E-mail is a system that delivers messages at electronic speed. In an organization with this capability, employees can send and receive messages over long distance in minutes or seconds. Electronic mail (e-mail) is a system which allows messages to be sent between computers. A message can be sent either to an individual or to any number of individuals who have access to the same network. In recent years, e-mail systems have been used increasingly to improve the timeliness, control and effectiveness of communication in modern offices, e-mail system has occupied a pivotal place in modern information technology. It has brought revolutionized changes in official/organizational communication and is significantly replacing the traditional communication media. It has brought cognitive, affective and behavioral impact upon the members of office. Interdepartmental integration and coordination within the office is greatly facilitated by computer-based communication system. In any office, e-mail is an effective means of communicating with right person at the right time.
One major advantage of e-mail over the telephone is that receiving party does not have to be present to receive the mail, the message is stored for future retrieval. Other advantages are as follows:
. One to many communication is simple and easily achievable
. Using e-mail, people can work at or travel while maintaining needed contact with their peers, superiors and sub-ordinates.
. It is very fast
. A message can be sent to many people at once
. It also leaves a written copy of messages that can be filed away or forwarded.
E-mail is convenience to busy executives, who are often pressed for time but need to communicate efficiently.
Early forms of e-mail include telex, telegrams and mail grams. The current technology is in tow areas, networks of communicating word processors and computerized message switching (CMS). Word processors may be interconnected through telecommunication links which allow word processing files to be transmitted to remote locations. In this case, word processors serve as a part of e-mail system.
In CMS (Computerized Message Switching) system electronic massages are sent over a computer network from a sender's standard CRT to a recipient's computer where they may be read immediately on a CRT or stored.
Communicating Word processor is a stand alone word processor that is linked to another stand alone (a shared system or a large computer through communications links.
Basic Aspects of e-mail
Let us now briefly describe some basic aspects and services of and e-mail system.
Composition
In refers to the process of creating messages and answers-e.g. When answering a message, the mail system can extract the originator's address from incoming mail and automatically, without bothering the user.
Reporting
Reporting has to do with telling the originator what happened to the message. Was it delivered? Was it rejected? Was it lost?
Conversion
It may be necessary to make message suitable for display on the recipients terminal or printer.
Formatting
It pertains to the form of displayed message on the recipients terminal. If the input file were to be transmitted by e-mail it would have to be reformatted at the receiving end to give it desired appearance.
Decomposition
It is the final step and concern what the recipients does with the message after receiving it. Possibilities include throwing it away immediately, reading it first then saving it and so on.
In addition to these basic services, an e-mail system generally provide a large variety of advanced features. Let us briefly mention a few of these.
. When the people move or when they are away for some period of time. They may want their mail forwarded so the system should be able to do this automatically.
. If some one has decided to take a vacation for a few weeks, he may not want his mail forwarded. Instead, he may want the mail system to send a canned reply to the originator of each incoming message saying that he is away and telling when he will return.
. Most mail systems allow users to create mailboxes to store incoming mail.
. When a message is sent to the distribution list (a list of e-mail addresses), identical copies are delivered to every one on the list.
. Registered mail is another idea to allow the originator to know that his message has arrived. Alternatively, automatic notification of undeliverable mail may be desired.
. Other advanced features are carbon copies, high priority mail, secret encrypted mail, alternative recipients if primary one is not available and the ability for secretaries to handle their boss's mail.
First e-mail message was sent in 1971 by an engineer named Ray Tomlinson. Tomlinson's breakthrough was the ability to send messages to other machines on the Internet, using the @ sign to designate the receiving machine.
E-mail is one of the earliest standard Interne protocols which enable people with different computers and operating systems to communicate wit each other. E-mail allows one-to-one or one-to-many mailings. Mail is received and held by a mail server within an organization or by an Internet service provider until the addresses logs on to collect the mail.
An e-mail message has always been nothing more than a simple text message sent to a recipient. In the beginning and even today, e-mail messages tend to be short pieces of text, although the ability to add attachments now makes many messages quits long.
Two ways to access e-mail
1. Through browser by subscribing to free e-mail services like Hotmail or Yahoo.
2. Through Stand-alone clients like Microsoft Outlook. Outlook Express, Eudora.
Characteristics of e-mail access through browser software are as follows,
. Can be accessed anywhere at any PC
. It is secured as user log in every time to check or send mail.
