A simple e-mail message in this documentation means one that you type yourself, filling in the body and the subject of the message from the Keyboard, just as you do when you select new message in your e-mail program.

You can set up a simple e-mail message by selecting an e-mail address stored in the WintextCom directory without any special formatting. This is the simplest type of e-mail entry, when you simply type an e-mail address in the Information box of the store item dialogue, or select an e-mail address for storing from another application. The effect of selecting such an entry is the same as selecting new message in your e-mail program, except that the To box of the new message dialogue is automatically filled in with the e-mail address selected in the WintextCom directory.

Exactly what happens when you select a simple e-mail entry in the directory depends on which e-mail program you use. With Outlook Express, for example, the To box is filled in and the insertion cursor remains in that box, so you need to move to the Subject box (for instance by pressing the Tab key) in order to enter the message subject. But with Microsoft Outlook, the insertion cursor is automatically placed in the Subject box, with th To box filled in as above.

If you wish to enter more recipients, move the insertion cursor to the appropriate box of the new message dialogue (To, CC or BC). If there is already one or more e-mail addresses in that box, as is necessarily the case with the To box, you will need to make sure the insertion cursor is passed the last entry, on a new line or separated from it by a comma or semicolon, according to the requirements of your e-mail program. Once you have the insertion cursor in the right place, find the address you want to add in the directory and press ENTER or left click in the entry; the address will be pasted into the box at the cursor position, as if you had typed it, just like when you press Control ENTER or double click an entry. Because you have already started a new e-mail, if you subsequently select another e-mail address, WintextCom assumes it is required to be an additional recipient of the existing new message.

When you are writing the message, you can include any information from the directory using the options on the directory Send menu. Note that to insert a telephone number or similar item, you must select

"I: Current item"

from the menu, double left click the entry, or highlight it and press Control ENTER; retrieving by standard selection only applies to e-mail addresses because starting a new message is not available while one is already being written.

When the message is finished, click your e-mail program's send button, or press Control ENTER, or whatever you normally do to send a message. The message is either sent immediately or placed in your e-mail program's outbox to be sent next time mail is sent out, depending on your system's settings. Some e-mail programs stay open when you have sent the message; others, such as Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook, close immediately, thereby presenting no interruption whatsoever to your use of whatever application you were working in when you decided to send a message to someone.

You can send an e-mail message using a WintextCom directory entry as above even if you are already using your e-mail program and could select its new message dialogue directly. Often, starting a new message from the WintextCom directory while working in your e-mail program has exactly the same effect as invoking its new message dialogue, but in some cases it is possible it could result in two separate instances of the e-mail program running at the same time, depending on how the program is designed to work.

If for any reason you do not want to be able to send messages from the WintextCom directory, you can turn this feature of with the "m" configuration switch, followed by a minus sign ("-"). In that case, selecting an e-mail address always pastes it into the underlying application window.

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Sending a Simple E-mail Message