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10 Minute Guide to Microsoft Exchange 5.0

- Lesson 10 -
Receiving Messages

 

In this lesson, you learn how to open and work with messages you've received from others. You'll learn to reply to the sender, forward to another recipient, and print copies of messages.

Opening Messages

Mail you receive is stored in the Inbox of your mailbox. You can see the list of messages in the Contents pane by selecting the Inbox object in the Folder pane (see Lesson 2 for a discussion about the mailbox display).

When you see the list of messages in the Contents pane, the header information helps you decide which messages to read immediately and which messages to leave for later (if necessary). You can use the priority icons and the subject matter to decide, or you can just pick messages sent by people you like to hear from.

Scroll through the list to find a message you want to open. Double-click it, and the message opens in a message window (see Figure 10.1).

The buttons on the message window toolbar provide quick access to many of the options you might need for working with received messages. Table 10.1 lists the toolbar buttons and their functions.

Figure 10.1 The text of the message appears, and the message window provides tools for working with the message.

Table 10.1 Toolbar Buttons for Working with Received Messages

Button

Name

Function

Print

Prints the message

Move

Moves the message to a folder you choose

Delete

Deletes the message

Reply to Sender

Opens a new message window with the sender's name in the To box

Reply to All

Opens a new message window with all recipients of the current message indicated as recipients of the new message

Forward

Opens a new message window from which you can send this message to another recipient

Previous

Opens the message listed immediately above the current message in the Contents pane

Next

Opens the message listed immediately below the current message in the Contents pane

Next Unread

Opens the next message in the Contents pane that is marked as unread

Help

Displays information about specific elements in the received message window

Read Digital

Displays information about Signature the password-protected signature of the sender (if advanced security is enabled)

Replying to Messages

You'll frequently want to reply to messages you've read. The sender may have asked a question that requires an answer from you, or you may want to make a comment about the message, or you may just want to acknowledge that you received the message.

To compose a reply to the person who sent you a message, follow these steps:

1. Open the message to which you want to reply.

2.
Click the Reply to Sender button, and a new message window appears, already set up for your reply to the message you received (see Figure 10.2).

Figure 10.2 The message window for composing a reply.


Reply to All Recipients If the original message was sent to multiple recipients (you may have even been a Carbon Copy recipient), and you want to reply to everyone who received the original message, click the Reply to All button instead of the Reply to Sender button. Every recipient's name is then automatically added to the message header.


3.
Start typing at the insertion point, which is above the original message (the original message is indented and a line appears above it to separate it from your reply). Here are some additional options from which you can choose:

  • If you prefer, you can move the insertion point below the original message to have your reply follow it.

  • If you don't think the new recipient will need the original message in order to understand your reply, you can delete the original message.

  • You can insert additional recipients in the To and Cc boxes if you want to send this reply message to others.

  • You can change the text in the Subject box to reflect the contents of your reply more accurately.

  • You can use all of the formatting features in your reply message.

4. When you finish composing your reply, click the Send button.

Including the Original Message in Your Reply

By default, the original message text is included in the reply. It is indented to make it stand out. If you want to, you can actually enter comments or notes within the original message's text.

However, if you find that most of the time you don't need to keep the original message text in your reply and you constantly have to go to the trouble of deleting it, you can change the default setup so that the original text is not automatically placed in the message section of your reply. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Choose Tools, Options to display the Options dialog box.

2.
Click the Read tab to see the options shown in Figure 10.3.

3.
In the second section of the box, set the following options according to your preferences:

  • Deselect Include the Original Text When Replying (click to remove the check mark from the check box).

  • Deselect Indent the Original Text When Replying to change the original message's position in your reply so that it starts at the left margin (if you are opting to keep the original text).

  • Deselect Close the Original Item if you want to keep the original message window open while you are composing your reply.

Figure 10.3 You can alter the default settings for replying to a message.

4. Click the Font button to see a list of available fonts, and choose a new default font for all your reply messages.

5.
When you finish making your changes, click OK to return to the Reply Message window (or click Cancel to undo your changes).


Keep the Original Message Open If you choose not to have the original text placed in your reply, you might find it helpful to keep the original item open. That way, if you want to check the text in the original message, it will be available; you can just drag your reply window to the side to see the original message behind it.

Forwarding Messages

Sometimes you receive information in a message that you think might be of interest to someone else (someone who was not sent a copy of the message). If so, you can forward the message, which means that you send the original message to a new recipient. You can even add your own text to the original contents if you want. To forward a message you've received, follow these steps:

1. With the message open, click the Forward button to open a new message window (see Figure 10.4).

Figure 10.4 The Subject box indicates that the message is being forwarded.

2. Enter a recipient (or multiple recipients) in the To box. You can also send carbon copies to as many recipients as you want to.

3.
Move your pointer into the text area to add your own comments.

4.
Click Send to send the message.


Attachments Are Forwarded, Too When you forward a message that has an attachment, the attachment is copied and sent with the forwarded message.

Printing Messages

There might be times when you need a printed copy of a message, either to study it more carefully or to file it. You can print any message, whether you have opened it or not:

  • If the message is open, click the Print button on the message window's toolbar.

  • If the message is not open, select its header in the Contents pane and click the Print button on the Exchange Client window's toolbar.

Either way, the message is sent to the printer immediately. The Print dialog box does not appear, so you cannot change the printer or any other print setup configuration.

If you have to change printers or make any other adjustments to the printing process (if you want to print multiple copies, for example), you must choose File, Print or press Ctrl+P to display the Print dialog box.


Printing Attachments By default, attachments don't print when you print a message; only the message text is sent to the printer. If you want to print the attachment, you must open the Print dialog box and select the Print Attachments option. Remember that to do this, you must have an application capable of opening and printing the file.

In this lesson, you learned how to open the messages you receive and perform several operations on them: replying, forwarding, and printing. In the next lesson, you'll learn some of the ways you can manage the storage and handling of messages.

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