Part 5 of "Communicating with e-mail" in Outlook 2000: "Sending and retrieving messages" (310491)

MORE INFORMATION

Sending and Retrieving Messages

If you are connected to your e-mail server, you now have three new message headers displayed in the workspace. If you aren't connected, you need to log on and send the messages stored in your Outbox. You also want to check whether you have any mail. Here's how to send and retrieve messages:


The Send/Receive button Click the Standard toolbar's More Buttons button, and then, on the drop-down palette, click the Send/Receive button. (If Outlook is set up for more than one e-mail service, choose Send/Receive from the Tools menu and then choose either the service you want or All Accounts.) Outlook tells you it is checking for new messages and sending outgoing messages. (Internet e-mail users may have to enter a user name and password first.)

When Outlook is finished, it displays the number of new messages in parentheses next to the Inbox icon on the Outlook bar and displays an envelope icon in the status bar. It may also sound an alert to announce the arrival of the messages, and it may disconnect you from your e-mail server.

Inbox message symbols

The first column of the Inbox window displays an exclamation mark if the sender has indicated that the message is of high priority. A down arrow indicates that a message is of low priority. The second column of the Inbox window displays symbols indicating the status of each message. The most common symbols show whether the message has been read--an open envelope--or not read--a closed envelope. (For a detailed listing of the other symbols, look up symbol in the Help feature.) The third column displays a flag icon if the message has been flagged. The fourth column displays a paper clip icon if the message has an attachment.

Whether you are permanently connected to your e-mail server or you had to manually retrieve your messages, the message header pane now looks like this:

Until you read a message, its header is displayed in bold type. Icons on the left tell you more about the message. Let's read a message right now:

1. Click the header of the message with the attachment (the one with the paper clip-see the tip on the facing page) to display its contents in the preview pane below.
2. Now double-click the same message header to display it in a window, like this:
   
   
3. To read the attachment, just double-click it. The dialog box shown on the next page may appear. Flagging messages
   
   Flagging messages calls attention to them and indicates that an action needs to be taken. You can flag messages you have received as well as messages you send. To flag a received message so that you can remind yourself to do something with it, simply right-click the message and choose Flag For Follow Up from the shortcut menu. In the Flag To edit box, select an action that needs to be taken, such as Call or Reply. In the Due By edit box, you can specify the date by which you want to complete the follow-up task. To flag an outgoing message, choose Flag For Follow Up from the Actions menu in the Message window. Then fill in the Flag To and Due By edit boxes as necessary and click OK. When the recipient receives the message, Outlook displays the flag symbol next to the message header. When the message is opened in its own window, Outlook displays what type of action is requested at the top of the message. To indicate that you have taken care of the task, you can right-click the message and choose Flag Complete from the shortcut menu to change the flag's color to white, or choose Clear Flag to remove the flag icon.
   
   Marking messages
   
   When you select an unread message header, Outlook removes the bold formatting after a few seconds because it assumes you have read the message in the preview pane. You can manually make this change by choosing Mark As Read or Mark All As Read from the Edit menu. You can also choose Mark As Unread to make a message header stand out. To display only the unread messages (both those you have really not read and those you have marked as unread), choose Current View and then Unread Messages from the View menu.
4. Because you know this file came from a safe place (your own hard drive), click the Open It option and then click OK to open the attachment in the program in which it was created. Then close the program to return to Outlook.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: