E-mail Excellence

We use e-mail every day. Paper memos have been replaced by electronic missives from on high. Conference tally forms have gone the way of the do-do bird. To survive in the digital age, you need to become an e-mail expert.

Unfortunately, the sheer volume of e-mail we receive each day can be overwhelming. This course is designed to make you an e-mail ace. By practicing e-mail excellence, you can excel in the digital age!

How Do I Check My Mail? Let Me Count the Ways…

As an AASD employee, you have two ways to check your mail. You can get your e-mail through the web portal located at http://mail.altoonasd.com. The second option is to use an e-mail client like Mozilla Thunderbird to check your mail.

The web portal option works using any computer connected to the internet.

1. Start your favorite web browser. 2. In the address bar, type http://mail.altoonasd.com. Press the Enter key. 3. After a few moments, the login screen appears.

4. Type your username in the first field. The user name is what precedes the @ sign in your district e-mail address. 5. Enter your e-mail password in the Password field.

6. Click the Login button.

The e-mail interface loads. It consists of four main areas.

Mailboxes / Folders / Rules / Address Books This area is used mainly to move around various mailboxes and folders. You will also find the address book, rules and preferences located in this area. New mail will always arrive in the INBOX, unless you have changed the default settings or have applied a rule.

Main Toolbar These buttons perform basic functions such as creating new messages, deleting or forwarding the selected message, moving messages to other folders, and checking for new mail.

Message List All messages in the active mailbox are listed in this area. Messages in bold have yet to be read.

Reading Panel The body of the selected message appears in the lower panel.

Composing a Message To write a new e-mail message, click the New button on the main toolbar. The screen changes to display the new message interface.

To compose the message, fill in AT LEAST the following information:

• The To… field. You can enter an address by hand, or click the To… button to choose a name in the address book.

• The message subject. Many e-mail systems will not deliver messages sent without a subject.

• The body. Type the message in the large field at the bottom of the screen.

At this point, you have added enough information to send the message.

It’s All In The Details The web e-mail portal allows you to format messages before you send them. For example, you can change the font size, add bold type, and create a numbered list, among other things. The buttons work just like their similar counterparts in Microsoft Word.

A (Virtual) Little, Black Book It’s hard to remember all of those e-mail addresses, isn’t it? The e-mail web portal features an address book.

1. Click the Address Books object on the left of the screen. 2. You should now see the word Contacts below the Address Book. Click Contacts.

3. To add a contact, click the New Contact button. You can also add a group (one contact that will send a message to numerous recipients) by clicking the New Group button.

4. Don’t forget to save the changes!

Addresses entered in the contacts area will be available in the To… field of new e-mail messages.

Not Just a Classic Ford: Introducing Thunderbird Thunderbird is an application that runs on your computer. It allows you to check e-mail, just like the e-mail web portal. It works in nearly the same way as the web portal.

So… why even use Thunderbird?

Thunderbird allows you additional layers of control over your e-mail accounts. It also helps the school district out by removing your e-mail messages from the district’s server.

When you check mail using the web portal, you are simply looking at the message. You really haven’t received it. Think of it this way, it’s like going to your mailbox, reading your mail, and then shoving it all back in the box. The mailman would have a hard time delivering your mail when the box fills up.

With Thunderbird, you take the mail from the mailbox, bring it inside, and throw it on a virtual dining room table. The mailman can now accurately and quickly deliver your future messages.

Setting Up Your Account in Thunderbird It’s easy to add your school district e-mail account to Thunderbird. Just follow these easy steps.

1. Start Thunderbird. If the program asks you to import information or add an account, choose ‘No’ or ‘Cancel’ each time. Eventually you will see Thunderbird’s interface.

2. Choose Tools > Account Settings… 3. Click the Add Account… button found at the bottom of the next window.

4. Choose E-mail account and click Next > . 5. Fill in your name and your full e-mail address. Click Next > . 6. The AASD e-mail server is a POP server, so make sure the radio button next to POP is selected. 7. Both the incoming and outgoing servers are the same: mail.altoonasd.com. 8. Uncheck the Use Global Inbox option.

9. Click Next > to move on. 10. This field will likely be filled in automatically. If it is not, provide your User Name. The user name is the name

that precedes the @ in your e-mail address. Click Next > . 11. Name the account. I would recommend AASD or work, especially if you plan to add other accounts at some

point. Click Next > . 12. The final screen will verify all of your settings. Click Finish.

You will be returned to the Account Settings window. The account you just created will now appear in the list on the left side of the window.

13. Click OK to return to the main window.

Check Messages To check your e-mail, click the Get Mail button on the main tool bar. You will be asked to provide your password. If you would like Thunderbird to remember the password, be sure to check the appropriate box before clicking OK.

