Microsoft Outlook Express Help

Send Messages

Sending a message

Formatting a message with Auto Text Clean Up

Sending a message from Contacts

Checking spelling in a message

Applying styles to a message

Attaching files to a message

Replying to a message

Forwarding a message

Redirecting a message

Specifying a signature for individual messages

To send a message

On the File menu, point to New, and then choose Mail Message.
In the To, Cc, and Bcc boxes, type the names of the message recipients. You can:
- Type an e-mail address. If you are typing multiple addresses, separate each address by a comma (,) or semicolon (;).
- Type an entry from Contacts. As you type, entries in Contacts that match what you are typing will be automatically filled in. When you see the correct entry, press the comma or semicolon key to accept the entry and move on to the next recipient.
- Drag an entry from the Contact window to one of the boxes.
- Drag an e-mail address from another message or text document to one of the boxes.
In the Subject box, type the subject of your message.
If you are sending an important message, choose High from the Priority menu. When the recipient replies the priority you set will be maintained.
In the main text area, type your message.
If you want to finish the message later, choose Save from the File menu to store the message in the Drafts folder located in the Folder list.
The Account menu located at the top-left of the window displays your default mail server account. If you want to send this message from a different account, choose one from the menu.
On the Message menu, choose Send Message Now. If you want to send the message at another time, click the Send Later button on the message window toolbar. This will store the message in the Outbox until you use the Send All, or Send & Receive commands, or during the scheduled Send & Receive as specified in Preferences.

Tips

If you want to finish the message later, choose Save from the File menu to store the message in the Drafts folder located in the Folder list.
Microsoft Outlook Express reviews the recipients to determine if there is a potential problem. If the recipients have a colored underline or are not underlined you may want to check recipient names and addresses before you send the message.
If you copy text from another message, use the Paste As Quotation command from the Edit menu so that copied text will be marked with the quote character (>).
You can apply HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) styles to your message. For example, you can underline text, create a bulleted list, or apply color to text. If the recipient of your message uses a mail program that cannot display HTML styles, then the message may be displayed in plain text, or sent with an HTML file attachment.
If you want to send and receive messages simultaneously, point to Send & Receive on the Tools menu, and then choose Send & Receive All.

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To format a message with Auto Text Clean Up

Double-click the message that you want to format so that it appears in its own window. Auto Text Clean Up will not apply to messages displayed in the Preview Pane.
Select the text that you want to format.
On the Edit menu, point to Auto Text Clean Up, and then choose one of the following:
- Straighten Quotation Marks to convert quotation marks to apostrophes.
- Rewrap Paragraphs to remove hard carriage returns.
- Remove Quoting to eliminate the ">" character.
- To Upper Case to use all capital letters.
- To Lower Case to use lowercase letters.

Tip

You can use Auto Text Clean Up when you send, reply, or forward a mail or news message.

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To send a message from Contacts

If the Contacts window is not open, choose Contacts from the Window menu.
Click the contact to which you want to send the message. Hold down the Shift key to select a range of contacts, or hold down the Command key to select specific contacts.
Click the Mail To button on the toolbar.
In the Subject box, type the subject of your message.
In the main text area, type your message.
When you are finished, choose Send Message Now from the Message menu. If you want to send the message at another time, click the Send Later button on the message window toolbar. This will store the message in the Outbox.

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To check spelling in a message

With Office 98 installed, you can easily spell check your messages before you send them. As you type, Microsoft Outlook Express will check your dictionary and underline words that cannot be found. You can correct misspelled words by pressing the Control key and clicking the mouse button on the misspelled word, and then choosing an option from the menu that appears.

