Welcome to Using Eudora! In this module you will learn how to use Eudora to send, receive and reply to e-mail.
 
 

A Course Objectives

In this course you will learn to:

Italics:

are used for Internet addresses, such as Web site addresses and e-mail addresses.

 
 
 
 

This icon indicates that the accompanying text is a tip about some aspect of software or the Internet.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This icon indicates an activity or exercise for you to complete.
 
 
 
 

Using E-mail - Eudora is an instruction manual prepared for the Regional Information Technology Training Centre (RITTC) in Nairobi, Kenya by SATELLIFE and SATELLIFEHEALTHNET KENYA. It is part of a series of training manuals on the use of information and communications technology for health professionals.

We gratefully acknowledge The ITrain Collective training materials developed by the UGANISHA Project at the International Development Research Centre in Canada. Under The Open Content License the ITrain course Using E-mail – Eudora Light 3 was modified for the purposes of the Regional Information Technology Training Centre for novice users of information and communications technology. Changes made include sequence of activities, text, and graphical images. All the materials produced for the RITTC are for non-commercial purposes and are available at no charge.

The RITTC is funded by the World Bank under the infoDev initiative, which supports the use of information technology in development.

Familiarizing Yourself with Eudora Light

There many e-mail software packages such as Pegasus Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Communicator and Eudora. In this course, we will be using Eudora Light to compose, send, and receive messages over your computer. It includes a variety of functions to sort, manage, and store your e-mail messages. We will discuss and practice these functions.
 
 

A What is E-mail?

Let’s discuss the various modes of communication:

1. How do you communicate with your colleagues now?

2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the different modes of communication?

3. What is e-mail?

4. How can e-mail assist you in your work?
 
 
 
 

B The Eudora Toolbar

To begin, you should familiarize yourself with the various symbols used in Eudora, the Eudora toolbar and menu commands in order to orient yourself to the software. Don't get preoccupied with memorizing the meanings of all the symbols and icons. Instead try to get a feel for the software and the various functions it can perform.

The main toolbar is a group of buttons or icons (images) that gives you easy access to the frequently used Eudora commands. These icons are symbolic representations of the commands. As you will soon see, the commands can be executed using text menus as well.

The Eudora Toolbar

The Meaning of the Main Icons on the toolbar

Icon	Function
	Deletes message: Send the current message(s) to the Trash mailbox.
	Open In mailbox: Open the mailbox where incoming messages are stored.
	Open Out mailbox: Open the mailbox where messages you compose are stored, where queued messages are held until actually sent, and where copies of sent messages may be initially stored.
	Check mail: Pick up new mail in In mailbox.
	New message: Compose a new message in a new window.
	Reply: Reply to the sender of the current message.
	Forward: Forward the current message to someone else.
	Open Next Message: Open next message in the In mailbox or Out mailbox.
	Open Previous Message: Open previous message in the In mailbox or Out mailbox.
	Attach File: Attach a file to the current message or open a new message with the file attached.

 

Icons or Menus?

We are using both icons and menus as we learn about Eudora. In many cases, pull-down menus and icons perform the same task -- use whichever you feel most comfortable with.

D Understanding E-mail Addresses

E-mail addresses are like postal addresses. While the postal service uses an address to determine where to send a letter, the Internet decides where to send an e-mail message based on an e-mail address.

E-mail addresses contain a user name, a host and/or domain name, and a code indicating either a top-level domain or country name. Take, for example, the following address user@yourisp.org.uk

Sending E-mail

A Creating an Outgoing Message

An outgoing message is an e-mail message you send to someone else.

To do this:
 
 

1. Select the new message icon. 
 
 
 
 

Once you make this selection, a new message window will display as shown below:

Every e-mail message has two sections: the header and the body. The header contains the To, From, Subject, Cc, Bcc, and Attached fields. The body of the message is where you type in the text.

Tip: sending copies of your correspondence

If you use the To line to address your e-mail you are inviting a person to reply. If you use Cc (carbon copy) a response is not expected. You can place multiple e-mail addresses in a Cc in order to send one message to several people at the same. If you insert an e-mail address after Cc, the person with that address will receive a copy of your message. The main recipient or recipients of your e-mail message will know you have done this because the information will show on their message. Bcc means blind carbon copy. The main recipient will not know if you Bcc another person.
 
 

B Queuing and Sending a Message

Queuing a message means placing a message you compose in an outgoing area to be sent later. You can place several messages in the queue. This procedure helps to reduce the amount of time that your computer is connected to the Internet and in that way it is an efficient and cost effective way of sending e-mail messages. Two important words associated with queuing and sending messages are online and off-line. Online means that you are connected to the Internet and off line means you are not connected to the Internet.

