All Categories » EMail » Using Email

Are deleted emails really deleted?
Depending on what email program you use, deleted emails may or may not be really deleted. (Continue reading...)

Can I block email from certain sites?
Most email programs and services allow you to block, or at least divert, email from specific senders and domains. I'll look at a few techniques. (Continue reading...)

Can I really catch an email virus just by looking?
It used to be possible that simply viewing a malformed email could allow a virus to spread, but that's no longer the case with modern mail programs. (Continue reading...)

Can I retrieve a deleted email from three years ago?
Several factors conspire to make recovering a file or message deleted three years ago extremely improbable. Still, there's an extremely slim chance. (Continue reading...)

Can I set my email to be spell checked with word perfect or another program?

Can I stop or 'un-send' an email I sent by mistake?
Once you hit that "send" button, there is no way to stop your email from being sent, even if it's to the wrong person. (Continue reading...)

How can I send anonymous email?
Sending anonymous email is actually fairly easy. (Continue reading...)

How can I tell if my email has been blocked?
Email usually works, but it can fail to arrive for a number of reasons. Being blocked is only one. It's nearly impossible to tell which has happened. (Continue reading...)

How do I display my MSN Hotmail or other email in the order it was sent?
Every so often the sort order of email in your inbox may change unexpectedly. A stray click can do that, and a not-so-stray click can fix it. (Continue reading...)

How do I find the list of BCC'ed recipients in outgoing email?
BCC'ed recipients are not visible to the other recipients. But if you're the sender you probably see the BCC line on messages you've sent. (Continue reading...)

How do I get a notification when anyone I send an email to forwards that email?
Several urban legends would have you believe that when you forward an email it can somehow be tracked. It cannot. There's no way to know. (Continue reading...)

How do I get my name, title and other information to show at the bottom of every message I send?

How do I get outgoing mail to display "Undisclosed-Recipients:;" in the TO field?
Undisclosed-Recipients is placed in the To: field by some mail programs or ISPs if the From: field is empty but Bcc: isn't. It's not easy to force. (Continue reading...)

How do I move my Windows Live Hotmail account from one computer to another?
It's not uncommon to want to move your email access from an old to a new computer. Web mail is easy, but there are things to watch for. (Continue reading...)

How do I post a long link in email?
Long URLs or Links can cause problems when sent in email programs, since many email programs try to be helpful by forcing text to fit a fixed width. (Continue reading...)

How do I put a picture into the body of an email?
Depending on what email program you use, putting an image into the body of an email can be easy, difficult, or nearly impossible. (Continue reading...)

How do I save email when using Yahoo, GMail or Hotmail webmail?
To save mail from a webmail service you need to download it to your machine. Not all webmail services make saving email easy, so we improvise. (Continue reading...)

How do I send a link in email?
Sending a link in email isn't that difficult, but guaranteeing that everyone who gets it can just click on it is impossible. (Continue reading...)

How do I send email to a lot of people at once?
It's very tempting to build a group or list in your email program to send mail to them all at once. But if the group is big, it probably won't work. (Continue reading...)

How do I send mail from my mail forwarded address?
It's easy to forward one email address to your real email account, but sending email to look like it came from that forwarded address isn't as obvious. (Continue reading...)

How do I send periodic email to a large number of people?
Because of spam, sending email newsletters and other large quantities of email requires serious consideration, and in many cases, professional help. (Continue reading...)

How do I send someone a large file?
Emailing large attachments is typically a bad idea as your mail is likely to not be delivered. We'll look into alternatives. (Continue reading...)

How do I set up an Out Of Office (OOF) message?
Out Of Office or OOF messages are considered by many important to let people know when you're away from email. Setting one up properly is difficult. (Continue reading...)

How long should email take to be delivered?
Email is typically very quick, but there are several reasons that email can be legitimately be delayed, for hours or perhaps even days. (Continue reading...)

How should I save my old emailed love letters?
Archiving email of any form is an exercise involving file formats, the flexibility of your email program, and even a prediction about the future. (Continue reading...)

How to I view the list of BCC'ed recipients on an email I've received?
The list of BCC'ed recipients is not incluced in emails, so there is no way of determining if and who else the email was sent to. (Continue reading...)

I closed my email account, but people are still getting email from it. Why?
Closing an email account seems like a logical solution to an account getting hacked, but unfortunately it doesn't address all the possible issues. (Continue reading...)

I sent an email to an invalid email address, what can I do? Will it be read by someone?
People often send email to the wrong address by mistake. But what happens if the email address is invalid? There's no way to know what happens next. (Continue reading...)

Is plain text email safer?
HTML email can include embedded malware, plain text cannot. So just how risky is HTML formatted email? (Continue reading...)

Is there a way to easily open email that's been forwarded multiple times as attachments?
A lot of forwarded email is forwarded as an attachment. When forwarded multiple times, each as an attachment, opening the original can be difficult. (Continue reading...)

Is this an email hoax? Will forwarding an email help a dying child?
We've all get emails asking us to forward the email so that some entity will make a donation to some cause. Don't. Just don't. It's an email hoax. (Continue reading...)

Is webmail faster than downloading with POP3 over dialup?
Dialup users are frequently challenged with large emails taking forever to download. Webmail might help, but not consistently. (Continue reading...)

Someone has stolen my email account. What can I do to get it back?
The outlook is grim if your email account has been stolen, but there are a couple things that you can try to do to recover it. (Continue reading...)

The contents of my inbox disappeared! Can I recover?
I occasionally get reports of people who've lost the contents of their inbox. We'll look at a couple of common causes and resolutions. (Continue reading...)

WHY IS EVERYONE ON THE INTERNET SO GRUMPY?
Typing email using all upper case characters is the email form of shouting and considered quite rude. Don't be surprised if you get a grumpy response. (Continue reading...)

What are all these other pictures that appear when I view a picture from email?
Viewing a picture from email causes the email program to place that image on your hard disk, along side other pictures from other places. (Continue reading...)

What are all these other pictures when I view emailed photos?
When viewing photos emailed as attachments your image viewer may also show you lots of other images as well. It's all about where things are on disk. (Continue reading...)

What are these blue lines on the left of my email?
Email programs will often automatically include the text of the original in a reply, and format it slightly differently. Some use blue bars. (Continue reading...)

What does "mailbox unavailable" mean?
Mailbox unavailable is a common message in returned email or "bounces" that actually says very little other than that the email could not be delivered. (Continue reading...)

What does 'Mail policy violation Partial MIME Blocked' mean?
'Mail policy violation Partial MIME Blocked' is apparently related to Symantec Anti-Virus rules. (Continue reading...)

What does it mean to "hover over" a link to check it's validity?
When it comes to links on web pages and HTML mail, what you see is not always where you go. Hovering over a link is one way to look before you leap. (Continue reading...)

What is an email quota and what does "over quota" mean?
Being over quota means you've received or kept too much email. Dealing with an email quote means understanding just where that email is being kept. (Continue reading...)

What's the best way for a non-profit group to interact online?
Getting a group, any group, to interact effectively online can be a challenge. Sometimes it's a technology issue, but more often than not ... it's not. (Continue reading...)

Where did my edited attachment go?
You get an email with an attachment, you edit the attachment and your work disappears. Why that happens, and how to work around it. (Continue reading...)

Why am I getting a delay notification on an email I sent?
Email can be delayed for many reasons; it's the nature of the email infrastructure. If your message is delayed, your options are limited. (Continue reading...)

Why am I getting some "Passport" login screen when I click on a "contact us" link?
Web page mail links start the default mail program. If that's Hotmail you'll need to login. If you don't use Hotmail, you'll need to do something else. (Continue reading...)

Why are email addresses sometimes in angle-brackets?
Email addresses were meant for computers to use to route email. Angle brackets are used when a more human-readable name accompanies the email address. (Continue reading...)

Why are emails I send with attachments not being delivered?
Emailing attachments, particularly large files, is getting more and more difficult as ISPs limit size and scan for spam and viruses. (Continue reading...)

Why can't I open attachments in Outlook?
Email attachments are often the way that viruses spread throughout the internet. Email programs may by default block you from opening attachments. (Continue reading...)

Why did my mail get sent to my friends old email address?
Sometimes updating your address book isn't enough to flush an old email address from your email program. We'll look at what else might be a factor. (Continue reading...)

Why do vertical bars appear on the left of some emails I send?
When replying to email, many programs will include the original text with some indication that it is the original. We'll look at configuring that. (Continue reading...)

Why does email bounce?
Email can bounce for many reasons. I'll look at several of the most common mail bounce messages, and try to interpret what they really mean. (Continue reading...)

Why does email get lost?
Sometimes when you send email you never hear from it again. While once we could count on it being delivered or getting a bounce, that's no longer true. (Continue reading...)

Why does mail to me bounce with "mailbox full" only if it's over 1 megabyte?
If email sent to you bounces with a mailbox full message, it typically means just that. Make sure the steps you take to clear it actually do. (Continue reading...)

Why does my HTML email look different to the recipient than it does to me?
HTML email is often used to make email visually appealing. Unfortunately HTML email often does the opposite depending on the recipient's email program. (Continue reading...)

Why does my email program think that this message might be a scam?
Occasionally, security software examines links in email and alerts you if something is suspicious. Frequently, as in my newsletter, it's totally benign. (Continue reading...)

Will adding a bogus entry to my address book stop viruses from emailing?
There's an email floating around that says you can prevent email viruses by adding a bogus entry to your address book. Uh ... no. (Continue reading...)