Electronic mail (Email) is a way to exchange messages between individuals or groups using electronic devices. These private messages are delivered to the recipient’s inbox.

It is necessary to have an Email address when logging into programs or other applications such as MyGov or Facebook. These platforms use your email address to send administrative messages such as identity verification or password updates.

Setting up an email address

Option 1: Web-based email address – let’s get going…

A web-based email address is one that are browser based. These are usually free and easily accessible.

The most used free web-based Email services are Gmail and Outlook/Hotmail.

What you need to set up a web-based email account

• First name
• Last name
• An email address 
• A password

zolasmith@gmail.com

Important reminders

• Your email is unique like your phone number and therefore, it will not let you create an email if somebody already has the same one. You may have to add different numbers, letters, or dots to make yours different
• The basic layout of an email is as follows:

  myemailname@myprovider.com.au

  mymailname@myprovider.com

• ‘myemailname’ is the username you choose. Your name could be Zola Smith. It is usually a variation of your name or a company name for professional use. The @ sign indicated a break between the username and email provider. Everything after the @ sign is the email provider. For example, if you make an email address with Gmail your email will be zolasmith@gmail.com

For a Gmail account follow these steps

For an Outlook or Hotmail account follow these steps

Option 2: Email provided by your internet provider

Most internet providers will supply you with a free email address that is linked to your internet account. For example, yourname@bigpond.com for Bigpond or yourname@optusnet.com.au. for Optus. These can be easy to use and the provider will supply instructions on how to set them up on your computer/phone.

NOTE: These email addresses is that they are owned by the internet provider so if you change internet providers you may loose the email address or have to pay the provider to keep using it.

Option 3. Personal domain name – and using .com.au 

An email address that uses a personal domain name means that the domain name can be specific to your business. For example, yourname@yourcompanyname.com.au

or zola@smithagriculture@com.au. This helps your business be easily identified and remembered by customers.

Say you want people to know you’re based in Australia, you would have to pay for an email ending in ‘.au’, something that web-based providers like Gmail or Outlook/Hotmail don’t provide. 

These kind of email addresses cost money and depending on the company you use, have a variety or storage and support options.

Sending an email

1. Look for a NEW MESSAGE button sometimes it will say COMPOSE and can be accompanied by a plus sign symbol or pen on paper symbol like the  examples below.
   
2. Press this button and it will come up with a new, blank message window. Where is says TO you will write in the email address of the recipients.
3. There may also be a CC section in the email – this is where you can add the email address of other people that you want to get a copy of the email rather than send multiple copies of the same email NOTE: when you use CC everyone that receives the email will also see the addresses of the other people that receive the email so you need to ensure you are not giving out other peoples private details.
4. There may also be a BCC section. This is like the CC section except the email addresses listed here are hidden so they receive a copy of the email but no one else knows their address.
5. Where is says SUBJECT, you will give a brief summary of what the email is about. Limit this to a single line summary.
6. In the blank space below TO and SUBJECT you can write your email in the body of the form and then press send to SEND! 

Replying to an email 

1. Click on the message you would like to reply to and look for the REPLY button.  Your REPLY button might look something like this.
   
2. Once you click REPLY, a new message window will open with the recipient’s email address already typed in and the original message displayed down the bottom. Type your reply and click SEND. HOT TIP: IF THIS IS FOR BUSINESS be sure that you’re not sending an email to several addresses where the email feed has no relevance to the question or the person you wish to send to. Some businesses always start a new email referring to your previous mail…as that way they ensure that the question asked is replied to. This is sometimes easier to review when looking to ensure that you have responded in ‘sent box’.

3. There is also an option to REPLY ALL. This will do the same thing except your reply will be sent to all recipients of the email, if the original was sent to more than just you. Your REPLY ALL button might look like this.

Forwarding an email

1. Click on the message you would like to forward and look for the FORWARD button. This button usually displays an arrow pointing the opposite way to the reply and reply all buttons. Once you click forward, it will display an exact copy of the original email. You must fill in the email address of the recipient(s) you would like to forward it to and click send.

Your FORWARD button might look like this.