Short for electronic mail, e-mail or email is information stored on a computer that is exchanged between two users over telecommunications. More plainly, e-mail is a message that may contain text, files, images, or other attachments sent through a network to a specified individual or group of individuals.
ray tomlinson sent the first email in 1971. tomlinson sent the email to himself as a test message, containing the text “something like qwertyuiop”. however, despite sending the email to itself, the email message was still transmitted through the arpanet.
In 1996, more email was sent than regular mail.
summary of email addresses
- The first part of all email addresses, the part before the @ symbol, contains a company alias, user, group, or department. in our example above, “support” is computer hope’s technical support department.
- below, the “@” (at sign) is a separator in the email address; it is required for all smtp email addresses since ray tomlinson first sent the message.
- finally, “computerhope.com” is the domain name the user belongs to. the “.com” is the tld (top level domain) for our domain. the domain name is used to route the email to the correct destination server.
how to send and receive email
email program
To send and receive email messages, you can use an email program, also known as an email client, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla. thunderbird when you use an email client, you use a server that stores and delivers your messages. This server is often hosted by your ISP, but may be another internet company. an email client needs to connect to a server to download new email, while email stored online is always available to any internet-connected device. To learn more about the cloud email service, see the difference between webmail and an email client below.
online email
An alternative way to send and receive email (and the most popular solution for most people) is an online email service or webmail. Examples include Hotmail (now Outlook.com), Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. many online email services, including the ones we mentioned, are free or have a free account option.
- how to create an email account.
write an email
When writing an email message, it should look like the example window below. As you can see, several fields are required when sending an email:
- the to field is where you put the email address of the person receiving the email.
- the from the field must contain your email address.
- If you are replying to a message, the to: and from: fields are automatically filled in. if it is a new message, you must specify the recipients in the to: field by selecting them from your contact list or by typing their email addresses. if you enter more than one recipient (e.g. group email), the addresses must be separated by a comma and a space or by pressing tab.
- the subject must consist of a few words that describe the content of the email. the subject allows the recipient to see what the email is about, without opening and reading the entire email. this field is optional.
- The cc (“carbon copy”) field allows you to specify recipients that are not direct recipients (listed in the “to” field). For example, you can email Jeff and Cc Linda and Steven. Although the email is addressed to Jeff, Linda and Steven also receive a copy, and everyone can see who received the email. this field is optional.
- the bcc (“blind carbon copy”) field is similar to cc, except that the recipients are secret. each bcc recipient receives the email, but doesn’t see who else received a copy. recipients (anyone listed in the “to” field) remain visible to all recipients. this field is optional.
- Finally, the message body is the location where you write your main message. often contains his signature at the bottom; similar to a handwritten letter.
what makes an email address valid?
The following rules make an email address valid:
- As mentioned above, an email must have a username followed by @ (the at sign), followed by the domain name with a domain suffix.
- username cannot be longer than 64 characters and domain name cannot be longer than 254 characters.
- There should only be one @ sign in an e-mail address.
- space and special characters: ( ) , : ; < > [ ] are allowed. sometimes a space, backslash, and quote will work, but they must be preceded by a forward slash. although valid, some email providers do not allow these characters.
- Username and email addresses as a whole cannot begin or end with a period.
- the email must not have two or more consecutive periods.
advantages of email
There are many advantages to email and the use of email over postal mail. some of the main advantages are listed below.
- free delivery: Sending an email is practically free, apart from the cost of internet service. no need to buy a postage stamp to send a letter.
- global delivery: Email can be sent almost anywhere in the world, to any country.
- instant delivery: the recipient can instantly send and receive an email over the internet.
- attachment: an email can include one or more attachments, allowing a person to send documents, images, or other files with an email.
- long-term storage – e- emails are they are stored electronically, which allows them to be stored and archived for long periods of time.
- environmentally friendly: sending an email does not require paper (paperless), cardboard or packing tape, conserving paper resources.
what is the difference between an email client and webmail?
both webmail and an email client perform the same function: they allow the user to send and receive email. however, an email client requires the user to install the software directly on her computer; If the software is not installed, email may not be accessible. Also, many email clients cost money but are generally more secure. webmail, on the other hand, is a free service, hosted in the cloud. the cloud service automatically syncs your email with all your devices, including your desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
what are some popular email clients?
There are many email clients (those that are software-based, not online) available to users today. The following list contains some of the most popular clients, and some of them are free to use.
- microsoft outlook
- thunderbird
- dreammail
- mail for windows 10
- mailbird
- em client
what can be sent in an email?
In addition to sending text messages, email can also have attachments. for example, an attachment can be an image, a pdf, a word processing document, a movie, a program, or any file stored on your computer. however, due to some security issues, it may not be possible to send certain types of files without additional steps. for example, many companies block sending .exe files via email and require you to compress them into a .zip file. also, most email providers have file size restrictions that would prevent large files or programs from being sent via email.
- how to compress or convert files into a single file.
- how to email an attachment or photo.
how to send an email to the computer
See our contact page for ways to communicate with computer hope through email and other forms of communication.
should I use “email” or “email” in my writing?
both “email” and “email” are valid words and what you decide to use should be determined by the style guide you are following. computer hope chooses to hyphenate “e-mail” because it is a compound noun made up of the words “electronic” and “mail”.
- Should I capitalize internet and hyphenate email?
attachment, business terms, wording, computer abbreviations, computer trunks, email terms, internet terms, network terms, signature, smtp, postal mail, spam