Figure 25.9. The Inbox appears by default when you use the Mail feature in Entourage.

The main Mail view displays three panes: the Folders List pane, the mini calendar pane, and the main list pane for viewing messages. Messages you receive are shown in the Inbox, a special folder in Entourage (refer to Figure 25.9). The Inbox folder displays by default when you click the Mail button. To view a different folder, such as the Outbox, just click the folder name in the Folders List pane. To return to the default Inbox view again, click the Inbox folder name. You also can change the various ways you view messages using Mail Views, which you learn about coming up shortly.

Here's a rundown of the main Mail folders:

Checking E-mail on Online Accounts

Two common types of e-mail accounts are POP and IMAP. An IMAP account typically keeps e-mail messages on a server rather than downloading them onto your computer like a POP account. Entourage lets you treat a POP account like an IMAP account and keep your messages on the server. This is handy if you're planning a trip and want to check your messages at a glance without wanting to download everything. It does this by downloading only the header information. This Entourage feature is called online access. To set up an account in this way, choose Tools

In addition to folders, the Folders List pane displays any Office project folders you are working on; to learn more about using projects, see Chapter 27. The Folders List pane has main headings you can expand or collapse to view sublists of folders, or views. For example, you can expand or collapse the top heading, My Computer, to view or hide the Mail folders.

You can find the Mail Views in the Folders List pane, located in the far-left pane in the program window. You can expand and collapse various headings in the Folders List pane to view different aspects of the Mail feature. The Mail Views themselves are useful for filtering out messages you don't want to see and concentrating on those you do want to view. You can use the Folders List pane to view filtered lists of e-mails in any of your mail folders, such as viewing all the flagged or high-priority messages. To display the filtered Mail Views in the Folders List, click the Expand arrow next to the Mail Views heading, as shown in Figure 25.10. To see a particular filtered list, click the view name, such as Unread or Received Today. You can choose from the following filtered list views:

To return to the regular Inbox view, click the Inbox folder in the Folders List pane.

As you start receiving messages, different icons appear in the columns in the list pane, helping you to quickly ascertain pertinent information about the messages. The Inbox folder divides the list pane into columns. The columns display the message sender, the subject line, the date it was sent, and any categories or projects assigned to the message. Table 25.1 explains the columns and what type of icons you can expect to see.

To check for new messages, use any of these methods:

If you have more than one account, you can check for messages on a specific account; choose Tools

Anytime you activate the Send & Receive command, Entourage checks the mail server for any incoming messages and sends any outgoing messages you have waiting in the Outbox. This includes downloading or uploading any file attachments.

Tip

You can restrict the download size of your e-mail messages, which is handy if you have a slow dial-up connection. Choose Tools

Would You Like Sound with That?

By default, Entourage is set up to play sounds for various mail features. For example, when you receive mail, a chime sounds. You can turn the sounds on or off to suit your own likes or dislikes. Choose Entourage

There are two ways to read a message you receive in the Inbox. You can open the message in its own message window, or you can use the Preview Pane.

To read an e-mail message in its own window, simply double-click the message in the Inbox. This opens the message, as shown in Figure 25.11. From the message window, you can choose to reply to the sender of the message, reply to everyone on the message list, or forward the message to someone else. The toolbar at the top of the window also includes commands for deleting the message, moving it to the Junk e-mail folder, printing the message, or assigning the message a priority status, category, or project.

Figure 25.11. You can open the message window to read the message.

After you've read the message, you can decide what to do with it then and there, or just close the message window. To close the window, simply click the window's Close button.

You also can set up Entourage to include a Preview Pane, which shows the selected e-mail message in the main Mail window in its own pane, as shown in Figure 25.12. To turn on the feature, choose View

Figure 25.12. You can use the Preview Pane to view messages in the Inbox.

You can move through messages in the Inbox Preview Pane by clicking the ↓ or ↑ key. You also can use the View menu to move to the next or previous message.

