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Outlook Express 5 Macintosh Edition Basics

Outlook Express 5 is probably the best e-mail client for the Macintosh. It has a lot of capabilities so there is a lot of material to cover. We've split this tutorial into several pages for that reason.

The main window is shown below. Each of the menus at the top (file, edit, view, etc.) are covered in this tutorial. Just click the appropriate link above. Note: If you have an older version then go get the latest version for free at http://www.tucows.com or http://www.download.com.

Main Window: Checking Your E-Mail & Sending E-Mails: There are a few things worth noting in the main window. The "folders" box on the left is where you can click on the "inbox" to see your current downloaded messages in the box on the right. You can also view sent messages. You can even create additional folders for sorting your e-mail. Note: If you can't see the folders box on the left then click the "view" menu at the top and make sure that the "folders" option is selected with a checkmark.

When you are in the inbox, you will see all of your messages. They will be in boldface if you haven't read them, yet. Click a message to select it and you will be able to read the message in the box below. (If not, click the view menu and make sure that "preview" has a checkmark next to it.) If you double-click a message then you will see the message in its own window. You can click the window menu at the top to toggle between open windows.

If there is a picture of a little paper clip to the left of a message then it has an attachment such as a text document, picture, program or many other possible things. Be careful about opening attachments because that's how computer viruses get spread.

Click the "new" button at the top to write an e-mail. Click the "reply" button to reply to an e-mail message that is highlighted in your inbox. "Reply all" will reply to everyone that received that message while the regular "reply" button only responds to the person who sent you the message. "Forward" allows you to send an e-mail message that you've received to somebody else. "Send & Receive" checks for new e-mails since your program probably only checks for e-mail about every twenty minutes depending on your setup. Of course, you also need to be connected to the internet to send & receive e-mails but Outlook Express will usually connect to the internet for you if you try to check your messages.

If you click the "new" button in the top left hand corner of the picture above (or if you click the file menu and choose a new message) and you will see the following screen. Type in a complete e-mail address for the person that you want to receive the message. If you click "cc" then you can send copies of that same message to other people by typing in their e-mail addresses. If you choose "Bcc" then you can put in e-mail addresses for people that you want to send "blind copies" of the message. This means that they will receive the message but the other recipients won't know that they got the message. Otherwise, everyone who gets the message can see the other people who received the message.

Once you have designated who will get the message, put in a short description of the message in the subject box. For example, you might put "happy birthday!" in the subject line if you are wishing someone a happy birthday. You can also leave the subject line blank if you want.

Type your message in the big box towards the bottom of the window. Hit the "send now" button when you are ready to send the message. You can also choose "send later" to have the sending of the message delayed to a later time. You can also save the message as a draft for later editing.

If you want to add an attached document, picture, etc., to the message then click the "add attachments" button at the top or the +Add button to the right of the attachments box. A window will pop-up as shown further down.

In order to attach something to your e-mail, use this "choose object" window. The top box shows that you are looking in the desktop of your computer for the thing that you want to attach to your e-mail. You can click the drop-down arrows to go to your hard drive or anywhere else on your computer. Find the attachment and click to highlight it. For example, the picture below has highlighted a folder named dougstr. Once highlighted, click the choose button at the bottom to finish attaching that document.

That covers the basics of sending e-mails.

<next: setting up Outlook Express to check for your e-mails>

Setting Up Your E-Mail Accounts:

The accounts section under the tools menu will help you to check multiple e-mail addresses within a single profile. Profiles/Identities can have multiple e-mails. For instance, Mom can have a profile that is separate from Dad and the kids. Each profile can check several different e-mail accounts. For example, Dad might have a personal correspondence e-mail account and a separate work related e-mail account that both need to be checked. No problem. Just click the new button and create an account for each e-mail that needs to be checked. You can also highlight already existing accounts and then click "edit" to make changes to them.

Be sure that you are in the mail tab near the top of the window. There is a similar news tab that is covered later on. Right now, we are only working with Outlook Express' e-mail options. <next>

Both the "edit" button and the "new" button bring up the following window. Name the account in the top box with your e-mail name so that you can tell that one apart from any other e-mails that you are also setting up. The personal information name is the name that people will see when they receive e-mail from you. It doesn't have to match the e-mail identity. The e-mail address must be just right without any extra spaces or your e-mail will get returned to you. It will be something like yourname@ispname.com.

The account id is the e-mail username. It might be the same as your general internet username or it might be different. It is probably the same as the first part of your e-mail address before the @ispname.com.

The POP server usually matches the SMTP server in a format like mail.ispname.com. However, some ISPs have the POP server as mail.ispname.com with the SMTP server listed as SMTP.ispname.com. Contact your ISP if you don't know what your mail server address should be.

If you put a checkmark in the save password checkbox then Outlook Express will automatically put in your e-mail password when checking your e-mail. This is very convenient unless you are worried about your privacy in which case you may want to enter the password each time. Otherwise, anybody that runs your e-mail program will be able to see your e-mail without knowing your password.

You can also setup an "identity" that is password protected. If you need a password to get into that identity then there is no reason to not to choose the save password option here because the first password protects you. <next: options tab>

There is also an options tab at the top of the edit mail account window. You can choose your default signature (if you are using multiple signatures). Other than that, this window doesn't provide much worth noting. Just be sure that you do NOT put a checkmark in the "leave a copy of each message on the server" box. This causes major problems. Outlook Express has a tendency to see the first message that has already been received and then mistakenly assume that all of the other messages have been read even when they haven't been read. To further complicate matters, this doesn't start happening right away. You might think that it is working but it always starts causing problems eventually.

<next: news accounts> <return to top for more options>

News Accounts:

"News accounts" aren't like CNN or the New York Times. The internet has "news groups" covering a large variety of topics where people can e-mail each other about things of mutual interest and even post and download pictures involving particular topics. You can configure Outlook Express to check certain news groups by clicking the tools menu and choosing the accounts option. This will take you into the mail tab. Click the news tab (near the top) to get into the news section. You can then click "new" to create a news account or you can highlight an existing news account and then click the "edit" button to get to the same window after the following window. <next>

Start in the account setting tab pictured below. Name the account whatever you want. Click the e-mail account drop-down arrow to associate one of your already configured e-mail accounts to be associated with your news postings. It is also very important to set the news server address. It will probably be something very similar to news.ispname.com. <next: options tab>

The options tab will allow you to set a signature for any e-mail postings related to the news group. (Signatures are covered in another section.) You can also set a limit to how many postings you pull up. If the number gets too big then it might overwhelm your computer. They can also tie up a lot of your computer's memory so use some discretion.

Managing Profiles & Switching Identities:

Profile management is the feature that really makes Outlook Express a great program. Each identity can have its own e-mail addresses that only get checked under that identity. You can also password protect that identity for additional privacy. This means that several people can use the same e-mail program without seeing other people's e-mails. Click the file menu and choose "switch identity" to switch from one identity to another. <next>

Outlook Express will ask you to confirm that you want to switch identities. Hit the switch button to continue. <next>

You can create new identities in this window or just pick one that is already setup. <next>

Name the identity in a way that lets you know which is which. If you name them all after your first name then it could be hard to tell them apart. It is probably easiest to name them after their corresponding e-mail usernames. You can also choose between different "initial settings" if you use multiple ISPs.

If you already have another e-mail profile setup and your settings will be the same for your second identity (except for the e-mail name and password) then you can click on the black arrow to base your mail settings on any other profile as shown below.

That's the basics of using the latest Outlook Express for Macintosh.