It is most efficient to compose your messages in an off-line mode. To put the message you just composed in the queue, click on the Queue button or select Message, Queue For Delivery. (Both options are available when you are composing a message. Your message is saved in the Out mailbox and marked with a letter Q.)

1. Compose a message.
2. Place the message in the outgoing area by Queuing it.
3. Connect to the Internet and send your queued messages. To send all of your queued messages, select File, Send Queued Messages.
4. Check your mailbox for incoming mail (this will be explained soon).
5. Disconnect from the Internet.
6. Read your new messages (if any).
7. Reply to messages or compose new messages. Back to Step 2 on page 9.

Error Messages when Sending a Message

If you receive an error message like the one below or others, write down the error message that appears. This information will help others assist you if your problem persists. You should, however, try to deal with the error message first. Possible reasons for getting an error message are:

• you are not connected to your ISP and therefore cannot send and receive messages on the Internet;
• your version of Eudora is not configured correctly; or,
• there is an error or technical problem at your ISP.

If you cannot determine the source of the problem, contact 'Technical Support' at your communications provider.

Error message: could not connect

In order to read your e-mail, it is important to understand how Eudora stores e-mail messages. Much the same as there are different post office boxes in a Post Office, Eudora separates e-mail messages within different mailboxes. Mailboxes help you to organize and categorize your e-mail.
 
 
 
 

There are two basic mailboxes. We will learn how to create other mailboxes later in the course.

1. The In mailbox contains incoming messages. All new messages that you receive will be in this mailbox.
2. The Out mailbox contains messages that are outgoing. These are messages that have been sent or are going to be sent.

To view the messages within a mailbox, double click on the Inbox icon, 

or select Mailbox, and choose the box you wish to access. The mailbox will open into a new window.

Each line in a mailbox window represents a message and is called a message summary. Each message summary contains several columns that give descriptive information about the message.

Message summaries

B Message Summary Column Headings

Each message summary contains important information about the sender of the message, date received/sent, subject, etc. This information is organized in columns and described below. Don't worry if you do not understand what all the symbols mean. They will become clearer as you become more comfortable with Eudora.

Message Summary Column Headings

C The Status Column

The status column, on the far left of the message summary, has its own set of symbols in order to describe the status of the message. The following table shows the symbols associated with messages and their meaning.

The status column

 
 
 
 
 
 

Understanding Symbols in the Status Column
Symbol	Meaning
·	The message has not been read (all mailboxes except Out).
<blank>	The message has been read (all mailboxes except Out), or can not yet be queued because it has no recipients (Out mailbox only).
R	The message has been replied to.
F	The message has been forwarded on to someone else.
D	The message has been redirected to someone else.
S	The message has been sent (outgoing messages only).
Q	The message is queued to be sent (outgoing messages only).

 

Receiving E-mail

A Reading Mail

Eudora stores all your e-mail messages on your computer. You will find your incoming messages in your In mailbox and your outgoing messages in your Out mailbox.
 
 

To access your mail and read it, select Mailbox, In or the "Open In Mailbox" icon. 
 
 

To read your mail, open the In mailbox as described above and double click on any part of any message. The message will open up in a new window.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Scrolling

Often, e-mail messages contain more information than can be presented on one screen. To see the rest of the message you use the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the window. Clicking on the downward pointing black triangle will scroll down. Clicking on the upward pointing black triangle will scroll up. You can also pick up the sliding button in the middle of the triangle buttons and reveal more of the screen that way.  To do this, position the cursor over the sliding button, left click on the mouse, and hold it down while you drag the button up or down.
 
 

Closing a message

If you are done reading your message and would like to close it, click on the small "x" in the upper-right hand corner of the message window. You may also close the message window by using the menu command

File, Close.

B Saving Mail to Diskette

If you would like to save a message to a diskette:

1. Insert your floppy diskette into the A: drive of the computer

2. select File Save as.

3. In the window that pops up select the A: drive

4. Enter a filename for the message (no longer than eight characters)

5. Click on save

To retrieve your message from the diskette select File Open Text File. In the window that pops up select the A: drive and your saved files should be displayed on the screen. Double click on the file you wish to read.

C Checking for Incoming Mail

Electronic mail is saved on computer called servers.

Checking for Mail

To check for new mail, click on the Check Mail icon 
 
 

Using Your Password

Each time you open Eudora and check mail for the first time, you need to enter a password. You can have Eudora store and use your password automatically. However, if you do that ,anyone who accesses your computer can also access your e-mail.

Handling Messages

A Replying to a Message

Many of the e-mail messages you send will be written as replies to someone. Writing a reply is easy to do.

To reply to a message you have opened and read:

1. Select the Reply icon on the toolbar or select Message Reply.

The original sender’s address is automatically placed in the To field of the header. The Subject field will be completed with a Re: (short for regarding) and the subject header from the original message.

From time to time you will receive an e-mail message that you would like to send or forward to someone else.

To forward the current open message:

1. Select the forward icon on the toolbar or select Message Forward 

Tip: codes in the In mailbox

Remember the status column? Messages that have been replied to are identified with an "R" in the status column next to the original message in the In mailbox. Messages that have been forwarded will have an "F" in the status column.

Tip: distinguishing your new message from the original message

Typically e-mail software automatically places a >before the text that was in the original message. Text with the > sign before it is often referred to as quoted text.

C Deleting a Message

E-mail, e-mail, e-mail. Where did it all come from? What am I going to do with it? How can I find the messages I need? Yes, the bad news is that e-mail might overwhelm you. However, learning to create additional mailboxes and learning to use the Delete, Transfer, and Copy functions can help you manage your messages.
 
 

Deleting messages in Eudora is a two-step process.  1. Put the message in the Trash mailbox a)..Select the message first  b) Click the Delete Message(s) Icon  or select Delete from the Message menu or press the delete key on your keyboard. 2. Empty the Trash. (This process is a safeguard against inadvertent deletions.)

Delete Message(s)  Icon

 
 
 
 
 

To delete the messages in the Trash mailbox (removing them permanently from your computer), select Special, Empty Trash. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tip: Transferring messages out of the trash

If you inadvertently put a message in the trash that you would like to retrieve, open the Trash mailbox and select the message. Then, use the menu command Transfer and select the In mailbox.
 
 

Managing E-mail

A Setting-up New Mailboxes

If you receive a large number of messages, it will be helpful to set up additional mailboxes. Eudora lets you create mailboxes and folders to put messages in.

Here are two ways to create mailboxes and folders:

• Select Mailbox, New.
• Type the name of the new mailbox.
• Click on the OK button when you are finished.

Filters

Filters in Eudora help to manage your mail by automatically directing incoming messages into particular mailboxes. For example, all mail from an individual could be automatically placed in a mailbox named after that person each time you download new mail.

You manage your filters in the filter window. To open the Filters window, select Tools, Filters. The Filters window will then be displayed. Filters you have created will be listed on the left. To create or modify a filter, click on the New button or select an existing filter. Next, select the options for how you want the filter to be used.

Tip: undo

You can undo mailbox transfers using the Undo command under the Edit menu.
 
 
 
 

Transferring messages into mailboxes

You can transfer messages to any of your mailboxes. Some of the ways to do this are.

1. Select the message(s) you want to transfer, next select Transfer, and the mailbox you wish to transfer the message to.
2. Select the message(s) you want to transfer, next right-click the mouse on it and select a mailbox from the transfer submenu.

To put a copy of a message in another mailbox hold down the Shift key and use one of the transfer options above. This is useful if you want to file a message in more than one mailbox. In the earlier transfer procedure only one copy of a message remained. In copying, you have more than one copy.

B Signatures

A signature is a few lines of text you can use that is often found at the end of an e-mail message. You can use the signature function to automatically include your name, contact coordinates, or other information to the end of every outgoing message. When people read your signature they learn who you are and can contact you by ways other than e-mail.

There are two steps to using a signature: creating a signature and then saving it in the Eudora software.

To create your signature:

2. Then close the signature window. A box will pop up asking "Save changes to Standard?"

Select Yes.
 
 

A signature file
 

Tip: your invisible signature

When you are composing an e-mail message in Eudora Light you will not see your signature on your screen because it is not displayed in the Eudora message window. Instead, it is added to the end of your message when you send it.

C Using an Address Book

Eudora’s Address Book helps you to accurately record, organize, and retrieve the e-mail addresses of people to whom you write frequently. It allows you to assign a nickname to an addressee or group of addressees. You can then use this nickname in the To field to simplify the e-mail writing process. Nicknames can also be used in the cc and Bcc fields. Each entry in the Address Book includes the nickname for a person or group, their full e-mail address(es), and any notes you care to add.

To open your Address Book, select the address book icon. The following dialog box will appear on your screen.