Computer Fundamental
Computer Tutorial

Electronic Mail



Electronic Mail

Electronic mail (E-mail) is an electronic message transmitted over a network from one user to another. E-mail is a text-based mail consisting of lines of text, and can include attachments such as audio messages, pictures and documents. The features of e-mail are as follows:
• E-mail can be sent to one person or more than one person at the same time.
• Communicating via e-mail does not require physical presence of the recipient. The recipient can open the e-mail at his/her convenience.
• Since messages are transmitted electronically, e-mail is a fast way to communicate with the people in your office or to people located in a distant country, as compared to postal system.
• E-mail messages can be sent at any time of the day.
• A copy of e-mail message that the sender has sent is available on the senders computer for later reference.
• In addition to sending messages, e-mail is an ideal method for sending documents already on the computer, as attachments.
• E-mail has features of the regular postal service. The sender of e-mail gets the e-mail address of the recipient, composes the message and sends it. The recipient of e-mail can read the mail, forward it or reply back. The recipient can also store the e-mail or delete it.

E-mail Address

To use e-mail, a user must have an e-mail address. The e-mail address contains all information required to send or receive a message from anywhere in the world. An e-mail address consists of two parts separated by @ symbol (spelled as at)—the first part is user_name and the second part is host computer name. The e-mail address may look like
abcdgoel@gmail.com
where,
abcdgoel is the user_name
gmail.com is the host computer name (domain name) i.e. the mailbox where finally the mail will be delivered. gmail is the mail server where the mailbox “abcdgoel” exists.

E-mail Message Format

The e-mail message consists of two parts-header and body.
The header contains information about the message, such as—
• From — Sender’s e-mail address.
• To — Recipient’s e-mail address.
• Date — When the e-mail was sent.
• Subject — The topic of the message.
• Cc — Addresses where carbon copies of the same e-mail will be sent. The recipients of e-mail can see all e-mail addresses to which the copies have been sent.
• Bcc — Addresses where Blind carbon copies (Bcc) of the same e-mail will be sent. The recipients of e-mail do not know that the same e-mail has been sent to other e-mail addresses.