Module 2Email Task

Part 1. The first email task consists of undertaking this Email Tutorial to ensureyou understand (or have reviewed) all the basic email functions. Makesure to take the little 'quiz' at the end of each 'lesson'.

2.

Email Task

I worked through the tutorial, undertaking the Activity for Item 3 and Item 5. At the end of each Item I completed the Pop Quiz’s, with 100% accuracy.

I am not a user emoticons, but I am able to identify the smiley emoticon on emails I receive. I was surprised at how many smiley emoticons are available and found a lot of them to be quite clever :-).

Essentially, this tutorial supported what I already knew about emails systems. The tutorial was extremely easy to follow and to work through. The examples and diagrams clearly supported the information provided and I believe this tutorial is an excellent training tool for new email users.

Module 2Email Task

Part 3. Answer the following series of 'reflective questions', and record your answers in your learning log:

1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and

the path it took, can you glean from an email message? .

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply

all functions of email?

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will beeasily opened by the receiver?

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for whatpurpose?

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

4.

Email Task

1. 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 has been received in your In Box, before opening the email you can identify the sender’s username or identifier, as well as the domain of their email provider.

By opening the email the email header will reveal the time and date the email was sent, who the email was sent and copied to, what the email is about and if there are any attachments.

5.

Email Task

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

CC: When sending an email to a Clients representative, at times it is wise to copy the email associated parties such as the Contract Holder, or the Client’s administrator. This will ensure that information is communicated to more than one person and can be actioned accordingly.

BCC: The ‘bcc’ function can be used to forward a copy of the email to Records Management for attaching to a contract file or to a Supervisor who is monitoring the request and response time of a nominated email holder.

Reply All: In the event you are part of an email group and a request has been made for a volunteer, by using the Reply All function, the whole group is notified at the same time of your intent to/or not to volunteer, and other members of the group can nominate to/or not to volunteer until and outcome has been reached.

6.

Email Task

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

CC: When sending an email to a Clients representative, at times it is wise to copy the email associated parties such as the Contract Holder, or the Client’s administrator. This will ensure that information is communicated to more than one person and can be actioned accordingly.

BCC: The ‘bcc’ function can be used to forward a copy of the email to Records Management for attaching to a contract file or to a Supervisor who is monitoring the request and response time of a nominated email holder.

Reply All: In the event you are part of an email group and a request has been made for a volunteer, by using the Reply All function, the whole group is notified at the same time of your intent to/or not to volunteer, and other members of the group can nominate to/or not to volunteer until and outcome has been reached.

7.

Email Task

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

When sending Microsoft based attachments via email to other users of Microsoft products, it is just a matter of attaching the document in the format it was saved in ie. Word, Excel etc. and the receiver should not encounter problems in opening the attachment.

However, this is not so easy if the receiver does not use Microsoft products or does not have the particular Microsoft product (eg. Microsoft Access). Attachments should be saved using an encoding program such as MIME, prior to sending. The receiver will use a decoding program to convent the MIME file into a readable document. If the attachment still cannot be opened, then both parties should try a different decoding program.

8.

Email Task

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

Previously I used rules and filters to combat increasing spam emails. However, advances in anti-spam software has reduced my personal need for using filters for this reason.

Two of the rules/filters I have running are as illustrated below:

9.

Email Task

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

Rule 1 I have a folder set up to store my University related emails. When emails with the words Curtin, Murdoch or University in the email header are received, they are flagged with a purple flag and moved to the folder named University. As a result of this rule all emails relating to my university studies are in a central location. After I have read the email I clear the flag. So if I see a purple flag I know I have university related email the read and/or action

Rule 2: I mange the meetings and workshops of my Project Team and the daily calendar of our Project Manager. During the course of the day I receive numerous meeting requests for myself and others. I have created a rule which will automatically move all meeting requests (and updates) to a folder named Meeting Requests. These emails are separated from other incoming emails, and check this folder only twice a day, appropriately actioning the meeting requests.

10.

Email Task

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

I have organised my folder structure in the same structure as my electronic file structure. Every email, apart from meeting request and university related emails, initially sit in my In Box. To help myself keep organised, I am extremely disciplined in the follow process:

As I open each incoming email I will either move it to a working file or to Completed Items folder (filed under month). Once an email has been completed I save a copy to the appropriate sub-directory of my electronic file structure and move the completed email to the Completed Items folders.

I keep the number of folders to a minimum and keep my In Box and Sent Items empty. Having the structure neat and streamlined is a great advantage using the search function.