Module Two

Email Tasks

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?

As you can see from the first image of my yahoo inbox, there are four fields with information relating to the message 'From, Subject, Date and Size'. If you look at the first message it has been sent by Smith Micro, we can tell where the message originated from. The second field 'Subject' informs us that the email is advertising, 'Special 40% Store Wide Sale this weekend only', this field informs us of the content. The 'Date' tells us when the message arrived in the inbox and the 'Size' field tells us how big the message is.

The second image I have used is of my mail inbox, this image shows an example of a 'Signature' (highlighted in blue). 'Signatures' tell us a lot of information about who is sending the email. Signatures can contain the senders 'name, job title, email address, postal address, phone and fax numbers and website url'.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

'Cc:' short for 'carbon copy', is useful in that it lets you send a word for word copy of your email to other recipients. You can enter multiple recipients in the 'Cc:' field separating the addresses of the recipients with a comma.
The negative issue with 'Cc:' is every recipient that receives the message you send using 'Cc:' sees the 'To:' and 'Cc:' fields with all addresses displayed. To stop this issue from arising the 'Bcc:' function is useful, when using 'Bcc:' "the only recipient address that will be visible to all recipients is the one in the 'To:' field."
Similar to the 'Cc:' function the 'reply all' function will send a message to everyone who initially received the original message.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

Firstly within the message you should make the recipient aware that there is an attachment for them to download and view.

Then make them aware what format the attachment is in and what application is required to open and view the attachment.

I would also make them aware why they need to open and view the attachment.

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

Currently I don't have any filters or rules in place, before this tutorial I was not aware that these functions could be so useful. I am intending on implementing a rule that splits emails received intended for my wife and myself, as one of our email account's is shared.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

As you can see in the image I have seven sub folders under in my '.mac account'.

The folders are structured to make future access simple and easy. The dodo folder simply archives phone bills and provides a reference as to how much we are spending on communication. The software folder contains serial numbers and passwords so this folder will be accessed if I was to upgrade machines and need to transfer software to a different computer.





References:

http://email.about.com/od/emailnetiquette/a/cc_and_bcc.htm
(accessed 02/03/09)