Sending and Receiving Mail Using AOL
Before we begin, you need to sign on to AOL. Open AOL, make sure your modem is plugged into the ocmputer and the telephone jack, and sign on. If you are having difficulties connecting, you can call AOL technical support.
• Sending Mail
Once you have signed on, you will get the
"Welcome" screen. At the top left of the tool bar are the buttons
that will help you access the mail center. 
You can click and hold on the Mail Center button, and highlite Write
Mail or you can just click on the Write button.
You will get a new e-mail message screen:
You type the address of the recipient in the "To" box. Click in the subject box, and type a few words that tell what the message is about. Lastly, click in the message box at the bottom, and type your message. If you want to change fonts, sizes, and/or colors, you can do it using the toolbar between the subject box and the message box. However, it is important to remember that not everyone will be able to see the message in exactly the same way (not everyone has the same fonts installed in the computer, or they might not have their e-mail program set up to display format changes).
When you are ready to send your e-mail, click the
Send Now button. 
You can also click the Send Later button, but you will have to go
through a few other steps that are slightly more complicated.
• Receiving Mail
When you sign onto AOL, you will see the
mailbox with a letter in it if you have e-mail waiting to be read.
You can also click on the Read button in the toolbar. 
Your mailbox window will open:
Double-click on the message to read it--the
message will pop up in a new window. When you are done reading it,
you can click the trash can to delete the message. 
If you don't want to delete the message, go to File ... Close. When you go back to your mailbox, you will see a red checkmark on the message you just read. The checkmark means that when you sign on to AOL again, this message won't be in your New Mail mailbox. It will be in your Old Mail mailbox. (Previously read mail will stay in the old mail box for a few days, but it probably won't stay there forever!) However, if you click the button that says Keep As New, the checkmark will disappear and the message will stay in your New Mail mailbox.
When you read an e-mail message that you have
received, you will see several buttons on the top left of the
message. 
If you click the Reply button, a new window will appear with that person's e-mail address in the To box. All you have to do is add you new thoughts and click send. If you don't want all of the old message in your new message, you can delete any part of it (highlite the words and press the delete key).
If you receive an e-mail message that is especially funny, insightful or important, you probably will want to share it with others. To do so, click the Forward button. You can add the address of whoever you want to share this with, and click Send. They will each receive a copy of the message.
If you put someone into your address
book, you won't have to remember their e-mail address and
type it out each time. If you go to the Mail Center in the
tool bar and highlite Address Book, you will see this
window: Click on New Person to add a new entry.
You type in the person's first name, last name and e-mail
address and click ok. You can add other information if you
want. If you are in the Address book and want
to send mail to someone, click on their name and then click
Send To. A new message will open up with the address already
filled in! If you create a new message and want to
get someone's address from your address book, all you have
to do is click the Address Book button in the new message
window. The address book will pop open. Click on the
person's name, and drag it into the Send To box in the
e-mail message. There you go! Wasn't that easy?
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One of the great aspects of e-mail is the ability to send other information, like pictures, documents or sounds, with your e-mail. You can do that by attaching a file.
In your e-mail message, click on the Attach Files
button. 
You will get a dialogue box. Find the
file you want to send (move to the correct folder), click on
it once to highlite it and click the Attach
button. If you have AOL version 4.0 or above, you
can add other fancy things to your e-mail message. Simply
click Mail Extras on your new e-mail message, and choose
what you want to add.
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