Some people are having difficulty reading their Mail attachments. Usually, the cause of such problems is not having a program that can display the attached file.
Let's say you get a picture attachment with a .TIF extension, and you ask Microsoft Internet Explorer to open the file. Then all you get is the Open With dialog box. The problem is that you have no program installed to display TIF files. The only way around this is to obtain a program that will read TIF files.
Let's consider the other side of this scenario. You're about to send some pictures of your kids to Uncle Clyde out in Arizona. The pictures are in JPG format. Will Uncle Clyde be able to see the pictures? Maybe not. The best approach may be for you to convert the pictures to BMP format, since all Windows 95/98 installations include Paint to read BMP files.
In general, you should be very careful about the attachments you send. If you don't know for certain that the recipients can read the file, take another approach. For example, if you work in Microsoft Word, rather than send the file in Word format (which the recipient may or may not be able to read), save the file as RTF before you send it. Most word processors will read RTF files. Save those picture files as BMP to make sure that recipients can read them.
A reader says that when she saves new mail to the Draft folder, she can't then send that mail later. The problem here is that you can't just select a message in the Draft folder and then click a Send button somewhere. What you need to do is go to the Draft folder and double-click the message you want to send. This opens the standard message window, which does have a Send button. Just click Send and your message will go to the Outbox, and from there it will get sent the next time you click Send and Receive.
A subscriber wants to remind everyone that looking for a way to set sounds in Outlook Express is a waste of time--you have to set the sounds in Windows 95/98.
If you want a sound to notify you when you have mail in your Inbox, click Start, Settings and then select Control Panel. When Control Panel opens, double-click the Sounds icon to open the Sounds dialog box. Under Events, locate New Mail Notification and select it. Click Browse and select a sound file from your collection. Click OK to get back to the Sounds dialog box.
To test your new sound, click the Play button to the right of the sound name. If you don't like your first choice, you can click Browse again to choose a new sound. Once you're happy with your selection, click OK to close the Sounds dialog box and record your change.
A subscriber would like to know if there's a way to save Microsoft Outlook Express messages without saving attachments. When you open a message and choose File, Save As, you can click the arrow to the right of the Save As Type list box to expand the list. If you select Mail (*.eml), the message will be saved in Outlook Express format, and any attachments will be saved along with the message. If you select Text Files (*.txt), the message will be save in text format without the attachment.
Note: If you like, you can save the attachment separately by choosing File, Save Attachments.
In Microsoft Internet Mail and Internet Explorer, you can choose whether to use a preview pane or not. To make the choice, choose View, Preview Pane (or Layout) and select from None, Split Vertically, or Split Horizontally. If you elect to use the preview pane, you can also decide whether you want to view the header information in the preview pane (From, To, Subject). Choose View, Preview Pane (or Layout) and select Header Information. When Header Information is checked, selecting it turns off the feature. When it's not checked, selecting it turns it on.
When you want to forward an e-mail message to someone else, you can click Forward Message and then select a recipient. Alternatively, you can forward the message as an attachment. Select the message and choose Compose, Forward as Attachment. This retains the message's original format and attaches it to a new message.