Composing email in Outlook Express for Mac

• Starting a New Message
• Addressing a Message
• Adding Attachments to a Message
• Sending or Saving a Message

Starting a New Message

There are three quick and easy ways to bring up a new message window in Outlook Express for Mac:

1. Go to the File menu and select New Message from under the New submenu
2. Click the New button () in the main window (if you are viewing a mailbox)
3. Use the Command-N keyboard shortcut (if you are viewing a mailbox)

Addressing a Message

Basics

The addressing box of a new message looks like the image below:

To enter a name, type in the address or nickname. Press the Return key to enter the subject, or press the Tab key to enter additional names. If you wish to add Cc (carbon copy) or Bcc (blind carbon copy) recipients, you can click on the appropriate tab in the addressing box, or if the addressing box is not visible click the field name (with the small head icon).

Using Auto-complete

Outlook Express also features auto-complete using names from your address book. As you type in a name or address, Outlook Express will search your address book for matches, and if it finds any display them in a short list below the field you are typing in. If the highlighted match is correct, you can simply press the Return key or Tab key to continue. To select between multiple matches, you can use your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Using LDAP lookup (campus addressbook)

Outlook Express has the ability to look up people in the campus-wide addressbook. To use it, simply enter as much of the name as you know in the text field instead of entering an email address. When you are done entering all the recipients, click the Check Names button (). If only one match is found for a name, it will assume that match is the individual you want. If multiple matches are found, it will display a list for you to select from:

Select the match you want and click Done.

Recipients that have been looked up in the LDAP directory will show up similar to the following:

If you wish to add someone you've looked up to your local computer's Address Book (so you don't have to look them up again), hold down the Control key and click on the name - this should make a popup menu appear which allows you to add the person to your address book.

Adding Attachments

It is important to remember that when sending an attachment, your email software may need to translate it into a form that can be sent via email. This may result in an increase in attachment size. There are three ways to attach a document to an outgoing email message: drag-n-drop it, add via menu command or use the add button.

Attaching via drag-n-drop

To attach a document using drag-n-drop, switch to the Finder (your desktop view of files) and locate the icon for the file you wish to attach. Drag the icon for the file into the message window to the attachment field and release the mouse. The name of the file should appear in the attachment field when done.

Attaching via menu command

Select Add Attachments from the Message menu. Outlook Express will prompt you to locate the file you wish to attach. Select it and click Choose to add the attachment to the message.

Using the Add button

Click the small triangle next to the attachments field to make the full field options visible as below:

To add an attachment, click the Add button on the right end of the field.

Sending or Saving the message

To send the message immediately, click the Send Now button () located at the top of your message window. Alternatively, you can click Send Later () to send the message the next time Outlook Express checks your mail or click the Save as Draft button () to save as a draft to finish or send when you choose.

Outlook Express Support

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