1.
An attachment is simply an extra item in your e-mail envelope. It could be
a photograph to share with a friend, a word-processed document or even an
eye-catching website.
2.
Sending an e-mail attachment is slightly more complicated than slipping
paper into an envelope. The recipient may not be able to read Microsoft
Word documents, for example, so it is best to send a file in a format most
people can read, such as Rich Text Format (RTF). To save a document as an
RTF, click File, Save As. Click on the arrow beside the window that says
Save As Type and select RTF.
3.
Clipping a document to an e-mail is simple. First create a new e-mail,
then in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, click on the paperclip
icon. Find the desired file in its directory, either double click on it or
click once and then click Attach.
4.
The size of the attachment can prove to be a nuisance to the person you
are sending it to: if the file is too large, the recipient will die of
boredom waiting for it to transfer from their e-mail account to their
computer. Try to keep e-mail attachments to a size smaller than 250kb.
5.
There
are various ways to open e-mail attachments. Double-click on the
attachment's icon to open it immediately (providing you have the right
software). Alternatively, right-click on an icon in Outlook and select
Save As (to save the file) or Quick View (to open the document).
6.
The
secret to opening attachments is to find out which format they have been
sent in. The three letters after the dot in the attachment's file name are
the key. For example, filename.mp3 is a music file, filename.doc is a Word
document, filename.jpg is a picture. If possible, check which programs the
recipient of the e-mail has on their computer before sending an
attachment.
7.
Long
documents attached to e-mails may arrive in a Portable Document Format
(PDF). These can be viewed by downloading the free PDF Reader from www.adobe.com/support/downloads.
8.
A
common e-mail attachment is a compressed file, a file that has been
"squashed" by a special software program, the most popular of
these being WinZip. A copy of the WinZip program can be downloaded from www.winzip.com
to restore Zip files to full working order.
9.
Pictures
are often the hardest attachments to open. Jpeg files, for example, are
commonly used for sending photographs, but cannot be opened by the
built-in Windows Imaging software. Instead, save the image from the e-mail
(see 5) onto your desktop, open your web browser, and drag and drop the
file into your browser window.
10.
Blindly opening
attachments can be dangerous. Viruses can be hidden inside them and, once
open, wreak havoc. Do not open Visual Basic (filename.vbs) and executable
(filename.exe) files if there is any doubt as to their content.
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