Mod 2 - Emails

What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?

When an email is sent to you regardless of which email program you use, you will always see the persons email address of who has sent it, the domain from where it came and whether or not it is a reply to an email you had previously sent or not. Along with the name is normally (dependant on whether or not the sender has used one) a subject heading and the date on which it was sent.

Some people do not bother to use the subject line which can be a real pain, especially if the email itself is a spam mail. Because of their lack of courtesy in not using the subject line you are forced to read through a percentage of the email to get the gist of what it is about.

In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?

I find it useful to use 'cc' when sending emails to allot of uses. For example I work in a High School IT Dept and send emails to all staff on a regular basis. By using 'cc' I can send the same email to multiple users at once and I know that everyone has received it. I do however use 'bcc' if I need to keep certain staff members email address's private and this is normally when we send an email to a student but would like their teachers to receive a copy so they are informed of all correspondence made.

In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?

An easy way to make sure all emails you send are readable by the recipient is to make sure they are written and sent in plain text. Not all software on computers are the same therefor this can cause a problem when opening and email and especially attachments. A perfect example of this was with the release of Office 2007. Allot of people when it was first released were attaching word documents to their emails and not realising that there was a change in the way it was saved. Office 2003 used .doc whereas office 2007 uses .docx. Therefor anyone using Office 2003 was unable to open any file saved or created using .docx files.

What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?

With my email programs I must say I dont have allot of rules set nor do I have allot of filters in use. I do however use the filter to blockout adult content. I have my spam and junk email filters always on and they seem to do a really good job of keeping my inbox clean and free of rubbish emails. I do have to admit one of my biggest pet hates is junk mail. If I dont know the sender I normally delete it straight away.

How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?

My folder structure in my email accounts are always the same. I have a private folder, a funnies folder, business folder (I run my own home business) and uni folder. This way I can easily direct myself to where my emails are stored.