How can I add a signature to my email messages in Outlook Express?

A signature file is a standard piece of text that is added to any message you send. Typically, a signature file contains your name, e-mail address, perhaps your mailing address and phone number, and a favorite expression or saying you wish to include in your e-mail.

Suggested guidelines for creating a signature file:

You may create the file with any editor or word processor.

Make sure the signature is no more than 80 characters wide. If you create a file that is longer than 80 characters, you will have to horizontally scroll across the screen to view the entire file.

Keep the signature short. Long files increase the size of an e-mail message, thus increasing the time to download the e-mail message

Use a short file name. This will aid you when searching for your signature file to configure within you browser.

To add a default signature to messages in Outlook Express:

• Open MICROSOFT OUTLOOK EXPRESS

• From the TOOLS menu, choose STATIONERY

• The Stationery window will appear

• Select the MAIL tab

• Choose the SIGNATURE button

• Select TEXT, and then enter the text you want to have added to the end of your messages

• Select ADD SIGNATURE TO THE END OF ALL OUTGOING MESSAGES if you wish to add it to the end of all outgoing messages

• Choose the OK button to close the Mail window

• Choose the OK button to close The Stationery window

To use an existing file for a signature file in Outlook Express:

• Open MICROSOFT OUTLOOK EXPRESS

• From the TOOLS menu, choose STATIONERY

• Select the MAIL tab

• Choose the SIGNATURE button

• Select FILE, then choose the BROWSE button

• A Browse dialog window will appear

• Locate and choose the file you want to use as a signature file (it must be a TEXT file and it should be fairly small)

• Select ADD SIGNATURE TO THE END OF ALL OUTGOING MESSAGES if you wish to add it to the end of all outgoing messages

• Choose the OK button to close the Mail window

• Choose the OK button to close The Stationery window

If you do not want your signature added automatically, you can add the signature on a message-by-message basis.

To add a signature on an individual basis in Outlook Express:

• From the COMPOSE menu, choose NEW MESSAGE

• Compose your e-mail message

• From the INSERT menu, choose SIGNATURE (this will place the signature you have created in the previous procedures into your message)

To add a signature file to a Message in Netscape Messenger:

• Open NETSCAPE MESSENGER

• From the EDIT menu, choose PREFERENCES

• The preferences window will appear

• Expand the MAIL & GROUPS category

• Select IDENTITY from the list

• Choose the CHOOSE button to locate your signature file

• Choose the OK button repeatedly until you are back to the main Netscape Messenger window
   

--return to questions

How can I change my mail sending format to plain text?

1. Click on "Tools" from the menus at the top of the screen.
2. Click "Options" from the Tools menu.
3. Click the "Send" tab.
4. Under "Mail Sending Format," choose "Plain Text."
5. Click "OK."

--return to questions

How can I delete an entry from my Outlook Express address book?

1. Click the "Address Book" button at the top of the screen.
2. Select the name/address you want to delete.  Make multiple selections by holding down the CTRL key as you click each name.
3. Click the "Delete" button (red X).
4. Click the "Yes" button when asked, "Are you sure you want to permanently delete the selected item(s)?"
5. Close the window by clicking the "X" when finished.

--return to questions

How can I display a message's full headers in Outlook Express?

With the keyboard:
CTRL-F3 (Message Source Window)
CTRL-A (select all)
CTRL-C (copy)
ALT-F4 (close)

With the mouse:
Click the "File" menu
Click "Properties"
Click the "Details" tab
Click "Message Source"
Highlight, copy and paste everything from this window (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C)
With viruses, worms and trojans being spread via e-mail, many users now work with the preview screen in Outlook Express turned off. Viewing the contents of e-mail in the preview screen is no different than opening the message. If the e-mail has malicious content, it may execute in the preview screen.

The following are instructions to obtain the full message source if you have the preview panel turned off:

Using the keyboard:

Highlight the message in the folder
Press alt & enter - this will open a message information window
Press Ctrl & Tab - this changes to the "Details" tab
Press Alt & m - the opens the message source
Press Ctrl & a - to select all the text
Press Ctrl & c - to copy the selected text to the clipboard
Press Alt & F4 - to close the message source window
Press the Esc keay - to close the information window
Switch to the SpamCop reporting page
With the curser in the parsing box, press Ctrl & v to paste the clipboard contents into the window
Click the Process Spam button.

--return to questions

How do I delete mail in Outlook Express without viewing it?

Go to view, layout, and remove the check from the preview pane. This will allow you to click on the messages and delete them without viewing them.

--return to questions

How do I edit an entry in my Outlook Express Address Book?

