Section 6 - Sending and Receiving Mail

To send an email message using an email application, such as WebMail or Eudora, you need to complete the following steps:

1. Specify the recipient's address.

2. Enter a subject line for your message.

3. Type your message. Most e-mail systems include a rudimentary text editor for composing messages, but many allow you to edit your messages using any editor you want.

4. You then send the message to the recipient

Sent messages are stored in electronic mailboxes, on a computer designated as a mail server, until the recipient connects to the Internet and instructs their email program to retrieve the incoming messages from the mail server. To see if you have any mail, you may have to check your electronic mailbox periodically, although many systems alert you when mail is received.

To retrieve your mail from any email system, you must be able to access the mail server. As you have learned, there is one primary domain name at St. Edward's University. The domain name, stedwards.edu, is used by faculty, staff, and students.

Some computers are connected to the Internet all the time through a network connection. Computers in the labs on campus are connected to a network. Students living in the residence halls also may elect to connect to the network in their rooms. The advantage to having a constant Internet connection is that your email application can be instructed to continuously check for incoming mail at specified intervals without any intervention from you.