Replying to Email Messages

When you receive an Email message that requires a response, you have several options for replying:

• You can reply only to the person who sent the message.
• You can reply to the sender and all other people mentioned in the To and CC fields.
• You can forward the message to someone who did not receive the message.

To reply to an Email message

1. Make sure the message to which you want to reply is open.

2. Do one of the following:

   • To reply only to the person, who sent the message, click Reply.

   • To reply to all persons mentioned in the To and CC lines, click Reply to All.

   • To forward the message to one or more people, who did not receive the message, click Forward.

3. When the new message appears, type your reply at the top of the original message or, go to any place in the message where you want to insert a reply and begin typing. You can also edit the original message.
4. When finished, send the message as you normally do.
5. You can also customize the appearance of replies and forwarded messages.

To customize the appearance of replies

1. On the Tools menu, click Options. The Options dialog box opens.

2. On the Preferences tab, click Email options. The Email options dialog box opens.

3. In the When replying to a message list, select the appearance option you prefer.

4. In the When forwarding a message list, select the appearance option you prefer.

5. If you have selected Prefix each line of the original message, you can specify a customized prefix. The default is “>.”

6. If you would like your reply comments marked with text such as your name or initials, select the check box and specify a mark.

7. Click OK to close the Email options dialog box and then click OK to close the Options dialog box.

You can automatically reply to incoming messages while out of the office by:

1. On the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant.

2. Click I am currently Out of the Office.

3. In the AutoReply only once to each sender with the following text box, type the message you want to send to others while you are out.

When sending messages to other people, you have several options for marking the messages. These options include:

• Setting Importance. This helps the recipients of your messages determine when they need to read and/or respond to the message. You can send messages marked as High, Normal, or Low importance. The default is Normal.

• Setting Sensitivity. You can mark a message with one of four sensitivity levels to help the recipient know if the message needs special handling. You can mark messages as Normal, Personal, Private, or Confidential. The default is Normal.

• Using Voting. Incorporate voting buttons into messages you send to others. For example, query others as to whether or not they would like a review session before a test and have them use voting buttons to return answers to you.

• Tracking. Ask to be notified when the message has been delivered or when the message has been read.

• Choosing Delivery Options. Choose who receives replies to your emails (if not you), choose where incoming mail is stored, and other options.

To set other message options

Some message options are only available if you are using Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Server (Workgroup mode).

1. Make sure the message for which you want to select options is open.
2. Address and compose the message.
3. On the standard toolbar, click Options. The Message Options dialog box opens.
4. Do any or all of the following:
5. Click Close to close the Message Options dialog box.
6. Send the message as you normally do.

Message Option Tips

Consider using message options for the following situations:

• Send confidential information such as grade reports with a sensitivity rating (personal, private, or confidential). Many users may share their Email accounts with others.
• Mark time sensitive announcements with a high importance flag and request that others do the same, so that everyone knows to respond to those messages first.
• Create your own voting buttons for polling others. Type the button text in the Using voting buttons field. Type semi-colons between the text for each button. For example, if you are trying to collect input to plan a service learning activity, you could create buttons that said “Hillview Retirement Center,” “Mountainview School,” and “Edgewood School,” by typing “Hillview Retirement Center; Mountainview School; Edgewood School” in the Using voting buttons field.
  (Note: If you send out a voting message, put “Voting message” or “Open this voting message” in the Subject field. Recipients will only be able to see the voting buttons if they open the message; they will not see them in AutoPreview or Messages view from the Inbox.)
• Use Outlook’s feature that automatically tracks responses to voting messages. Open the voting message that you originally sent (probably in your Sent Items folder). Click the Tracking tab to see the reply totals and individual message status.
• Request notification when important messages have been delivered and read. For example, if you send out quizzes or assignments through Email, you can verify that others have read the messages.
• If you are collaborating on a project and want replies to your Email sent to someone else, use the Have replies sent to option. For example, if you are coordinating a conference but someone else is figuring out the schedule of presenters, you may send out a request for RSVP but want the replies to go directly to your coordinator. Or, you may want requests for information to go directly to a research assistant.
• Use delayed delivery to set up ahead of time assignments, study sheets, announcements, or whatever else you want to be sent at a future date.
• If you are sending time-sensitive messages that become irrelevant after a certain date, set the message to expire.

You can customize the way messages are viewed. You can set a different order from the default view.

To Use Views

Select Current View from the View menu and select the view you wish from the list.

The available views are:

• Messages - Default view with one line for each message.

• Messages with AutoPreview - Same as the Message view with three lines of the message added.

• By Follow-up Flag - Messages sorted by type of follow-up flag.

• Last Seven Days - Messages that arrived in the last seven days.

• Flagged for the Next Seven Days - Shows flagged messages that are due in the next seven days.

• By Conversation Topic - Messages grouped by subject.

• By Sender - Messages grouped and sorted by sender.

• Unread Messages - Messages that have not been read.

• Sent To - Messages are displayed in a list by recipient instead of the normal, by sender.

• Message Timeline - Messages arranged in chronological order on a timeline.