When you're ready to create a new e-mail message, Entourage opens a blank message window and a pop-up window for addressing the message. You can use the Tab key to move from field to field or just click in the field box to fill in the appropriate data. The pop-up window, shown in Figure 25.13, offers four buttons and three text fields for entering e-mail addresses. Each text field has a specific purpose:

After addressing the e-mail, you can fill out the Subject line with a subject title, as shown in Figure 25.14. This title information lets the recipient know about the nature of your e-mail message. You should always include a brief subject line in your messages. Some e-mail programs filter out unmarked subject messages as spam or junk mail.

Figure 25.14. You can fill out the rest of the message fields to finish composing your e-mail.

You can use the large text box area in the message window, shown in Figure 25.14, to compose your e-mail. You type your message just as you would type a letter in Word. E-mail formatting typically falls into two categories: plain text and HTML. With plain text, you can't format with special formatting, such as bold or color. With HTML formatting turned on, you can. You can toggle between the two types using the Use HTML button. If you opt for HTML formatting, the toolbar at the top of the text box includes commands for controlling the font, size, style, alignments, and other simply formatting features. Most e-mail client programs can read HTML today, but the process is not always successful. In other words, don't spend lots of time trying to format your message to look pretty. There's no guarantee the recipient will see the message the same way in which you formatted it. For best results, keep the formatting simple or plain.

Note

The spell-check feature is turned on by default, so you may see Entourage correcting misspellings as you type. To turn the feature off, choose Entourage

To create a new e-mail, follow these steps:

Figure 25.16. Fill out the subject header and compose your e-mail message.

If you prefer to send the message at a later time, choose Message

Assigning flags, priorities, and categories

The toolbar at the top of the message window includes several buttons for prioritizing, flagging, or categorizing a message. For example, you may want to flag the message as High priority, alerting the recipient that the message requires attention. You also can assign a category to a message, such as Family or Personal, or add the message to the To Do list. These options can help you keep track of your Entourage information. You can flag, prioritize, and categorize any message you send, as well as messages you receive. Figure 25.17 shows the buttons found in a typical message window.

Figure 25.17. You can use the Priority, To Do, Categories, and Projects buttons to organize and keep track of your e-mail messages.

Here's how you can use the message window's toolbar buttons to flag, prioritize, or categorize:

• Priority: Use this button to set a message priority level: Highest, High, Normal, Low, or Lowest. By default, all messages are set to Normal priority unless you specify otherwise.

• To Do: You can flag a message with a due date using this button, helping you to keep track of when a message needs to be completed. When you activate a flag, Entourage adds a flag icon to the Inbox column and adds the message to your To Do list. You can choose from the following denotations: Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, No Due Date, Choose Date, Add a Reminder, Mark as Complete, or Clear To Do Flag.

• Categories: Organize your messages by categories, such as Family or Work. Categories are simply labels to help you keep track of your Inbox information.

• Projects: If a message pertains to an Office project you're working on, you can use the Projects button to assign the message to a project. This can help you keep all the related project items grouped together.

In addition to finding these buttons on the message window's toolbar, you also can access the settings through the Message and Edit menus.

Inserting pictures, backgrounds, sounds, or movie clips

You can insert a picture, background picture, sound, or movie clip into your e-mail message. To do so, click the Insert button and choose the type of media you want to insert. Or you can choose Message

Figure 25.18. You can insert different types of media into your message, such as a photo.

If you change your mind, you can Control+click the photo or clip and choose Cut. This deletes it from the message.

You also can send files as attachments. Learn more about this option coming up later in this chapter. To learn more about working with graphics in Office, such as photos, see Chapter 30.

Figure 25.19. When you reply to a message, Entourage reuses the sender's e-mail address and subject line.