On the Tools menu, choose Spelling. In the Not In Dictionary window, Microsoft Outlook Express will display each word that is not in the current dictionary. In the Suggestions window, Microsoft Outlook Express will display words that might be the correct one to use.
Do one of the following:
- Click Ignore to skip the displayed word and go forward to the next word.
- Click Ignore All to skip all occurrences of the word.
- Click Add to add the word to the current dictionary.
- Click a word in the Suggestions window, and click Change to replace this instance of the word, or click Change All to replace all occurrences of the word in the message with the suggestion.
- Click Close to stop the spell check.

Tip

Click Options in the Spelling dialog box to open the Preferences dialog box where you can set advanced spelling options.

Related Topic
Setting up spelling preferences

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To apply styles to a message

When you want to add special emphasis or structure to message text, you can use HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). HTML is the standard for formatting text on the Internet.

When you use HTML formatting, and the recipients program does not read HTML, the message may appear as plain text or with an HTML file attachment. In either case, the recipient will get your message.

If you have not already started a message, on the File menu, point to New, and then choose Mail Message.
On the Format menu, make sure a check mark appears beside the Rich Text (HTML) command. If it doesn't, choose Rich Text (HTML) from the menu.
Place the insertion point where you want to begin applying a style, or if you have already typed your message, highlight the text to which you want to apply the style.
Do any of the following:
- On the Format menu, point to Font, and specify the font you want to use.
- To change the size of text, choose a size from the Size menu.
- To make text Bold, click the B button.
- To make text Italic, click the I button.
- To make underlined text, click the U button.
- To create teletype text, click the T button.
- To insert a line, click the Underline button (-).
- To create a bulleted list, click the list button.
- To create a numbered list, click the numbered list button.
- To change paragraph alignment, click one of the three alignment buttons.
- To change the color of text, click the color swatch in the foreground; To change the background color, click the color swatch in the background.

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To attach files to a message

Drag the file and drop it into the message window.
To add multiple files, press the Shift key as you click each file, and then drag all the files to the message window.
If you want to compress the file to reduce the time it takes for recipients with slower connections to download your message, choose Compress Attachments from the View menu. The Stuffit Engine must be installed on your computer.

Tip

You can set up your preferences to compress all outgoing attachments.

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To reply to a message

If the message you are replying to is not open, click the message title.
On the Message menu:
- If you want to reply only to the author of the message, choose Reply To Sender.
- If you want to reply to the author and everyone who is listed in the To and Cc boxes in the original message, choose Reply To All.
Add any additional recipients to the To, Cc, and Bcc boxes.
In the main text area, type your message.
On the Message menu, choose Send Message Now. If you want to send the message at another time, click the Send Later button on the message window toolbar. This will store the message in the Outbox until you use the Send All, or Send & Receive commands, or during the scheduled Send & Receive as specified in Preferences.

Tip

You can use Auto Text Clean Up when you send, reply, or forward a mail or news message.

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To forward a message

If the message you are forwarding is not open, click the message title in the message list.
On the Message menu, choose Forward.
In the To, Cc, and Bcc boxes, type the names of the message recipients.
In the Subject box, type the subject of your message.
In the main text area, type your message.
On the Message menu, choose Send Message Now.If you want to send the message at another time, click the Send Later button on the message window toolbar. This will store the message in the Outbox until you use the Send All, or Send & Receive commands, or during the scheduled Send & Receive as specified in Preferences.

Tip

You can use Auto Text Clean Up when you send, reply, or forward a mail or news message.

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To redirect a message

If the message you are redirecting is not open, click the message title in the message list.
On the Message menu, choose Redirect.
In the To, Cc and Bcc boxes, type the names of the message recipients.
On the Message menu, choose Send Message Now. If you want to send the message at another time, click the Send Later button on the message window toolbar. This will store the message in the Outbox until you use the Send All, or Send & Receive commands, or during the scheduled Send & Receive as specified in Preferences.

Note

You cannot change the subject or body of a redirected message.

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To specify a signature for an individual message

On the Message menu, point to Signature, and then choose a signature. A check mark appears beside the default signature. Unless you choose a different signature, the default signature will be added to all outgoing messages.

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