e-mails you do the following:

• Start Windows Mail.
• Click 'File' -> 'Import' -> 'Messages'.
• Now a window appears where you can choose your previous e-mail program.
• Choose the program you used to use and follow the instructions on the screen.

The same you do for export e-mails from Windows Mail to another program except you choose of course 'Export' instead of 'import'.

Working with Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007
Windows Mail looks and works almost the same as Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007.
So, if you do not use Windows Mail but Outlook 2003 you can also change many settings.

To learn how to work with Outlook 2003 (and Outlook 2007 because they are not that different) you can read more about it here.

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