How to Create a Google Alert

Google Alerts are a great way to monitor your online reputation, keep an eye on keywords you are looking at and monitor your links around the web.

Google Alerts is one of the Google services that does not require a Google account to use but you can access it through after logging into your Google account.

This article covers how to create a Google alert without a Google account and after logging into your Google account.

What is a Google Alert?

A Google alert is a notice sent to you from the Google alert system via email when Google has found an instance of the keywords you have setup to monitor. You can send this notice to any email address. It does not have to be a Gmail email address.

You set what areas of the internet you wish to monitor. It can be just news articles, just blogs, the web, a comprehensive report covering all instances, just videos or just groups.

The frequency that you receive your Google alert is set by you. The alert can be sent as Google finds the phrase, once each day or once a week.

In one session you are allowed to create up to ten alerts. Once confirming your alerts, you are allowed to create more. The maximum number of alerts you are allowed per email address is 1000 alerts.

Create a Google Alert Without a Google Account

The steps below are how to create a Google alert without using a Google account.

  1. Go to the Google Alerts home page.

    Over on the right is a series of boxes (form) to fill in.

  2. The top box is where you fill in what you want to be alerted about.

    You can fill in your domain name, company name, keywords you want to monitor, or anything else you want.

  3. The second step is to select what type of alert you want.

    Your choices are:

    • News – top ten results in Google News
    • Blogs – top ten results in Google Blog search
    • Web – top twenty results in Google Web search
    • Comprehensive – Everything (selected by default)
    • Video – top ten results in Google Video search
    • Groups – top fifty results in Google Groups search

    For the most instances leave the default of Comprehensive.

  4. Next is how often you want to be notified.

    The choices for the frequency you receive your Google alert are:

    • as-it-happens – Receive your alert as soon as Google finds an instance of your alert.
    • once a day – As it says, you receive a Google alert email once a day. (selected by default)
    • once a week – Again, as it says, you receive your Google alert email once a week.

    If you want to keep right on top of when your phrase is found, select as-it-happens.

  5. Email length is how many results in the emailed alert to you want at a time.

    You have 2 choices:

    • up to 20 results (selected by default)
    • up to 50 results
  6. The last box before submitting is for your email address you want the Google Alerts sent to.

    Enter your email adddress in the box provided. It does not have to be a Gmail email address.

  7. Check over your selections.
  8. The last step is to left click the Create Alert button at the bottom of the form.

    That’s it, you are done!

Now you will start receiving Google Alerts in your email.

Create a Google Alert After Logging into Your Google Account

If you have a Google account already, you can access Google Alerts from your account home page. Entering Google Alerts this way you can also edit your existing alerts.

  1. Go to any Google page.

    Up in the top right of most Google pages there is a link to log into Google. Left click it.

  2. Complete the sign in process to log into Google.

    Once you do this, you will be taken back to the Google page you logged in from.

  3. Up in the right corner is a link called Settings. Beside the link is a down arrow which exposed some choices. Left click it.

    Select the Google Account Setting option from the dropdown list.

  4. You are now in your Google account page.

    Scroll down a bit to the Try something new section.

  5. Left click the Alerts link (it’s on the left side).

    You are taken to the Google Alerts home page.

  6. The rest of the process is the same as described above under Create a Google Alert Without a Google Account starting at step 2.

    The email portion of the form is already filled in with the email address associated with your Google account.

Now that you know how to create a Google alert without a Google account and if you already have a Google account you can start monitoring things like your business name, your name, your blog mentions or anything else you want. There’s tonnes of things you can monitor with Google Alerts!

Other Google Alerts Information

Google Alerts Help – Frequently asked questions at the Google Alerts site.

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Create Account at Google

Create Google Account

To use the services available at Google you need a Google account first.

What Services Can I Access with My Google Account?

Google provides a number of services. Below are a few of the services you might use as a business owner:

  • Google Profiles
  • Gmail
  • Webmaster Tools
  • Google Analytics
  • Google Alerts
  • Google Groups
  • Google Documents
  • Google AdWords

Security Note Regarding Google Accounts and Services

Your Google Account is hooked up with all the Google Services you use therefore, if you decide to have someone manage your Google Analytics account for you they will have access to all the other services you use at Google. Consider creating a separate account for the business services you will be using for your website so if you hire someone to manage these services for you, they don’t have access to your Gmail account or any other personal services you use at Google.