How do I edit an entry in my Outlook Express Address Book?

1. Click "Addresses" button.
2. Select the name/address you want to edit.
3. Click the "Properties" button.
4. Click the "Name" tab.
5. Make the desired changes to the name, email address or any other item.
6. Click  "OK."
7. Close the window by clicking the "X" in the upper right corner of the window.

--return to questions

How do I make sure that plain text messages only are sent to a recipient?

Assuming the recipient's address is in your Outlook Express address book,

1. Click on "Addresses" at the top of the screen.
2. Find the desired address and select it by clicking on it once.
3. Click "Properties."
4. Click the "Name" tab.
5. Click the checkbox next to "Send E-mail using plain text only."  Make sure there is a check mark in the box.
6. Click "OK."

--return to questions

How do I move Outlook Express settings from my old computer to the new one?

Outlook express data consists of the several parts.

• Email messages

• Account settings

• Address Book (if used)

• Mail rules (if any)

• Passwords

1. Email Messages:
 

From the Outlook Express menu select Tools | Options | Maintenance and click the Store Folder button. You see a dialog with the name of the directory that has your mail files. If you look in that directory you find files named after your mail folders and news groups. They all have a .DBX suffix. Outlook Express keeps all messages in these database files. If you make copies of these files regularly, you'll have a safe backup of your OE mail. 

Restore (if necessary): To restore the backup data, just copy it back to the directory. You can selectively restore folders by just copying specific files back. Alternatively, you can use OE's File | Import | Messages feature to import one or more of the backup folders.

2. Account settings:
 

Data about your mail and news accounts are stored in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet
Account Manager. To save this data, start RegEdit and select that key in the left-hand pane. Then from the menu select Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "outlook.reg". 

Restore (if necessary) To restore the account settings, right-click the .REG file and select Merge.
 

Note: As an alternative, you can save the data one account at a time through Outlook Express: click Tools | Accounts | Export and specify the name of the file to save the settings. Be sure to save this information for every account. 
 

3. Address Book
 

Getting the data out of your address book for safekeeping is relatively easy. From the menu select File | Export | Address Book and select the comma separated text file as your output format. Then select the fields you want to export. To make sure you know where the backup is going, give a full path name. To restore the address book or to get your addresses onto a new system, the process is not quite symmetrical. Select File | Import | Other address book and select the text file option again. You'll be given a list of fields to import. Since you're importing a file that was created by Outlook Express, you usually don't need to make any changes here. After that, click your way on through the wizard and you'll get your address book back. 

4. Mail Rules
 

The mail rules are stored at HKEY_CURRENT_USERIdentities. If you run Regedit and export this entire subkey to a file the same way you did with account settings:
from the menu select Registry | Export Registry File. Save the file to a name like "rules.reg". 

Restore (if necessary):  Under the Identities key each subkey has a long number that looks similar to {36753740-2WEE-781D3-89B1-00A0C9900DSA}. So if you have five different identities in Outlook you will have five of these long numbers. Below the numbers are all the settings specific the the identity (signatures, mail rules,...). If you are restoring without reinstall and on the same PC these numbers do not change (as far as we know !) and you can just restore the registry entries by clicking on the reg file.

--return to questions

How do I setup Outlook Express?

• Open Outlook Express
• Click Tools and Accounts
• Select the Mail tab
• If you have an old email account that you are not using you can delete it by selecting the account and clicking remove.
• Click Add
• Select Mail
• Type in the name you want people to see when you send them email
• Click Next
• Type in your email address
• Click Next
• The Incoming mail server is a POP3 server
• Type the incoming mail server name, pop.connectnc.net
• Type the outgoing mail server name, smtp.connectnc.net
• Click Next
• Your account name should already be typed in
• If you want Outlook Express to save your password, type in your password
• If you don't take the check out of save password, Do NOT check log on using secure password authentication
• Click Next
• Click Finish

--return to questions

How I can prevent Outlook Express from automatically adding everyone I reply to, to my address book?

--return to questions

OE removed access to the following unsafe attachments in your mail?

In Outlook Express go to Tools->Options and click on the Security tab. Remove the check mark from "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus".

Make sure you have checked the box that says "Warn me when other attachments try to send mail as me".

Make sure there is a dot beside "Internet Zone" and not beside "Restricted Sites".

--return to questions

Why does my computer disconnect after I send e-mail?

The most likely cause for this is that you are using Microsoft Outlook Express and it is set to disconnect after retrieving and sending e-mail.
 
To fix this open Outlook Express and click on Tools and Options.
 
Click on the folder connnection and uncheck "Hangup after Sending and Receiving."

--return to questions