Sending an email

When you click on the ‘Compose’ button in the top left corner of your inbox, a blank panel opens showing three important spaces:

• ‘To’.

• ‘Subject’.

• ‘Your message’.

Some email providers call this button ‘New’ instead of ‘Compose’, or use a paper and pen icon. Gmail may use a multicoloured ‘+’ sign.

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Paper and pen icon

‘To’ is where you insert the email address of the person you want to send your message to (the recipient).

‘Subject’ is where you type a brief description of what the email is about. The person you send it to will see the subject of the email before they open it. It will help them decide if they want to read the message, so make sure the subject is as clear as possible.

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A screenshot of a ‘New Message’ window with ‘To’ and ‘Subject’ bars at the top and a large space below. ‘Cc’ and ‘Bcc’ are in the right of the ‘To’ bar and outlined in red. A paperclip icon is also outlined in red to the bottom left of the window, in line with a blue ‘Send’ button. Behind the message window, the Gmail inbox is visible with the left panel headings ‘Compose’ and ‘Inbox’ outlined in red.

If you want to copy other people into your email, click on ‘Cc’ (carbon copy) in the top right corner. This opens a new space where you can type in email addresses. ‘Bcc’ (blind carbon copy) allows you to add people to your email without other recipients being able to see their email addresses.

The larger space below the ‘Subject’ line is where you type your message. Emails are usually set out like a letter but are generally less formal in tone and style.