How to Create an Account at Google

Before you can create an account at Google you will need an email address and a strong password in mind The password needs to be at least 8 characters long.

  1. Go to the Create an Account page.
  2. The first piece of information they ask for is an email address. This will be part of your login information.

    Fill in an existing email address you have.

  3. Next, they want a password.

    Type in your chosen password in the box next to Choose a password:

    Over on the right of the box where you typed the password it will indicate how strong your password is.

  4. In the next box down retype your password.
  5. Decide if you want to stay logged in.

    By default the stay logged in box is checked. This puts a cookie on the computer where you are working to keep you logged in at Google. This is fine if the machine is your own but if you are doing this on a public machine (e.g. at the library) then uncheck it because you probably will forget to log out when you leave. If you don’t logout at the library then the next person to use the machine has access to your account.

  6. The next thing to consider is Web History.

    Creating a Google Account will enable Web History. Web History is a feature
    that will provide you with a more personalized experience on Google that
    includes more relevant search results and recommendations.

    What this means is Google is going to track what sites you visit and then start presenting sites in the results that they think suit your past web searching history.

  7. Default Homepage is next. It is checked by default to change your homepage to Google.

    If you leave this checked, the homepage of your browser will be reset to use Google’s search page as your home page when the browser is opened.

  8. Location

    Your location is preselected for you based on the IP address of the computer you are using.

  9. Next is the captcha to verify you are a human.

    An image with a word is shown.

    Below the image is a box for you to type in the word. There is a handicapped symbol to the right of the box for those visually impaired.

    Type in the word you see in the image.

  10. The last thing before creating your Google account is to read the Terms of Service agreement.

    Be sure to read Google’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy if you are not familiar with them. The links provided on their page open in a new window.

  11. One last thing to do. Click the I accept. Create my account button.

Once you click the I accept. Create my account button you are taken to a screen showing confirmation that the account has been created.

Within the message on the page it tells you that Google has sent you an email to the address given and you have to click the link in that email to confirm the process.

Verifying Your Google Account

Once you clicked the Create my account button an automated email is sent to the email address you gave at the beginning of the account creation process.

In the email is a link for you to click to verify the account. When you click it you are taken to a page at Google Accounts thanking you for confirming your account signup.

In the email you received it specifically says:

***NOTE*** Please print this page for your records. You’ll need your verification
link if you lose access to your account (for example, if you forget your username
or password).

So heed the warning by printing out the email and putting it somewhere safe!

Using Your Google Account

As described at the beginning of this article, there are lots of Google services available for you to use for free once you have a Google Account.

If you have not closed the Account Creation Confirmation tab/window yet, up in the top right is a link to My Account.

Once you click the My Account link you are taken to a page showing the Google services and features you have available to you.

Start by setting up a Gmail account or set up your Google profile. Maybe you would be more interested in Google Alerts, Adsense, Adwords or want to find a Google Group to join. None of those services of interest? Click the more link in the bottom right of the page to explore more Google services available.

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How to Email Photos in Windows

You get photos emailed to you from friends and family in all the time. But do you know how to email photos to someone?

We have 2 sets of instructions here for you on how to email photos:

Sending a Photo in an Email

Sending a single photo in an email is prettty straight forward:

  1. Find the image on your computer.
  2. Right click the image.

    A menu appears.

  3. Put your mouse over the Send To option.

    Another menu pops out.

  4. Select Mail Recipient from the list that is exposed in the second menu.

    If your photo has a really large file size or large dimensions (e.g. you downloaded it from your camera and want to send without editing it) Windows may ask you if you would like the photo resized. This is fine for sending to your family and friends but if you are sending this to your web designer or graphics person, tell Windows to leave the photo as it is. It is much better to send photos to your web designer/graphics person in the original state so they can edit the photo with the proper photo editing tools.

    The menu closes and your email program starts up.

  5. A new email message is created complete with your image attached.

    If you look at the top of the message there will be an item added to the usual items called Attach.

