E-mail

Short for electronic mail, e-mail or email is information stored on a computer that is exchanged between two users over telecommunications. More plainly, e-mail is a message that may contain text, files, images, or other attachments sent through a network to a specified individual or group of individuals. The first e-mail was sent by Ray Tomlinson in 1971. By 1996, more electronic mail was being sent than postal mail.

How to send and receive e-mail

E-mail Program

To send and receive e-mail messages, you can use an e-mail program, also known as an e-mail client, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. When using an e-mail client, you must have a server that stores and delivers your messages, which is provided by your ISP or in some cases, another company. An e-mail client needs to connect to a server to download new e-mail, whereas email stored online (see next section) updates automatically when you visit the site.

E-mail Online

An alternative way of sending and receiving e-mail (and the more popular solution for most people) is an online e-mail service or webmail. Examples include Hotmail (now Outlook.com), Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Many of the online e-mail services, including the ones we just mentioned, are free or have a free account option.

Writing an e-mail

When writing an e-mail message, it should look something like the example window below. As you can see, several fields are required when sending an e-mail:

• The To field is where you type the e-mail address of the person who is the recipient of your message.
• The From field should contain your e-mail address.
• If you are replying to a message, the To and From fields are automatically filled out; if it's a new message, you'll need to enter them manually.
• The CC or Carbon Copy field allows you to send a copy of the message to another e-mail address, but is not mandatory.
• The Subject Line, although not required, should consist of a few words describing the e-mail's contents.
• Finally, the Message Body is the location you type your main message. It often contains your signature at the bottom; similar to a hand-written letter.

What makes a valid e-mail address?

There are several rules that an e-mail address must follow to be valid:

• As mentioned earlier, an e-mail must have a username followed by an @ (at sign) which is followed by the domain name with a domain suffix.
• The username cannot be longer than 64 characters long and the domain name cannot be longer than 254 characters.
• There should be only one @ sign in an e-mail address.
• The space and special characters: ( ) , : ; < > \ [ ] are allowed. Occasionally, a space, backslash, and quotation mark work but must be preceded with a forward slash. Although valid, some e-mail providers do not allow these characters.
• The username and e-mail addresses as a whole cannot begin or end with a period.
• The e-mail must not have two or more consecutive periods.