By default, Entourage also includes the original message text in the text box field (refer to Figure 25.18). You can type your response above the original message text or in the original text, or you can remove the original text entirely. When you're ready to send the e-mail, click the Send button or choose Message

Note

If you prefer to reply to messages without including the original message text, you can stop Entourage from placing it in the message box each time. To do so, choose Entourage

Entourage opens the message in a new message window and the pop-up Address window. Fill in the recipient's e-mail address, and click anywhere outside the Address window. As shown in Figure 25.20, the Subject field is already filled in, this time with the letters 'FW:" preceding the header. 'FW" stands for 'forward." You can add your own message text to the existing message. By default, Entourage also includes the original message text in the text box field (refer to Figure 25.19). When you're ready to send the e-mail, click the Send button or choose Message

To forward an e-mail as an attachment rather than a message, click the message in the Inbox and choose Message

You can redirect a message rather than forward it. Redirecting sends the original message without adding any information from you in the message. With a redirected message, the recipient sees only the sender's name as the sender, not your name. This is handy if you don't want to be included in any e-mail exchanges between the two people. To redirect a message, choose Message

Figure 25.20. When you forward a message, Entourage reuses the subject line.

Figure 25.21. You can forward an e-mail as a file attachment.

Many users often include signatures at the bottom of their messages, typically containing contact information and a company logo, or in the case of personal e-mails, a popular saying, quote, or personal statement. A signature is simply preset text you add to the bottom of an e-mail message saving you the trouble of typing the information each time. You can create as many signatures as you like or edit the default Standard signature. To create your own signatures in Entourage, follow these steps:

To use a signature in a message, simply click the Signature button on the message window's toolbar and select the signature you want to apply. You also can choose Message

Cleaning Up Messages

Every time you forward a message, more quoting brackets are added to the original message. After a couple hundred forwards to a message, the brackets can make the original message downright illegible. Entourage features a handy tool you can use to clean up heavily forwarded message text, and you can apply it before sending the e-mail to someone else. Simply choose Edit

Figure 25.24. Signatures are a great way to insert contact information or personal statements into your e-mail messages.

You can return to the Signatures window at any time to create new signatures, delete ones you no longer want, or edit existing signatures.

By default, Entourage is set up to check for new messages whenever you start the program, every 10 minutes while you're using the program, and when you close the program. You can turn the feature off or set a different schedule. For example, you may only want to check for messages manually or set a longer length of time between checking the server for messages. You can do all this through the Schedules and Edit Schedules feature. The Schedules window, shown in Figure 25.25, keeps track of all the scheduled items you set in Entourage. You can access the window by choosing Tools

Figure 25.25. Use the Schedules window to schedule when Entourage checks e-mail, deletes mail, and performs other functions.

Automatic Signatures

You can tell Entourage to add the same signature to every e-mail message you send. You can do this through the Accounts window. Choose Tools

Entourage includes three default schedules already set in the Schedules window:

You can edit these existing schedules, remove them entirely, and add your own schedules to the list. For example, you may want to schedule when Entourage removes messages from the Deleted Mail folder. When setting a scheduled item, you can define its name, when it happens, and what happens. The 'when" options let you determine when a schedule runs. When defining a scheduled item, you can choose from the following 'when" actions:

The 'what happens" options, called the Action options in the Edit Schedule window, let you determine what happens when a schedule runs. You can choose from these actions:

When you define the 'when" and 'what" of a scheduled item, you typically must define a few more parameters to set the scheduled item into play. For example, if you set up a schedule to delete mail at startup, you can specify a folder to delete and an age of the messages within the folder such as removing any messages older than 14 days. You also can add more When and Action items to a schedule using the Add Occurrence and Add Action buttons. You can add up to three items to a scheduled item using the Add Occurrence button under the When options. You can add dozens of actions using the Add Action button under the Action settings. You also can remove occurrences and actions you no longer want to associate with the scheduled item.

