E-mail

It is electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is used to exchanging messages from an sender to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Email systems are based on a store-and-forward model where the email servers accept, forward, deliver and store messages. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need connect only briefly, typically to an email server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages. E-mail has usually two parts separated by ‘@’, data before it is the user name and after it is the domain.

E-mail components (address, signature, attachments)
Various components of e-mail are

Addresses- Consist of: username@domain. At OSU, the username is the person’s last name followed by a period and a number. The domain is always osu.edu (staff/faculty) OR buckeyemail.osu.edu (students).
Messages- First, set up your mail program. When you receive mail, it is downloaded into your Inbox. Send messages and copy to others (use CC: and BCC: fields). Reply to messages you receive, or forward them to others.
Attached Files- When sending other files as attachments to messages, be aware of what file formats your reader can open. Try to use cross-platform formats that can be read on a PC or a Macintosh. Also be aware that attachments may carry computer viruses. Managing Your E-mail- Use folders (or mailboxes) to store and organize mail you wish to keep. Use filters (or message rules) to route certain messages to mailboxes automatically. If you have several e-mail accounts, set up one program to retrieve mail from all of them.
Signatures and Style- Signatures are small text files that contain contact or other information and can be added automatically to your messages. Observe rules of online courtesy and style (netiquette) when sending e-mail.

Email has three main parts of headers, message body and signature. The headers are pieces of information that tell the email system several important things about a piece of email. Each header has a specific name and purpose. When reading an email message, these headers are seen as

Subject: The subject of the email
Date: When the email was sent
From: The email address of the sender
To: The email address of the recipient
CC: or Bcc: Carbon copy or duplicate of e-mail or a blind carbon copy to recipient address