  6. Windows automatically adds the Subject line for you when emailing photos.

    The Subject line of your new email will have the subject line filled in with Emailing: name of photo.jpg

  7. The Body of your email will also be filled in.

    “The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
    name of image.jpg

    Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent sending or receiving certain types of file attachments. Check your e-mail security settings to determine how attachments are handled.

    You can select this text, delete it, and fill in your own message.

  8. Fill in the To box.

    Left click the To at the top of your email and your Address book will open. Select the person(s) you wish to email the photos to.

  9. Once you have the To filled in all that’s left is to left click the Send button at the top and your photos are emailed out.

But what if you have a bunch of photos to email?

Email Multiple Photos in Windows

Emailing multiple photos in Windows goes pretty well the same way as emailing a single photo with one change at the beginning, when selecting the photos to send.

  1. Find the images on your computer.
  2. Left click the first image in the group of images you wish to email.
  3. With the Shift key down, select the last image in the group of images to be emailed.

    They will appear to have a blue highlight around them.

  4. With your mouse over one of the selected images, right click.

    A menu appears.

  5. The rest of the procedure is the same as for emailing a single image explained above.

Some Notes About Emailing Photos

Photos tend to be large files, especially when they come straight out of the camera.

Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) may have a limit on how big of an email you are allowed to send therefore, if you are sending multiple photos break them into batches.

There is also the problem of the receiver’s (person you are emailing the photos to) mailbox limit.

  • Their mailbox is only a certain size and your email is too big.
  • They haven’t cleaned out their email mailbox on the mail server for a while and it’s full.

If this happens, you will get a notice from the mail server where their email mailbox is located saying the message was undeliverable.

  • Reduce the size of your email and send again.
  • Send them an email telling them you tried to send some pictures and please clean out their mailbox.
  • If you can’t send them an email at all because their mailbox is full, you are going to have to phone them and let them know.

So, as you can see, emailing photos in Windows is not that hard. Just be careful your email isn’t too big and everything will work fine.

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The New Yahoo! Search

Yahoo! Search has a new look as of September 22, 2009. Seems they have decided to go for a sleeker look.

New Yahoo! Search screen

The official announcement on the Yahoo! Search Blog says:

“Today, we are launching an all-new Yahoo! Search experience that makes search more personally relevant. We tested the changes in August with a percentage of users, and now the new page is available to everyone. The new page is designed to help you easily find and explore the things that matter most to you. The Yahoo! Search team is delighted to demonstrate our commitment to innovate in search technology and deliver an amazing user experience….”

Welcome to the New Yahoo! Search

Yahoo! Advanced Web Search

Clicking the Advanced Search link under options takes you to a full page of choices to refine your search.

There is a new feature:

  • Creative Commons Search (in Beta as of this writing)

    Limit your search to content with a Creative Commons license

New Yahoo! Search Key Features

  • Intelligent Search Results

    Enhanced product, local, entertainment, reference, social, and tech sites results.

  • Feature-Rich Experience

    Search Scan/SafeSearch (viruses, spyware, and spam protection) and Search Pad (track sites and make notes)

  • Search Assist Expansion

    Query assistance available below the search box and in a column on the left.

Searching with the New Yahoo! Search Interface

As you type your search the search box has a list of suggestions appear the box to help you with suggestions of popular phrases/searches.

On the search results page there’s 3 columns:

  • On the left, the Query assistance column.

    Hmm, when searching for web page mistakes there’s an option to search GeoCities. Yahoo! decided to close GeoCities. Guess that’s just a glitch until they empty the GeoCities section in October.

  • In the center are the search results.

    If you have the StumbleUpon toolbar installed, the ratings for the sites in the results are shown.

  • On the right is a column for sponsored links.

    These vary, depending on your search query.

Going back up to the top of the screen, you have a choice to search:

  • Web
  • Images – Yahoo! Image Search
  • Video – Yahoo! Video Search
  • Local – Yahoo! Local
  • Shopping – Yahoo! Shopping
  • More
    • Answers – Yahoo! Answers
    • Directory – Yahoo! Directory
    • Jobs – Yahoo! hotjobs
    • News – Yahoo! News
    • Sports – Yahoo! Sports
    • All Search Services – Yahoo!’s Search with list of all their services which can be searched.

