module 2 - Questions

1. What information about a user’s email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
The username indicates the sender of the message. Sometimes, but not always the username is the sender’s name. There are also automated senders, with usernames such as ‘no reply’, ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘info’ also give clues as to the sender. The domain name can sometimes gives an idea of the country (ie. @com.au represents Australia) or attribution of the message.

2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the ‘cc’, ‘bcc’ and ‘reply all’ functions of email?
The ‘cc’ (carbon copy) enables a copy of the message to be sent to other interested recipients. Instead of sending separate emails to each individual. It is not the main intended recipient and that the message is for information only and not directly intended for that person’s action.
The function of the ‘bcc’ (blind copy) recipient is when there is no desire or reason for the main recipient to know that a copy of the message has been sent to that person. Or you do not want the main recipient to know, the “bcc” email address.
The ‘reply all’ function is ideal for replying to the sender and all the recipients of the original message which appear in the ‘To’ section of the message header. It ensures that everybody is aware of your response.

3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
Attachments need to be in the correct format for the receiver to open them. They should be of a small file size as some internet users may have a slow internet speed making it near impossible to download large attachments. The default attachment choice for your mail program should be set to MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions).

4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
I have set up rules for communications coming from certain senders and with certain keywords in the subject titles. They are automatically moved to folders for action or archived until I need them. The purpose of this is to help me be better organized with my workload and clears up my inbox for emails that need immediate action.

5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I have folders and subfolders, which enables me to move selected items from my main Inbox. This makes it easier to locate correspondence, as any search is typically topic related. It also keeps my Inbox relatively small and forces me to either filed, archived or deleted emails.