Empowerment Technologies

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Email

Email

As the name implies, electronic mail or emails are messages that are
transmitted through computer networks.
Why use email?
The email has become the successor of the traditional postal mail or snail
mail. Unlike the old-fashioned snail mail, emails are purely electronic,
meaning they do not have a physical form. This makes email more efficient
and more practical. It can be sent and received instantly. Modern emails can
contain large amounts of information. For example, a hundred-page
document can be attached to just one email. Furthermore, emails are better
for the environment because they do not need to be printed in paper and
delivered by hand.

The Email Address

An email address is a unique name that represents a destination where
emails can be delivered to and sent from. Just like in the real-world postal
system, people who want to send you letters need to know your address. On
the other hand, when you send a letter, you have to include your address so
that the receiver will know where to send a reply. The email address
functions as your home address in the World Wide Web.
Today the email address is one of the most important personal information
that a person can have. Besides being a destination for emails, the email
address is also used to represent the identity of its owner. Almost all forms of
online registration require an email address. (See chapter Online Safety and
Security)
Parts of an Email Address
An email address is composed of 2 parts separated by @ or the “at sign”. To
illustrate these parts, we will be using this sample email
“myname@website.com”
1. Local part
The part to the left of the @ sign is called the local part. This is the part of the
email address that is chosen by you, the owner. It has to be unique and has to
follow certain naming rules (to be discussed later in this chapter). In our
example the local part is myname
2. Domain part
The part on the right of the @ sign is called the domain part. It is the domain
name of the website that provides you the emailing service. Unlike the local

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part, you cannot personalize the domain part. In our example, the domain
part is website.com.
How to Create an Email Address
An email address can be created in minutes. For this lesson, we will be
creating an email address using Gmail, a free email service owned and
operated by Google. (source: support.google.com)
Step 1: Go to Google’s sign-up page.
In your Internet browser, type accounts.google.com/SignUp and press Enter

Figure 1 Create your Google Account

Step 2. Enter your information
In the signup page, you will be asked to enter some personal details. Some of
them are required while some of them are not.
Required:
 Name (first name and last name)
 Username
 Password (needs to be entered twice for confirmation)
 Birthday
 Gender
 CAPTCHA
 Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (needs to be checked)
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Email

Figure 2
What is CAPTCHA?
Short for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and
Humans Apart”, CAPTCHA is a test used to determine if the user is human and
not a program or robot. This is done to prevent hackers from using
automated programs to sign up and use websites.

Figure 3 Prove you’re not a robot

Not required:
 Mobile Number
 Your current email address

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 Location (automatic)

Figure 4
Tips:
1. To make your email address presentable and easy to remember, use your
full name or variations of your full name. For example:
juandelacruz@gmail.com, jdelacruz@gmail.com, or
juan.delacruz@gmail.com.
2. Gmail will automatically check your “password strength”. Use this as a
guide to creating a secure password.

Step 3. Click the “Next step” button.

Figure 6. Welcome!
You have successfully created an email address. Go to gmail.com to log in and
start sending emails.
The Email Client
You can now start using the email address that you have created. Using an
email client is easy but there are some things that you have to learn first.
What is an email client?
An email client is an application used for sending, receiving, and organizing
emails. Gmail is the email client for the email address that we created. Other
popular email clients include Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, Mozilla
Thunderbird, and Yahoo Mail.
How to log in to Gmail:
1. Go to accounts.google.com
2. Enter your email address and click Next.
3. Enter your password and click Sign in
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Email

Tip: Click the “Stay signed in” checkbox below the Sign in button so you won’t
have to sign in every time you open your email. For security purposes, do not
use this feature when using other people’s computers.
Email Folders
Folders are sections of an email client that are used to store different kinds of
email. It is important to know that each email client has its own way of
organizing and naming folders. Some even allow users to create their own
customized folders. However, there are some types of folders that are
essential to organizing emails. These folders can be found in almost all email
clients:

Figure 6. Welcome!
Inbox
Like in mobile phones, an email client’s inbox contains the messages you
have received. In the inbox, unopened emails are marked as unread while
those that have already been opened are marked read.
Outbox or Sent
The folder for the emails that you sent is called the outbox or sent folder
depending on the email client that you use. Other than the emails that you
composed and sent, the outbox or sent folder also contains emails that you
replied to.
Drafts
This folder contains the finished or unfinished emails that you have
composed but did not send. You can write an email and just save it. Later, you
can reopen this email from your drafts folder and send it. A majority of email
clients automatically save your emails to prevent loss of data.
Flagged or Starred

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You can mark important emails so that it will be easier to find them in the
future. To do this in Gmail, you can click the star icon beside the email
header. This will cause the email to be included in your Starred folder. Other
email clients use a flag icon; hence the name “flagged” emails.
Spam
As the name implies, the spam folder is where suspicious emails are kept.
This is done as a security measure to prevent you from accidentally opening
these emails. Most email clients can automatically identify suspicious emails
and send them to the spam folder. You can also manually mark an email as
spam.
Trash
Instead of permanently deleting an email, it is sent to the Trash folder. This
prevents you from accidentally deleting emails. Emails in the trash folder can
be recovered. However, emails that remain in trash will be permanently
deleted after a scheduled number of days. For example, Gmail deletes
messages that have been in trash for more than 30 days.
Important note: It is possible for an email to be found in several different
folders. This is mainly because an email can contain the original message
from its creator and several replies from other people. For example, if you
reply to an email that was sent to you, it will appear in both your inbox and
outbox.
How to send an email
Follow these steps to send an email using your Gmail account.
(https://support.google.com)
1. Click the Compose button on the upper-left side of the screen. A new
message window will appear.
2. In the “To” section, type the email address of the recipient. You can add
multiple recipients.
Use CC (carbon copy) or BCC (blind carbon copy) to include the email
addresses of people who are not the target of the email but need to be
informed about it. The only difference is that the CC will be visible to all the
recipients of the email while BCC is hidden to the other recipients.
3. In the Subject section, enter the subject or title of the email.
4. Type your message in the large section below Subject. You can edit the
text’s size, format, font, and color. You can also attach files such as pictures
and documents.
5. Click the Send button
Optional Elements:
Tips:
 Keep your subject short and simple. Avoid adding too many details.
For example, instead of “Here is the information that you asked me to research
for our Biology homework” you can shorten it to “Research Data for Biology
Homework”
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Email

 Write your email as if you are writing traditional snail mail. As a sign of
respect to the recipients, begin your message with a greeting.
 As a formality, add a “signature” containing your name, title, and contact
details at the end of the email even if your name is already indicated. Here’s
an example:

Juan A. Dela Cruz

Grade 7, Section 1
St. Nicholas National High School
09190000000

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