. This page can be speedily opened when server response time is high and internet is available.
Characteristics of e-mail access through stand-alone software are as follows,
. Only can be configured in personal computers. Should bot be used in any PC.
. Once configured it checks mail in every few minutes and stores inbox in personal computer's hard disk. Therefore user can view them in convenient time.
. It alert for every incoming mail.
. If email server or internet traffic is slow it is a good alternative to check mails as it checks for new mail when internet traffic is free or server response time is high.
. As it keeps every copy of mails sent or received in local computer therefore, one safe to view any old mail if mail deleted or server is not responding or internet is down for some period.
. All incoming or outgoing mails are scanned with local antivirus application loaded hence mails become virus free.
. Any body other than the PC belongs to the person if uses computer can open outlook express and view sensitive mail. Therefore user must be more careful if he or she allowing some one else to use his or her PC for a while.
No matter which type of client you're using , it generally does four things:
. Shows a list of all of the messages in your mailbox by displaying the message headers. The header shows you who sent the mail, the subject of the mail and may also show the time and date of the message and the message size.
.Let's select a message header and read the body of the e-mail message.
. Let's create new messages and send them. You type in the e-mail address of the recipient and the subject for the message, and then type the body of the message.
. Let's add attachments to messages you send and save the attachments from messages you receive.
The real e-mail system consists of two different servers running on a server machine. One is called the SMTP server, where SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The SMTP server handles outgoing mail. The other is either a POP3 server or an IMAP server, both of which handle incoming mail. POP stands for Post Office Protocol, and IMAP stands for Internet Mail Access Protocol.
E-mail Operation
Here we see how to access your web mail account. Web mail allows you to open your email at home or at work or from any computer connected to the internet.
For web-based email first you type the URL. (http://login.yahoo.com/) in your browser window. You have to provide Yahoo ID and password information to access your Yahoo email account. Then press Sign In button.
Your Inbox is automatically opened when you log-in. You will have access to all your e-mail messages and folders that exist on the mail server at the time of log-in. If you have created folders, they will be listed on the left hand side. To access those folders, simply click the folder name.
Inbox is automatically opened when you log-in. You will have access to all your e-mail messages and folders that exist on the mail server at the time of log-in. If you have created folders, they will be listed on the left hand side. To access those folders, simply click the folder name . Note: If you are using IMAP. you will have access to all your folders and e-mail messages that you have stored on our e-mail server via this method. The same folders and e-mail messages will be visible to you in your e-mail program.
Yahoo mail saves incoming messages in the Inbox and outgoing messages in the Sent box. You will need to create a folder by clicking Add.
To write a new e-mail, click Compose.
To forward a message , open the message first and then click the Forward button.
To delete a messages , put a check mark next to the message(s) and click Delete.
When you click the Compose button, you will see following screen in your browser window.
Enter the recipients full e-mail address in the 'To:', 'cc', or 'Bcc' field.
. Enter a Subject (optional)
. Type your message.
. Click to check for any misspelled words.
. Attach a file(s) (optional)
. Click the Send button to send the message.
When you click the Attach files button, you will seed a document.
By clicking the Browse button. select the file(s)you want to attach and then select Attach files button.
To read an e-mail, simply click on the message. The message will open in the browser window. From the Read Message window, you can reply, forward, delete,print, go to previous/next message in the current folder, or save senders/recipients e-mail addresses in the Web mail Address Book. Simply click the appropriate button.
To Add New Contacts just select a new contact in the address book, enter the person's information.
Logging Out: When you are ready to log out of Web mail, click on Sign Out button, located on the top of the web page.
E-filing
Electronic filing is a technology for entering and storing documents for retrieval in the future. The major advantages of electronic filling over conventional filing are that the physical space demands are reduced and retrieval is more rapid, systematic, well-indexed or orderly.
The use of electronic filing is as follows:
. The first use is to access and display customer information to reply customer inquiries.
. Another use in correspondence files, where the indexing system allows ready review of selected portions of correspondence e.g. all memos written to a particular individual during a specified time period.