If you have any messages, they will appear in a few moments.

Creating a New Message in Thunderbird The process of making a new message is fairly straightforward.

1. Click the Write button. It looks like a pencil. 2. Add addresses to the To: field. Hit Enter to add additional names. 3. Add a subject and message text. 4. Click Send to send the message to its recipients.

The Thunderbird Address Book Like the web portal, Thunderbird allows you to add contacts to an address book. Thunderbird’s address book is a little more robust than the web-based alternative.

To add a contact:

1. Click the Address Book button on the main toolbar.

2. The Address Book window appears. 3. Click the New Card button to add a contact. 4. Enter as much information as you’d like. Don’t forget the e-mail address; that’s the most important item!

5. Click OK to save the contact.

6. The contact list appears in the upper pane; the lower pane provides detail for the selected contact.

Making a Distribution List Adding a single contact is great, but we often need to send a message to an entire department or to all of the principals. This task is accomplished through the use of lists.

1. From the Address Book window, click the New List button. 2. Fill in the fields, adding a name for the list, a nickname, and a brief description of what the list does. Add e-

mail addresses, pressing the Enter key after each.

3. Click OK after you enter the final e-mail address. 4. The list is added to your contacts. Notice that the list icon look like two Rolodex cards, not one. Individual

addresses that were not previously in the address book will be added as well. You can double-click those addresses to add more detail.

5. Close the Address Book window.

Sending a Message to a List Because the list is in your address book, you can quickly send a message to the everyone on the list.

1. Create a new message by clicking the Write button. 2. While in the To: field, simply start typing the name of the list. A menu of possible matches will appear. Click the

correct list. 3. Type the subject and body of the message as normal. 4. Click Send.

Adding an Attachment to a Message With attachments, you can forward any file (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) to your coworkers.

1. Create a new message by clicking the Write button. 2. Address the message, add a subject, and type the body of the message.

3. Click the paperclip button to choose an attachment. 4. The standard Open dialog box appears. Navigate to the fold that contains the file(s) you want to send. Tip: You

can choose more than one file by holding down the Ctrl key.

5. Click the Open button when you have finished selecting files. 6. The attachments will appear to the right of the To: and Subject: fields.

7. You can add more attachments by clicking the paperclip again. Don’t worry; the original attachments will stay there.

8. If you need to remove an attachment before sending the message, right-click it from the attachment list and choose delete.

9. Send the message by clicking the Send button.

Netiquette 101 The Internet is often blamed for the downfall of civil communication. Believe it or not, Internet users should follow a set of rules regarding online communication. These rules are commonly referred to as netiquette.

Don’t Type in ALL CAPS This is considered shouting. If you send an e-mail written in ALL CAPS, it means you are “shouting” at the reader. If you truly need to emphasize text, make it bold.

Know the Difference Between Reply and Reply All The reply button will send your response only to the person who sent the message to you. Reply all will send your response to everyone who originally received the message.

Don’t Attach Huge Files There’s nothing worse than waiting an eternity to download an e-mail that also contains a large file. Most people want to quickly check messages, not wait for the cute kitten video you sent to download.

Avoid Sarcasm and Humor It’s very tough to convey sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor in an e-mail. Text doesn’t convey the nuances of most humor. Unless your message is completely over the top, some people may not realize that it’s meant to be funny.

Creating Message Filters Filters allow you to automatically file email messages base on the criteria you select. You can filter messages based on:

• subject

• sender

• date

• size

• recipients

Before making a filter, it makes sense to create a folder that will contain the messages that fit the filter’s criteria.

1. Right-click in the empty area of the folder pane. 2. Choose New Folder…

3. Type a name for the folder. Click OK. 4. Choose Tools > Message Filters… 5. Click the New button. 6. Name the filter. Add the filter criteria as needed. Be sure to select a destination folder. Click OK when you have

finished adding criteria.

7. Close the Message Filters window. 8. The filter is now active.

Adding a Signature A signature will appear at the bottom of each message you send. This will save time, as you will no longer need to type your name, title and phone number at the bottom of the message. To add a signature, you must first create a text file containing the signature.

1. Open WordPad. (Start > All Programs > Accessories > WordPad. 2. Type the signature, starting on the first line. 3. Format the text as needed. You can even use colors!

4. In WordPad, choose File > Save As… 5. Name the signature file. 6. Be sure that the Save as type: menu shows Rich Text Format (RTF). 7. Click Save. 8. In Thunderbird, choose Tools > Account Settings…. 9. Select the AASD mail account from the left column. 10. Place a check mark in the Attach this signature: box. 11. Click the Choose… button to pick your signature file. 12. Locate the signature file made in the steps above. Select the file and click Open. 13. Click OK to close the Account Settings window.

From this point on, all composed messages will include the signature.