Looks like Yahoo! has made some changes for the good. We’ll post more as we try out each feature.

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Delete a Desktop Shortcut

At times your desktop can get cluttered with desktop shortcuts and program icons making it hard to find things on the desktop and generally makes it cluttered.

When your desktop gets to a point where it is suffering from “desktop clutter” it’s time to delete a desktop shortcut or two.

Deleting a Program Desktop Shortcut

Deleting a program desktop shortcut does not remove the program from your computer. Moving the shortcut to the recycle bin only removes the program shortcut from the desktop.

Windows will remind you of this as you move the shortcut to the recycle bin:

Deleting the shortcut to (program name) only removes the icon. It does not uninstall the program…

Reference: Windows message window as you drop the program icon over the Recycle Bin

Deleting a File or Folder Desktop Shortcut

When you delete a desktop shortcut for a file or folder, unlike a program shortcut, you do not get a message from Windows.

Deleting a file or folder desktop shortcut which you created yourself does not remove the file or folder. It only removes the shortcut from the desktop.

If you downloaded something from the Internet to your desktop, then when you delete the shortcut, you will loose the program or file. See our Saving Downloads article for a better way to do this so you can include the file or program in your backup routine.

How to Delete a Desktop Shortcut

There are several ways to delete a desktop shortcut from the desktop in Windows.

Method 1

This first method to delete a desktop shortcut is quite simple:

  1. Move your mouse over the desktop shortcut you wish to delete and press the left mouse button.

    The icon will become selected and highlighted.

  2. With the icon still selected and the left mouse button still down, drag the desktop shortcut over to and on top of the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.
  3. Release the left mouse button.

    If it is a program shortcut you are deleting, Windows will show a message (as explained above) and ask for confirmation.

    No message appears if the desktop shortcut is for a file or folder.

That’s it! You are done!

Missed the Recycle Bin? Then just repeat the instructions above, making sure this time you dragged the desktop shortcut over the Recycle Bin.

Method 2

  1. Left click the desktop shortcut to select it.
  2. Right click the desktop shortcut.

    A menu appears.

  3. Left click the Delete item on the menu that appeared.
  4. Windows will ask you to confirm deleting the shortcut.

    Just like our first method, you will get a message from Windows about deleting the shortcut if it is for a program. See the beginning of this article if you missed what the message says.

    For a file or folder shortcut, you will see a message from Windows asking for confirmation.

That’s it for method number 2.

Method 3

  1. Left click the desktop shortcut you wish to delete.
  2. On your keyboard, press the Delete button.

    The delete button is in the bottom left corner of the bank of buttons above your arrow keys, if you are using a desktop computer.

  3. You will get a message from Windows asking for confirmation.

    The messages for this method are the same as the ones for method 2 above.

Now that you know how to delete a desktop shortcut, there’s no excuse for your desktop to become cluttered with unwanted shortcuts.

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Arrange Desktop Shortcuts

Continuing with our desktop shortcuts series, now that you have created a custom desktop shortcut, you are probably wondering how to organize all the desktop shortcuts you have.

  1. Right click your desktop.

    A menu appears.

  2. Left click the Arrange Icons By menu item.

    A new menu list appears.

Arrange Icons By

Once you left click the Arrange Icons By menu item, you have a number of choices.

The top section of the Arrange Icons By menu contains:

  • Name
  • Size
  • Type
  • Modified

The next section contains:

  • Show in Groups
  • Auto Arrange

    This is selected by default by Windows.

  • Align to Grid

    Align to Grid is also selected by default.

The third section in the Arrange Icons By menu contains:

  • Show Desktop Icons

    Selected by default

  • Lock Web Items on Desktop
  • Run Desktop Cleanup Wizard

Arrange Icons by Name

Select Name from the Arrange Icons by menu to arrange your desktop icons by the name underneath the icon.

Your standard Windows icons remain in the top left of the screen. Any other icons added by program installation or you added your self will be arranged in alphabetical order right under and to the right of the standard Windows icons.

If you have not edited the name of your desktop shortcuts you created yourself, then all the Shortcut to icons will be bunched together.

Arrange Icons By Type

Left clicking the Type menu item under Arrange Icons By will sort your icons by type, putting the applications first, right under the Windows default desktop icons.

Arranging by type would be useful to group all like icons together. i.e. all your Excel file types would be together, all your web page desktop shortcuts would be together, etc.

Auto Arrange

With Auto Arrange selected in the Arrange Icons By menu, if you wish to move icons around on your desktop (e.g. manually sort the icons into groups) you will find that Windows wants to pull it back over to the right and to the end of the group of icons it created. Frustrating! But you can arrange the icons any way you want…

To arrange the icons in any order or on any spot on the desktop, deselect Auto Arrange from the Arrange Icons By menu. Now grab the icon with your mouse and drag it anywhere you want on the desktop.

Align to Grid

By default Align to Grid is selected. This forces the desktop shortcuts to align to Windows predetermined grid on the desktop.

When you drag an icon to another spot on the desktop, it will snap to the closest grid spot thus creating typical spacing between icons both vertically and horizontally.

If this isn’t working out to your satisfaction, deselect the Align to Grid item in the Arrange Icons By menu, and then you can put the icons anywhere you like. With Align to Grid deselected you can put the icons closer together if you wish.

Show Desktop Icons

If for some reason your desktop icons have disappeared, select the Show Desktop Icons item in the Arrange Icons By menu. Your screen will flash and the icons will reappear.

Arranging desktop shortcuts is great way to keep your desktop icons sorted and organized. Play with the Arrange Icons By options and see which arrangement works for you.

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Rename Desktop Shortcuts

When you create a desktop shortcut, by default Windows adds Shortcut to in front of the file or folder name the shortcut is for.

If you decide to use Auto Arrange to arrange the desktop shortcuts on your Windows desktop, all the icons with Shortcut to will be grouped.

Also, with Shortcut to added to the beginning of the name of the shortcut, the name of the file or folder the desktop shortcut is for may not be visible. By default, Windows only allows a certain amount of space below the desktop icon for it’s name.

Rename Desktop Shortcuts

It’s quite easy to rename a desktop shortcut.

  1. Left click the icon you wish to edit.

    The icon will become selected.

  2. Gently single left click the desktop shortcut name of the selected icon.

    The name will be highlighted and have a box around it.

  3. Now you can either select and delete the Shortcut to part in front of the shortcut name or select the whole name and retype what ever name you wish.
  4. Left click any empty area on the desktop to accept the new name.

That’s it! You are done!

Now that you have taken the time to rename desktop shortcuts they will be easier to read.

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How to Create a Desktop Shortcut

In this second article about desktop shortcuts we will cover how to create a desktop shortcut for a file or folder on your computer and one for a web page on the Internet. In this article we will cover the following:

Create Desktop Shortcut for a File or Folder

When you use a particular file or folder a lot, placing a desktop shortcut to that file or folder on your computer desktop can save time. A desktop shortcut is also helpful for a novice computer user who might forget how to find a particular file or folder on their computer.

Creating a desktop shortcut for a file or folder requires navigating your way to the file or folder and sending a shortcut to the desktop.

  1. Navigate to the file or folder on your computer.

    If you are not sure where the program saved your file, open the program, create a new file and use the Save As function under the File menu of the program. This will show you the path to where the program saves files by default.

    Generally, Microsoft products will have saved your document in the My Documents folder unless you specifically changed where you wanted the file saved. Some programs do the same, under their specific folder. Others save the files created in with their program files in the Programs folder.

  2. Right click the file or folder.

    A menu will appear.

  3. Skim down the menu that appears and left click the Send To item on the list.

    A new menu appears

  4. Left click the Desktop (create shortcut) item on the list.

    This action creates a desktop shortcut to the file or folder on your desktop.

  5. Close or minimize all open windows.

Once you close or minimize all the open windows, your desktop appears. Look around for your new desktop shortcut. It is there, probably over on the right if you don’t have too many desktop shortcuts already.

The icon will be the program used to open the file if your shortcut is for a specific file. If the shortcut is for a folder, then the icon will look like a folder.

The name under your new file or folder shortcut will start with Shortcut to.

Pretty easy, wasn’t it. Now don’t go crazy adding a ton of shortcuts to your desktop. The desktop will become cluttered and you just might loose the time saving advantage of using desktop shortcuts.

Create Desktop Shortcut for a Web Page

If you visit or reference a web page on the Internet a lot, then you could either add the web page to your Favorites/Bookmarks or use a desktop shortcut.

  1. Open the web page in your browser

    You can practice with this web page.

  2. Left click the File menu item in the top of the browser.

    A list appears.

  3. Left click Send.

    A new list appears

  4. Left click Shortcut to Desktop.

    This action creates the shortcut on your desktop.

  5. Close or minimize the browser window.

    If you are practicing with this web page, then just minimize the browser.

Look on your desktop. There should be a new icon that resembles your browser icon for the web page you just created the shortcut for.

Saving Downloads to the Desktop

When saving downloads from the Internet, some sites will save a shortcut to your desktop

You may have done this yourself using the Save Target As feature.

The problem with saving downloads to your desktop is that it is harder to save the download to your backup. A better way to save downloads is to navigate to a folder you have created just for downloads and adding this location to your backup routine.

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Desktop Shortcuts

Ever noticed when you install a program an icon appears on your desktop? These icons are desktop shortcuts, which when clicked, open the program associated with it.

You can create your own desktop shortcuts also.

In this article we will cover:

Uses for Desktop Shortcuts

A desktop shortcut can be used to:

  • Save time getting to a specific folder on your computer.
  • Be a direct link to your favourite website.
  • A link to a specific program, folder or file on a network.
  • Create an email to person you send emails to regularly.
  • A link to a specific program on your computer or on the network you are
    connected to.

Those are a few ideas what a desktop shortcut can be used for.

Parts of a Desktop Shortcut

There are different parts to a desktop shortcut:

  1. The icon

    The shortcut icon is the picture you see on the desktop. A program specific icon will be specific to the program it is associated with. For example, the desktop icon for Outlook Express looks like an envelope. Internet Explorer’s desktop icon is an e.

    Windows also places icons on the desktop:

    • My Documents looks like a folder with papers going into it.

      This is the desktop shortcut to your My Documents folder on the computer.

    • My Computer is an icon with a monitor and computer tower.

      When double clicked you will see a folder icon for your shared documents, your documents, the hard drives on the machine and hooked up to the machine, the devices attached to the machine which contain or can be used for removable storage and any printers, scanners or cameras attached to the machine.

    • The My Networks icon is a computer monitor with a globe tucked in behind it.

      When the My Networks icon is double clicked, you will see all the computers within your home or office network you have access to. You could possibly also have network connections to the computers at work, if you are working from home or on your laptop.

      If you create your own custom desktop shortcuts,

      • the icon will appear as a folder when associated with a folder
      • the program icon that opens the file if it is a shortcut to a specific document
      • a browser icon with the web page title underneath if a shortcut to a web page
    • The shortcut arrow.

      The desktop shortcut may or may not have an arrow in the bottom left of the desktop icon.

    • The desktop shortcut name.

      Underneath the desktop icon is the name of the program, file or folder the shortcut will open.

    • The path the shortcut uses to access the program, file or folder the shortcut is associated with.

      To see the path of the desktop shortcut, right click the icon and select Properties from the list that appears.

Why Use Desktop Shortcuts?

Desktop shortcuts are quite useful. They:

  • Save time when you use a program, folder or file a lot.
  • Saves you remembering where on the computer, network or net a file is located. You can use the shortcut, instead of searching your computer for the item you wish to open.

The Downside of Desktop Shortcuts

The downside of using desktop shortcuts is that people tend to add too many to the desktop, creating desktop clutter.

To combat desktop clutter, you can:

  1. Arrange the desktop shortcuts into groups manually.

    Group the desktop shortcuts which are related together in a group on the desktop.

  2. Delete the shortcuts you no longer need (or don’t really need).

    When a shortcut is to a specific project file or folder, once the project is complete the shortcut can be deleted.

    Desktop shortcuts to programs on the computer you do not use often can be deleted also.

    The program is still accessible from the Programs list under your Start menu.

