What is electronic mail?
Electronic mail is a way to send messages
over a computer network. E-mail messages
travel across the network quickly. On
campus, they usually arrive a few minutes
after they are sent.
Who uses electronic mail?
Many students, faculty and staff and a
growing number of organizations all over
the world use e-mail. You can contact your
colleagues and friends both inside and
outside Penn using e-mail.
Getting Started
After logging into account(i.e. mail.sas or ssc.sas, type elm at the % prompt.
E-mail etiquette
Since e-mail messages are read on a
computer screen, people often like to keep
messages, paragraphs and sentences short.
However, don't forget to be polite.
Use blank lines between paragraphs to improve readability.
Use asterisks for *emphasis* and capital letters for SHOUTING.
Show humor with a sideways smiley : - )
Always remember that the recipient of your e-mail is a human being. Please treat other people the way you prefer to be treated.
Help with mail
To get help, see the instructions in the
packet you received from your school
with your computer account.
Security
E-mail is like an electronic postcard: occasionally
others might come in contact with messages you
send. So don't send confidential information by
e-mail.
Account policy
Don't share your Penn computer account. Use a
secure password, and do not give it to others. See
your school's policy for more information about
uses of computers.
E-mail addresses
To find your e-mail address, type the
command "myaddress" at the
% prompt. Addresses have the form:
steve@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
E-mail addresses contain a person's user-ID, "at," the computer name, the organization name, and the network name, with no spaces in between. To send mail to someone on the same computer, the user-ID (steve) is all you need for the address. Sending mail to a different Penn computer, use both the user-ID and the computer name (steve@eniac.seas) for the address.
To find out another person's e-mail address, ask him or her what it is. To search Penn's online e-mail directory for an address, enter "?" the Send the Message to: prompt.
Reading a Message
Sending a Message
Subject of message: Hi, elmo [enter] (Type a subject here)
Copies to: (Do you want to send copies?
If so, type e-mail addresses
separated by spaces. If not
press [enter])
Next, you will see the pico editor. Use pico to compose the text of
your message.
Then when you're finished with pico, you'll see:
Please choose one of the following options by parenthesized letter:
e)dit message, edit h)eaders, s)end it, or f)orget it.
Press [enter] to send, or "e" to go back to pico and edit
again, or "h" to change the recipient's e-mail address and
subject, or "f" not to send the message at all.
To reply to a highlighted message, press r
Copy message? (y/n) n - (The highlighted letter is n for
No, don't include a copy of the original
message.
Press [enter] to accept this choice or press
"y" if you do want to include a copy.
Subject of message: (The subject of the original message will be put
here, but you can change it by backspacing,
then typing a new subject
Next, you'll see the pico editor, the same as when mailing a
new message. When you're finished with pico you'll be asked
if you want to send, edit again, edit the headers, or forget it.
To delete the highlighted message, press "d"
Delete your messages when you are done with them.
To see more elm commands, press "?" for help.
To quit from elm, press "q"
To read a highlighted message, press return or enter
Press the spacebar to see the next page of a long message.
When finished reading, press i to return to the index/menu screen
To mail a message, press m. You will be prompted like this:
Send the message to: elmo [enter] ( Type the recipient's e-mail address here. In this case,
it's only a user-ID, because elmo is at the same computer.)
Back to E-Mail Help Menu.