Email, without the worry

1. How email actually works. Let’s begin with what email really is, because once you picture it clearly the rest feels easy.
2. Reading and replying without fear. Opening an email to read it is as safe as opening a letter — simply select it from the list and it opens for you to read.
3. Sending well: subjects, To, CC and BCC. Now for sending your own emails, which is where a couple of small habits make you look like an old hand.
4. Attachments, both ways. An attachment is a file clipped to an email — a photo, perhaps, or a document.
5. Taming the inbox. As the emails pile up, two buttons keep the clutter down.
6. Email safety essentials. This lesson ties everything to one big idea, and it is worth saying plainly: your email account is the key to everything else .
7. A little housekeeping. Congratulations — the essentials are behind you, and this last lesson is a gentle extra: a few “housekeeping” touches that make email feel like your own comfortable armchair.

1. Picture your email address as your own postbox online - with webmail you can read the same inbox on a laptop, tablet or phone.
2. Use Reply to answer only the sender; use Reply all only when you truly mean everyone on the message to see it.
3. Give every email a short, clear subject line so the reader knows what it is about before opening.
4. Emailing a group who do not all know each other? Put their addresses in BCC so each address stays hidden from the rest.
5. Only open an attachment when you know the sender and were expecting it - if in doubt, leave it and check first.
6. Delete junk; archive things you may want later; and glance in your Junk or Spam folder now and then for genuine mail.
7. Only click Unsubscribe on emails from companies you signed up to - never on suspicious ones, where you should delete instead.
8. Give your email account your strongest password and use it nowhere else - it is the key to your other accounts.
9. Scams rush you or scare you, so slow down: no genuine bank or company will email asking for your password or a code, or tell you to move money to a safe account.
10. If a scam strikes: forward scam texts to 7726, forward dodgy emails to report@phishing.gov.uk, and call your bank - 159 puts you through to most banks. Stuck? Call 365 Techies on 01202 775566.

🖨️ Print my checklist