E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS

HOW TO SEND A FILE TO SOMEONE

BY ATTACHING IT TO AN E-MAIL MESSAGE



"The Scream"* by Edvard Munch

*believed to have been painted after attempting to learn Windows 95 and Unix on the same day

Preliminaries | Prepare your File | Open Your Mail Program | Open a New Mail Message Screen |

Write the New Mail Message | Attach Your File | Send Your E-mail Message & Attachment | Confirm Receipt

You have completed a document and you need to send it to someone. You could print out your document and put it in the mail, but that would take time and cost money. You could print out your document and send it by fax, but that would cost money for the telephone toll charges and both you and the recipient need fax machines or fax modems. The easiest and cheapest way to send your document to someone is to attach the file for your document to an e-mail message and send it to the recipient that way.

The instructions here tell you how to attach your file to an e-mail message and send it to someone else via e-mail. We will focus on word-processing files, but the instructions work for any type of file on your computer -- a graphics file, a file for a spreadsheet, or any other type of file you can save on your computer.


PRELIMINARIES:

First, you need an e-mail account, either at CSULB or through a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP), such a CompuServe, AT&T Worldnet, AOL, or Netcom.

To find out how to get a CSULB account for registered students and use your account on campus, see E-Mail.

Second, you need to know how to send an e-mail message. If you don't know how to do this:

Review Internet Access Tools, published by Academic Computing Services, Section III #16 (Netscape Mail for Windows) or Section IV #23 (Netscape Mail for Macintosh).

The instructions here use the Netscape Mail program. But the same procedures are available with other popular mail programs, such as Eudora.

STEP ONE: Prepare your file

You are getting ready to send me the word-processing file for your document. When I receive it, I will open your file on my computer and read it on my screen and perhaps print out your document on my printer. You need to prepare your file so I can open and read it.

Naming your file: Dozens of other people send me files this way. So you need to give your file a name that will be distinctive to you so I can find it on my computer. Name your file with your last name, or the first eight letters of your last name: e.g., smith.doc or jones.wp Avoid filenames like paper.doc or 361.wp as other people are likely to choose the same names.

File-name extensions: The last three letters (to the right of the period) are called the "extension." Your word-processing program will assign the extension to identify which word-processing program you are using. Let your word-processing program assign the extension it wants to. Do not re-write or change the extension. E.g., if you using WordPerfect, it will give your file the extension of .wp or .wpd - depending on which version of WordPerfect you are using. If you are using Word, it will give your file the extension of .doc.

Word-processing format: I have software on my computer that will recognize many different word-processing programs and allow me to open your file. Following is a list of the programs I can open. If your program is on this list, then go ahead and save your file as you normally do on your word-processing program, and continue to Step Two below:

*If you are using Word 8.0 or Office 97, please use "save-as" to save your file as Word 7.0 or as Wordperfect. Microsoft changed the file format on Word between 7 and 8 and I won't be able to open your 8. (Why did Microsoft do that?? Ask Bill Gates!)

If your word-processing program is not on this list, then my computer will not recognize your file in its current format. You need to save your file as a "text" file. This will save the words so I can read them, but not the formatting. Text files are sometimes called ANSI for Windows or ASCII for DOS. The file extension for a text file is: .txt

To save your document file as a text file, use the "save-as" command on your word-processing program. This leaves your original file unchanged, but saves your text as a second file in another format. You will be sending me this second file. Look at your word-processing documentation or "help" menu to see how to use the "save-as" command. When you use the command "save-as" it will ask you what file format you want to save your file in. Look for "text" or "ANSI" or "ASCII" and choose that. It should add the .txt extension.

STEP TWO: Open your mail program

Next, you need to open your Netscape mail program, just as you always do if you want to read or send e-mail:

That will open your Netscape mail program.

STEP THREE: Open a new mail message screen

Next, you need to open a new mail message screen, just as you would if you wanted to send an ordinary e-mail message:

This will open a new screen that says "message composition" across the top.

STEP FOUR: Write the new mail message

You are preparing to send me an e-mail message, so complete the screen as you normally would:

I am sending you a file attachment with my Short Paper I. The name of my file is smith.wp. I used WordPerfect 5.1 to write the file. -Jane Smith
NOTE: It's a good idea to include your name in the message text, especially if you're not sure that your e-mail address will make clear who you are.
Do not send the message yet. You still need to attach your file to this message.

STEP FIVE: Attach your file

Now you need to tell Netscape Mail that you want to attach a file to this message:

If your file is on a floppy disk in the A drive, you need to click to the "A" drive in the window and then highlight your file by clicking once on the file name.
If your file is on your hard disk, you need to click to the hard disk, then to the directory where your file is located, and then highlight your file by clicking once on the file name.

STEP SIX: Send your e-mail message and attachment

You are now ready to send the e-mail message. Note that, to the right of "attachment," your file name is now listed. If that line is still blank, go back to the start of Step Five and try again.

Click the "send" button. When you send your message, the mail program will "grab" a copy of your file from your disk and attach it to the e-mail message you are sending.

Your file will still be on your own disk when you are finished. The mail program is just taking a copy of your file.

STEP SEVEN: Confirm receipt

The next time I check my e-mail, I should receive your message in my mail program. At the end of your message to me, there will be a line telling me where the mail program has put your file in my hard disk. (The mail program sends all the file attachments to a subdirectory it set up during installation of the program.) I will log off and try to open your file in the correct word-processing program. I will then send you an e-mail message to tell you that your transfer succeeded or that it didn't and you need to try again. If you are new at this, please check back to see that I have confirmed receipt of your file. If you want to practice a little by sending me other files ahead of time before your paper is done, that's fine too.

If you are sending an attachment to someone else, you should ask that person to confirm receipt in your transmittal message, just to be sure they got it.

OTHER MAIL PROGRAMS

The same procedures work on other mail programs, such as Eudora or Internet Explorer/Mail. The names on the buttons and pull-down menus might be a little different, but the principles are the same.

On my computer, I also have the mail programs for Eudora and Internet Explorer. If you are using those and have problems, let me know so I can try to figure out where you are going awry.

If you are using a different mail program from a commercial Internet Service Provider, you should be able to send a file attachment following the same general principles. Former students on AOL, CompuServe, Netcom, and AT&T WorldNet have been able to successfully send me files this way. If you can't get the guidelines above to work, look at your ISP's on-line "help" section or call their 800-number for help.

All of these mail programs are "popmail" programs. If you have access to an earlier, pre-PPP mail program, such as a Unix shell, these directions won't work. Please use the mail program on your Netscape Navigator program to send attachments.


Comments and questions are welcome: jvancamp@csulb.edu

Julie Van Camp

Associate Professor of Philosophy

California State University, Long Beach

Return to the Class Home Page for PHIL 361 (Spring 1998)

Return to the Class Home Page for PHIL 361 (Spring 1997)

*The Scream (1893) courtesy of Public Maintainers, The Netherlands

Last updated: November 21, 1997