Hotmail - a useful tool.

Gail Mann

Getting Started
Signing Up
Logging In
Composing an email
Using the Address Book
Creating Folders
More Options
Attachments
Teaching Tips
Getting started


Hotmail is one of many virtual free e-mail accounts available today on the internet. It is easily accessible from any web browser and very convenient if you want to be able to check your e-mail from any computer. It is also useful when using e-mail with your pupils as they can access the account easily both at school and at home (if they have an internet connection).
To open a hotmail account, go to the following address:
You will get the following:



 

Signing Up

Click on the "Sign up Here" button and you will be taken to the "Terms of agreement" page. Click "I accept"
 


 

You will then be taken to the registration page.
 
 
 
 


 

Read the instructions and fill in all your details carefully.
Make a note of your password and login name.
Don't forget to fill in the section called:
Non-U.S. Residents Only
State/Province - (your city, town, village
Country/ Region - (find Israel)


Postal Code - (zip code)
Once you have completed the process, you may receive a message saying you need to choose a different login name as the one you chose is already in use.
Once your registration has been processed and you receive confirmation of your new e-mail address, write it down and save it!
 
Logging in


Return to the first screen and login as a registered user.
Fill in the space "Login Name" with your new login name and the "Password" with you password. Click on Enter.



 

Composing an email

OK - it's time to send an e-mail message. Just for practice send an e-mail message to yourself. Click on Compose on the left of the screen.

The TO: box fill in the correct e-mail address and the subject of the message in the subject box and write a few words in the body of the message.

 
Note that you can check your spelling and use the on-line dictionary and thesaurus.
When you have finished, click on the Send button. 
You will receive confirmation that your message has been sent and should now be able to see the title of your message in your inbox.
Click on the message (From) and the text will come up. 


 
 
 
 

 
 

There are many more features in your hotmail account. Take a look at the possibilities in the left column.

So far you have used the In-box (to see your message) and the Compose (to write your message) functions. 


Using the Address Book

Now let's take a look at the Addresses function - click on Addresses.

This is an address book where you can save addresses. You will notice two options: individual addresses or groups addresses. Click on Create in the Individual section and you will get the following screen: You only need to fill in the nickname and e-mail - the other fields are optional. Add all the addresses on the board now. Click OK after each address.
Now you can send e-mail to any of these addresses by clicking on compose and them on quicklist. You will then see all the names you added to your address book. Select one and send a message. Do this now.
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
The other option in the address book is to create a group of addresses. Click on Addresses and then choose the group option. The following screen will come up:

If there is a group of people who you regularly send the same message, creating a group address is very helpful. This way you can send to everyone without either send the same message to each individual or doing Cc or Bcc many times.


Creating Folders
 

If you have too many messages cluttering up your inbox but you want to still keep them, you can create a folder to move them into. Click on Folders in the left column. You will get the following:

 

Click on create to make a new folder. Choose a name and create your new folder. 

Go back to your inbox and move some of your messages to this folder by:

  1. Select the messages you want to move
  2. Select the folder you want to move them to
  3. Click move to
Now check that these messages are in fact in this folder.
Prepare more folders - you may want a folder for school, for personal, for this project, etc…
Delete the messages you do not want to keep.
 
More Options

There are many more options in your hotmail account. Click on Options in the left column. The following screen will come up: 

Check out the different options and fill in whatever you would like to. 


Attachments

You can send and receive an attachment to messages. An attachment is a file that comes with your e-mail message, but in order to view that message you need to open it in a different program. It could be a picture, a web page, a word file, or any other kind of file. Click on the message and you will see the following:

 


 

You have two options to download the attachment - either with or without checking the file for viruses. You should first check for viruses.

Click on Download to see the attachment.
 
 

 
To add an attachment to an e-mail message - Click on Compose  and then Attachment.Look for the file you want to send and click ok. It's as simple as that.
 

Teaching Tips


You can open hotmail accounts for your students or better yet have them open up an account for themselves. 
You can then create a group address so that you can send the whole class one message.
What kind of messages can you send your class?
You can send them their lesson assignment by e-mail - especially if they need to visit sights with long URL's - the links come up as "hot links" in the message and they simply have to click on the link to get to the site.
You can also ask questions in the email and have the pupils use the reply function to answer (a virtual workpage).
Your pupils can also send notes to each other (individually or to the whole group), depending on the assignment.
They can also send hotmail greetings or for that matter any other virtual greeting card if you include the link in the message.

Nifty tool - saves time, saves paper and saves you straining your eyes finding the typo your pupils made in the URL they copied incorrectly.
Enjoy!