To add a scheduled item, follow these steps:

After you've scheduled an item, you can do the following:

Tip

Do you want to read your messages offline? You can. Choose Entourage

You can create an automatic e-mail reply to any messages you receive. This scenario is ideal if you need to be away from the office for awhile or if you're going on vacation. You can create an automatic response that states when you'll be back and who the sender might contact in the meantime. One way to create an automatic response is to set up a message rule. The catch to using this method is that Entourage has to be running while you're away.

When setting up a message rule, you give the rule a unique name and control the 'ifs" and 'thens" of the scenario. In this case, the 'if" is if you receive a message, and the 'then" is then Entourage sends a response.

To set up a message rule, use these steps:

You learn more about setting other types of message rules in the next section.

If you're using a Microsoft Exchange account, you can use the Out of Office Assistant to generate an automatic response. Unlike a message rule that requires Entourage to be running to create an e-mail response, the Out of Office Assistant works with the mail server running Microsoft Exchange to create your reply. To activate this feature, click the Microsoft Exchange account in the Folders List pane, choose Tools

You can delete messages you no longer need to see in your Inbox. When you delete a message from the Inbox or other mail folders, Entourage moves the message to the Deleted Items folder. To permanently remove the message, you must then delete it from the Deleted Items folder.

To delete a message, use any of these methods:

To remove more than one message from the Inbox, you can select multiple messages and apply a deletion method. Simply click the first message in the group you want to delete, press and hold the Shift key, and click the last message in the group. Entourage highlights the messages. To select non-contiguous messages, press and hold

To permanently delete messages from the Deleted Items folder, use any of these methods:

You can quickly print any message you receive. To do so, select the message in the Inbox and choose File

If you're viewing a message in its message window you can activate the Print button and print the message directly without opening the Print dialog box. Just click the Print button on the window's toolbar. If you do want to open the Print dialog box, click the Print button's arrow icon and choose Print.

You can organize your messages by filing them away. You can do this by storing them in unique folders. By default, all incoming messages are stored in the Inbox folder until you do something else with the messages. Also by default, Entourage is set up with two preset folders you can use for messages you don't want to keep or messages you don't want to look at right away: the Deleted Items folder and the Junk E-mail folder. In addition to these folders, you can add other folders and subfolders to help you manage your e-mail. To create a new folder, choose File

Figure 25.31. The Print dialog box

Use any of these methods to file your messages:

You can add and delete folders as needed, as well as any messages within the folders.

You can turn on Entourage's Junk Mail Filter to help you reduce the amount of junk e-mail—also known as spam—you receive in your Inbox. This feature scans incoming messages for material typically associated with spam. Any violators it finds are processed into the Junk E-mail folder. You can examine the messages later and decide whether they're worth reading. It also blocks embedded pictures.

To turn on the Junk Mail Filter, choose Tools

Figure 25.32. You can use the Junk E-mail Protection dialog box to set up junk e-mail options.

By default, the Junk filter is set to Low protection. You can choose to set a higher level of protection or turn the feature off entirely.

The Safe Domains tab, shown in Figure 25.33, lets you list all the domain names you trust for e-mail, such as your company's Web site, your banking institution, and so on. The domain name is always the part of an e-mail address that follows the @ sign. Just type in the domain name in the Safe Domains list box, and if you're adding more than one, separate them with commas.

The Blocked Senders tab, shown in Figure 25.34, lets you block e-mail messages. You can compile and maintain a list of specific addresses you do not want to receive e-mails from and make sure they are filtered into the Junk E-mail folder instead of the Inbox. As in the Safe Domains list box, just type the e-mail address. When adding more than one, be sure to separate them with commas.

You also can block a sender from the Inbox. Select the message you want to block from future e-mails, and choose Message

Figure 25.33. You can place trusted domain names in the Safe Domains list box, and Entourage knows to leave messages from these sources unfiltered.

Figure 25.34. You can place unwanted e-mail addresses in the Blocked Senders list box, and Entourage blocks them from your Inbox.

You can mark your messages in the Inbox as read, unread, or junk. The marking tools are helpful in keeping track of which messages you've dealt with already and which ones you need to revisit again. Figure 25.35 shows a typical Inbox with both read and unread messages. You can label a message as junk and send it to the Junk E-mail folder. To mark a message, use any of these methods:

Figure 25.35. Unread messages appear in bold in the Inbox, while read messages are unbolded.

You can set up message rules to help you govern your e-mail messages. Message rules are simply filters you can apply to help sort and deal with your e-mails. For example, as you learned in the preceding section, you can set up a message rule to create an automatic response to any e-mail message you receive. By their very nature, rules or filters help you to file, answer, or remove e-mail messages based on their contents, subjects, senders, or sizes. Entourage's message rules are like having a personal secretary to sort through your mail. Message rules sort through your e-mails to organize them just the way you want, whether that means tossing out unwanted e-mail or filing company messages in a particular folder.

You can set up rules for any of your e-mail accounts and newsgroups. To set up a message rule, follow these steps:

Entourage processes message rules based on their order in the Rules window list box. You can change the order around, if needed, using the Up and Down buttons in the upper-right corner of the window. You also can delete rules you no longer need; select the rule, and click the Delete button.

You can link your Entourage e-mail messages to other Entourage features, such as a calendar event or a note. If you link to a calendar event, for example, Entourage adds a link in the calendar day that, when clicked, takes you to the related e-mail message. Entourage actually does linking automatically for some tasks, such as linking a message replay to the original message to provide a message history.

You can link messages in three ways:

Figure 25.39. You can link a message to other Entourage items via the Links window.

To link a message to an existing item directly, select the message in the Inbox, choose Tools

To link a message to a new item entirely, select the message in the Inbox, choose Tools

Figure 25.40. You can link a message to other existing Entourage items.

File attachments are files that come with e-mail messages. When you attach a file to an outgoing message, the file is uploaded to the server along with your e-mail. If someone sends you an attachment, you can download it onto your computer along with the message. File attachments are useful for sending along any kind of data that won't fit into an ordinary e-mail message. For example, you can send documents, spreadsheets, photographs, or sound files as attachments. File attachments take much longer to download. That's because they're usually much larger in size than the e-mail message itself.

Receiving attachments

In your Inbox, messages including file attachments are marked with a tiny paper clip icon. When you open a message window that includes an attachment, the attachment appears in its own field, as shown in Figure 25.41.

You can select the attachment and perform one of these actions:

• Open: This command opens the attachment. If there's a corresponding program on your computer to view the file, it opens the file. You also can activate this option by simply double-clicking the file attachment name.

• Save: This command saves the attachment to a designated folder or drive.

• Remove: This command detaches the file and discards it.

You also can drag an attached file from the message window and drop it on the desktop or into another folder. From the Inbox view, Control+click a message with an attachment and choose Save Attachment from the pop-up menu. In addition, the Message menu offers a few attachment-related commands you can apply to a selected message in your Inbox: Save All Attachments, Remove All Attachments, or Remove Unsafe Attachments.

Figure 25.41. Attachments appear in their own field in the message window, and you can choose exactly how you want to deal with each one.

As shown in Figure 25.44, the Address Book's appearance closely resembles the Mail feature. Contacts appear in a list. Each column in the Address Book's main list pane tells something about the contact. The field headings at the top of the list describe each field in the contact entry.

To switch to the Address Book, you can use any of these methods:

The main Address Book view displays three main panes: the Folders List pane, the mini calendar pane, and the main list pane for viewing contacts. The Address Book folder displays by default when you click the Address Book button. When you select a contact, the Preview Pane opens. This lower portion of the Address Book displays a detailed view of the contact's information, as shown in Figure 25.45.

The little icons next to the groups of information can do some pretty interesting things. Which icons appear in the Preview Pane depend on what information you've entered about the contact. For example, if you click the icon next to address information, a pop-up menu appears with options for showing the address on a map, gathering driving directions from home or work, or copying the name and address to the Clipboard so you can insert it somewhere else, like in a Word letter.