Desktop shortcuts are great little helpers when using your computer. Just be careful you don’t end up suffering from desktop clutter.

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Sending Emails

Once you have composed your email, it’s time to send it. You’ll need to set who you will be sending the email to. There are different choices for sending emails:

  • To
  • Cc
  • Bcc

Who to Send the Email To

Before hitting the Send button, determine who really needs to receive your email. Sending the email to just those who really need the information in the email is a more efficient use of everyone’s time.

The To Field

The To field would be those who are directly involved/interested in the topic of the email.

  1. Left click the To icon to the left of the To field of your email.

    Opens your Address Book.

  2. Scroll through the list of contacts in your Address Book until you find the person(s) who should receive the email.
  3. Once you find the contact that you wish to send the email to, left click the name.

    The name becomes hightlighted in the contact list.

  4. Left click the To button on the right.

    The contact is added to the Message Recipients box beside the To button.

  5. Repeat the last 2 steps for each person who should receive the email.
  6. Once you have all the message recipients added, left click the Ok button at the bottom of the window.

    You will be taken back to your email with the To field filled in.

  7. Now, left click the Send button to send your email.

The Cc Field

The Cc (carbon copy) field will send a copy of your email to the selected contacts.

To add message recipients to the Cc field the procedure is the same as for the To field, except this time you left click the Cc button instead of the To button. Contacts selected for a cc will be added to the box to the right of the Cc button while adding contacts from the Address Book screen. Once you are finished, left click the Ok button and your email will now show who you are sending a cc to.

The Cc should be used for those who need to be informed about the message, but do not need to take action on the items discussed.

Don’t cc everyone involved in a project or the group the contacts belong to. This adds unneeded clutter to people’s email mailboxes.

The Bcc Field

The Bcc (blind carbon copy) field sends a copy of the email to additional people but those in the Cc and To fields do not know they received a copy.

Adding contacts to the Bcc field is done the same way as the To and Cc fields, this time clicking the Bcc button once the contact is selected.

Note: Using the Bcc does not fully hide whom you sent a Bcc copy to. A savvy computer user can look at the message source code to see whom the message was sent to.

Sending Attachments

Each email service has a limit on how large of an attachment the recipient is permitted to receive. Your email service will also have a limit on the size of file you can attach to your emails.

Attachment File Size

You may have noticed that your email program will want to reduce the file size for pictures before sending. There are two reasons for this:

  1. Reducing the file size of the attachment will make the email send and receive quicker.
  2. It is trying to save you the trouble of resending the attachment when your mail server or the recipient’s mail server rejects your email.

To avoid sending and receiving problems with your attachments, limit the size of the email attachment to 1Kb. This can be done through a graphics program if it is a picture or by breaking the document into smaller sections.

Sending Emails with Proprietary Format Attachments

Don’t send email attachments that require specific programs to open unless you know for sure that the recipient has the program.

One common problem related to attachments is sending documents that are created with Microsoft Office. Yes, a lot of people have Microsoft Office, but the issue is that you may have a newer version of Office than the recipient(s) do. Case in point: The newer versions of Office use a different file extension than their older counter parts. There is a plug-in a savvy computer user can install to open these files, but a novice may not know this or the recipient may not have the permissions on the computer they are using to add the plug-in.

Sending a PDF of the document might be a safer bet. Again, if you are using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat to compose the PDF your recipients might not have all the features you used in their version of PDF reader.

Sending Emails Efficiently

As you can see from the above instructions there are different ways to classify who receives your email.

Review of Sending Emails

  • Only send emails to those who are truly interested in the message or who you need an answer to /action from on an issue.
  • Don’t use email to spam your marketing message.
  • Only Cc those need to know about the email but does not need to take action.
  • Don’t use Bcc to send out emails when you want to keep the recipient list private. There is a way to use Bcc and keep the recipients private, but that’s for another post.
  • If you care to par take in forwarding jokes and trivial emails, don’t send them from your business email account. This will lessen the impact of your truly legitimate business emails.
  • Limit your email attachment size to 1Kb.
  • Don’t send proprietary format attachments unless you know the recipient(s) have the program.

Sending emails is a common business and personal task these days. Use your and your contacts time efficiently by only using this tool when really necessary.

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