 The most rewarding aspect of writing the Compu-KISS® column for The Pilot is that many readers take advantage of my invitation to send in computer-related questions for publication in this column. Many of these questions are related to using e-mail. Having a problem sending or receiving e-mail? Perhaps another reader has requested help with the same particular problem that is bothering you. I hope that you will find some useful advice in answers to these common e-mail problems.
Q. How can I tell if an e-mail has actually been sent?
A. After you send an e-mail, it goes into the Out Box or the Sent Box, depending on which e-mail program you are using. Just double-click on the icon for the Out Box or Sent Box, and you will see a list of all the e-mail that you have sent. You will usually see a checkmark or some other indication that the mail has been sent. If you see a "Q" next to the item, it means your e-mail has not been sent out but has been queued and is waiting to be sent.
Q. Is there an easy way to add a name to my address book?
A. When you receive e-mail from someone and would like to enter his or her e-mail address into your address book, it is an easy process. Most e-mail programs have a built-in utility that will do it for you. Just open the e-mail message that contains the name you want to add to your contact list. Then follow the instructions for the e-mail program that you are using:
In Outlook Express, when an e-mail from the person you wish to add to your address book is on the screen, just click on Tools and choose Add Sender to Address Book.
In Eudora, click on Special and choose Make Address Book Entry.
In Outlook, in the From field, right-click the name you want to make into a contact, then click Add to Contacts from the menu that pops up.
If you are using an e-mail program other than the three mentioned above, look in the Help menu for specific instructions.
Q. I don’t own Microsoft Office. Is there anyway to open Microsoft Excel or PowerPoint attachments that others send me?
A. Yes. Visit the download area at Microsoft’s Web site at http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/. Then search for the word “viewer,” and you will see a list of free viewers, which you can download. Viewers are available for various editions of Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. A viewer allows you to look at the entire document just as though you had the complete program installed. Even though you are not given access to change the document, the view feature may come in handy. You no longer have to inconvenience the sender to resend the document.
Q. By default, my e-mail is sorted by Date, but I would like to sort it by Sender. Is there a way to do this?
A. In most e-mail programs, it’s easy to sort by Sender. Just click on the column header titled From or Who, and all the mail from any given sender will be grouped together. To revert to the original sort by Date, simply click on the Date header.
Again, most computer problems are common to us all. I hope that by sharing solutions to these common e-mail problems, I might be able to help relieve some of your own computer frustrations.
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