Figure 25.45. You can use the Preview Pane to view details about a contact.

Here's a run-down of what each icon can do:

You can toggle the Preview Pane off or on by choosing View

You can easily add contacts using the Create Contact form, a special dialog box with all kinds of fields for potential contact information, such as name and e-mail data, phone numbers, address, and more. The Create Contact form is an abbreviated form. You also can open the full-blown Contact window and find even more data fields you can fill in, such as birthday or anniversary dates, hobbies and interests, or even a field to add a photo of the contact. The Contact window offers seven different tabs full of data fields. Here's what you can find in each tab:

Many of the tabs in the Contact window include customizing fields for storing additional information about the contact. The toolbar at the top of the window includes buttons for e-mailing, inviting, and chatting with the contact using Microsoft Messenger. The toolbar also has buttons for flagging a contact or assigning a category, project, or link.

To add a contact to your Address Book, follow these steps:

After you start adding contacts to your Address Book, you can work with them in various ways. Use any of these techniques:

You can use groups to manage related contacts in your Address Book. For example, you may group family members into one group and work associates into another. This makes it easy to send a group e-mail message to everyone in the group without having to enter each e-mail address individually. You can create as many groups as you like in the Address Book, and your contacts can appear in more than one group.

To create a group of related contacts, follow these steps:

To address an e-mail message to a group, click the Address Book button in the Address pop-up window that appears when you create a new e-mail message. Navigate to the group name, and select it to add it to the To: field.

You can import your contacts database from other sources to use in Entourage, as well as import any vCards people send you. vCards are the electronic version of a business card, containing pertinent information about the person. Some users include vCards with their e-mail messages. If you receive such a file attachment, you can add it to your Address Book. Entourage turns the information into a contact.

One way to import contacts is to use the Import Assistant. Choose File

You also can export your Address Book to another program or archive file. Choose File

In order to access newsgroups, you need a news account. Your ISP may already offer such services. If not, you might try finding a news service on the Web. To set up a news account in Entourage, follow these steps:

You can access your news account through the Folders List pane in the Mail window. Simply click the newsgroup name. The first time you do, a prompt box appears, as shown in Figure 25.54, asking if you want to receive a list of newsgroups from the selected server. Click the Receive button, and then stand back and wait for the list of newsgroups to download. This process may take a few moments.

Figure 25.54. When you first open your news server, Entourage asks if you want to download the newsgroups.

When the download is complete, the Mail window shows a list of newsgroups, as shown in Figure 25.55. In this example, the newsgroups are all dedicated to the subject of Microsoft. You can scroll through the list of newsgroups until you find one that interests you.

You may have so many newsgroups to choose from that it's overwhelming. To help you narrow your search, type a keyword in the Display newsgroups containing text box, located in the upper-right corner of the list pane, as shown in Figure 25.56. In this figure, I'm narrowing down the newsgroups to show only those related to Entourage. As soon as you type the keyword, the list is sorted, and any matches appear.

When you find a newsgroup you'd like to investigate, double-click the newsgroup name. Entourage then displays the individual messages in the group in a separate window.

Figure 25.55. Newsgroups are listed in the list pane.

Figure 25.56. Use the filter tool to narrow down your search for newsgroups.

To view any message in the group, simply double-click the message. Entourage opens the message in its own message window, just like your e-mail messages. Figure 25.57 shows an example. Like e-mail messages, you can choose to reply to the message, forward the message, print it out, and so forth. Also like e-mail messages, after you download messages from a group, you need to decide what to do with them. This is where your deletion skills really come in handy. You can use the same deletion techniques for deleting e-mail to delete newsgroup messages. You can close the newsgroup list pane to return to the main Mail window.

Figure 25.57. You can view individual newsgroup postings in separate message windows.

Meanwhile, back in the Mail window, here are a few tasks you can perform with your newsgroups list: