Mastering Electronic Mail for Efficient Communication

1. Introduction to UNIX I.Using Electronic Mail Using Electronic Mail

2. Introduction to Electronic Mail Performance Objectives 1. Describe basic E-mail concepts and etiquette 2. Describe the use of a mailserver 3. Locate your mailbox (/var/spool/mail) 4. Identify mail facilities (/usr/bin/mail, Pine, Eudora, Netscape mail, Outlook) 5. Parse an Internet E-mail domain address 6. Identify primary mail functions (read, send, delete, save, reply) Using Electronic Mail

3. E-Mail Concepts • Use E-Mail to exchange information with users on the same or other • Although E-Mail appears instantaneous, • Messages may not be immediately posted to a recipient, or • Recipient may not be logged on to the system, or • may be busy with other tasks. Using Electronic Mail

4. Effective use of E-Mail • Choose your words carefully. • Log on at least once each day to read mail. • Compose single-subject messages if possible. • Define appropriate "subject" line - avoid "FYI"! • Assume any message sent lives-on indefinitely. Using Electronic Mail

5. Effective use of E-Mail (con’t) • Know your intended audience • Establish appropriate level of formality • Keep list of recipients and CC:s to a minimum. • Identify yourself and your affiliations clearly. • Know when NOT to use E-Mail: • Consider face-to-face, phone, paper and etc. Using Electronic Mail

6. E-Mail Functionality • Receive and read mail • Create and reply to mail • Save, delete, or hold incoming mail • Establish distribution lists • Forward E-Mail to others • Assume an alias to another account • Provide travel/vacation advisement • Find E-Mail Addresses Using Electronic Mail

7. How E-Mail is Routed • E-Mail is sent to a central mailhost through a mailserver. • Address determines internal/external route. • Mail forwarded to destination mailserver (domain/host). • Mail facility used to access. Workstation External gateway Mailserver • Mailhost Mailserver Workstation Using Electronic Mail

8. UNIX Mail Facilities • UNIX/SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) • mail (or sometimes mailx) - line oriented, can run on any terminal • Pine, Elm - screen oriented, needs a cursor-addressable screen like VT100 • Macintosh/Windows • Eudora - POP (Post Office Protocol) client, requires POP server • Others Using Electronic Mail

9. Locating Your Mailbox • Mail received by a server is usually stored in: • /var/spool/mail/userid host% ls -l /var/spool/mail/ths 256 -rw------- 1 ths 248615 Apr 25 11:50 /var/spool/mail/ths Using Electronic Mail

10. E-Mail Addresses • Usually a multi-part format: abc@lanl.gov • Additional hosts may be included: abc@hr.div1.stanford.edu Domain Host User Using Electronic Mail

11. Forwarding E-Mail • Most mail services allow forwarding. • Several systems on which you receive mail • One preferred to read and log your mail. • Set forwarding flag on those you do not want to read mail. • UNIX home directory labeled .forward. • Contains address where you read your mail. Using Electronic Mail

12. Forked Mail • POP Servers permit "forked" mail • Keeps a copy of each message • Forwards a copy to another address • Put addresses in the .forward file: • \chtxxxxx (Account to keep a copy) • def@lanl.gov (Address to forward a copy) Using Electronic Mail

13. Attachments • Most E-Mail systems communicate using ASCII character sets. • Binary data or formatted data may have to be sent using uuencode or binhex or mime. • Some mail readers cannot process these files. • Avoid sending anything but ASCII files unless you know that your recipient can handle them. Using Electronic Mail

14. End of Module Using Electronic Mail