The basics of gmail start with learning how to use email; in other words, send or receive a message. After that, you’ll want to send email attachments, archive messages, and use google search to find information in emails.
sending a message
To send a message, click “compose mail” at the top left. then write the recipient’s address after “to”. If you’ve added addresses to your contact list, you can type the first one or two letters of the name to autocomplete, allowing you to choose the name you want.
click “add cc” to add addresses of people whose responses are welcome but not required. click “bcc” to add recipients whose names and addresses will be hidden.
Next, enter your subject after “subject” and type your message in the large box. Using the symbols above the box, you can change the format, font, and color of the text. you can also check spelling, add links and attach files. (You’ll learn more about attachments later on this page.)
gmail automatically saves your message as a draft every few minutes as you type. When your message is complete, click “send.” A confirmation at the top of the window will show that your message was sent. if you don’t want to save the draft message, delete it from the drafts folder.
receive a message and reply
Check the count number next to your inbox to see if you have any new messages. gmail checks for new messages every two minutes and updates the account.
gmail saves a “conversation” of each original message and all replies. when you open a message, the newest in the conversation is at the top and the rest is stacked below. to read all the messages in the conversation, click “expand all”.
To print a message, click the down arrow next to “reply” and select “print”. to print the entire conversation, click “print all”.
To forward an individual message, open it and click “forward” below the message area. enter recipient addresses and add any notes to the message. click “send”.
use of attachments
with gmail, attachments like documents, photos or videos are easy to add and read. To attach a file to a message, click “attach a file” below the subject field. find the file you want to attach and click “open”. “attach another file” allows you to repeat the process. to remove an attachment, click “remove”.
To view an attachment, open the message, click “download” at the bottom of the message, then “open” or “save.” to view an attachment without downloading it, click “view as html” after opening the message. it can also open microsoft excel files as google spreadsheets and microsoft word files as google docs.
message files
Archiving allows you to move messages from the Inbox to All Mail for storage. you can find information in these emails later using the search tool. To archive a message, check the box next to the sender’s name and click “archive”. if someone replies to a message you’ve archived, the entire conversation reappears in your inbox.
gmail has many features beyond the basic ones. Next, let’s look at some of them, such as security filters, the gmail notifier to announce new mail, and “fetch and reply” to access messages from other email services.