Address books

Imagine trying to remember the e-mail addresses of all your friends, family members and work contacts.

It would be a pretty difficult task, but that's where your e-mail address book comes in handy.

We'll show you how to save e-mail addresses to your address book and how to use them to send e-mail messages to one or more friends.

How it works

When you write a letter you have your address book or diary handy, to help you remember postal addresses.

When you want to send the letter you just copy the address from your book onto the envelope.

Most e-mail programs have an address book function that does exactly the same thing. It stores e-mail addresses until you need to copy them to send new e-mails.

Storing e-mail addresses

When you want to write an e-mail you can use your online address book just like your postal address book.

You store people's e-mail addresses in the online address book so that you don't need to remember them.

Some e-mail address books even let you store e-mail addresses under people's nicknames as well as people's full names. This can make it easier to use.

Opening your address book

When you want to send an e-mail message your program copies the address from your address book into the e-mail.

This helps you address e-mails quickly without having to type them in, but it does mean you have to remember to store addresses in your book.

When you start a new e-mail or are replying to one you received you can open the address book by clicking on the 'Address Book' button on the top toolbar of your e-mail program.

The 'Address Book' button often has an icon that looks like the open pages of a book. This icon can often be found on the blank e-mail message as well.

Different programs may use different pictures or words for the button you use to open your address book. The address book might also look different, but they all work in the same way.

Selecting an address

Most address books will be divided into two halves - one half listing all the e-mail addresses of your friends and family, the other half providing space for the 'To:' and 'Cc:' categories on your new e-mail.

To use an e-mail address from your address book you must move it from the address book to the 'To:' box. To do this, just select the name in the address list and click on the 'To:' button.

Clicking the 'To:' button will transfer the address you select onto the new e-mail. You can press the 'To:' button and add as many different e-mail addresses as you want to an e-mail.

The 'Cc:' button transfers addresses onto the blank e-mail in exactly the same way. 'Cc:' stands for 'carbon copy' as it allows you to send copies of e-mails to people other than the main recipient.

Click on the 'OK' button when you have added all the addresses you need.