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E-mail

E-mail, sometimes referred to as Internet mail, is an entirely electronic message. It is somewhat like a fax except that a fax machine converts text or an image from a piece of paper into digital form, transmits the data over a phone line and then converts it back to a piece of paper at the destination fax machine. E-mail is typed directly into the sender's computer and is interpreted by the recipient's computer without the need for paper copies.

Unlike a fax, however, an e-mail message travels over the network of computers known as the Internet. This has the advantage of being much cheaper than sending the message by fax to a far-flung destination because you only pay for the telephone connection to your Internet service provider.

When you send an e-mail message, you have to supply the address of the recipient or recipients of the message. This is analogous to putting an address on an envelope or entering a fax number into a fax machine, and just like a fax machine if you enter the wrong number it will not get through. However, you will receive a bounce message if you send an email to an invalid address.

A feature of e-mail that is not a standard feature of faxes or conventional mail is the concept of message and reply. If someone sends you an e-mail message about a particular subject, you can mark your return e-mail as being a response to the original message.

Ameol uses this feature of e-mail to great effect by building original e-mails and their responses into a 'tree' structure so that long discussions can be followed easily.

You can also attach a file to an e-mail message. This file does not have to be text, it can be a picture, a spreadsheet or whatever. Bear in mind, however, that the recipient of the file will need appropriate software to view any file that you send.