FREE EMAIL TUTORIALS

Desktop Email Programs

Our free email tutorials will explain how to use these email applications (or "mail clients"), from the basics (like setting up an email account (POP3/IMAP), sending and receiving mail) to more advanced topics, (like customizing your email program, efficiently managing your emails, creating email rules and filters…).

Apple Mail / Mac Mail

Since Apple released Mac OS X, we now have a native email client bundled with the Mac operating system; Apple Mail ("Mac Mail") has ousted Outlook Express as the most popular Mac email program. Apple Mail is an easy-to-use but feature-rich email client: Apple Mail Tutorial.

Mozilla Mail / SeaMonkey Mail

Mozilla Mail (now "SeaMonkey Mail") is the email client from the Browsing Suite, made by the Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla Mail can be used as a standalone email application, or alongside the Suite. Our tutorial focuses on Mozilla Mail as a standalone email program: Mozilla Mail Tutorial.

Mozilla Thunderbird

Like Mozilla Mail, Thunderbird is created by the Mozilla Foundation. Thunderbird is a standalone and free email program, user-friendly and including advanced customization options. Get started and learn about the most popular open source email client with our Mozilla Thunderbird Tutorial.

Opera Mail ("M2")

Opera ASA, the maker of the Opera browser, started offering Opera M2 bundled with its browser. Opera Mail is rightfully coined by its creators as a revolutionary email program, which takes an approach to email management not unlike Gmail's. Get started with our Opera Mail Tutorial.

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is currently the most widely used email program in the business world. While Outlook 2003 does more than just email, our tutorial will focus on showing you how to operate and customize Outlook's email functionality: Outlook 2003 Tutorial or Outlook 2007 Tutorial.

Outlook Express

Outlook Express is a free email program that comes with Windows and Internet Explorer. Outlook Express was available for Macintosh computers in the past, but our tutorial will cover the Windows version, and how to make the best of this email client: Outlook Express Tutorial.

Vista Windows Mail

Microsoft released Windows Vista with the Windows Mail email client bundled instead of Outlook Express; while quite similar in functionality, Windows Mail offers a revamped interface and new spam filtering controls. Master the successor of Outlook Express with our Windows Mail Tutorial.

Windows Live Mail

With Windows 7, the operating system no longer ships with an email program, allowing you to try out another free email program like Windows Live Mail, an incredibly powerful email client for its price (free!) Discover our Windows Live Mail Tutorial (soon updated for Windows Live Mail 2011).

Keyboard Shortcuts are listed for all email programs: memorize them to increase your productivity!

Webmail Providers (Online Email Services)

The next series of tutorials will help you make the most of popular webmail providers: these are websites, or "web applications", that allow you to check your emails (and send messages) from anywhere you find access to an internet-connected computer. Most online email services are quite similar in their core functionality, but the front runners offer much, much more than just a web-based email client.

Caution - The more convenient a computer feature, the less secure it often is: always be careful when checking web-based email from a computer that isn't yours.

Google Mail / Gmail

While a late comer to the game of webmail providers, Google's mail offering, Gmail, has carved a huge portion of the online email market in just a few years, being now one of the top three free webmail services in the world. Explore this original email service in our Gmail Tutorial.

Unlike your typical online email service, Gmail uses "labels" (email filters) instead of regular email folders.

Windows Live Hotmail

Our Hotmail Tutorial starts for beginners: create a Hotmail account, and cover Hotmail sign in and options (including how Hotmail login works), the anatomy of a Hotmail email and the central email folder: your Hotmail inbox! You will learn how to create a contact, how the service fares against others (Hotmail - Gmail & Hotmail - Yahoo), a powerful series of Hotmail tips, and how to use Hotmail Help.

Yahoo Mail

Along with Hotmail, Yahoo Mail is one of the oldest providers of free online email services, and still in the top three along with Gmail. Yahoo has regularly introduced brand new features and redesigned its email service over the years: keep up with all this in our Yahoo Mail Tutorial!

Tip: all these webmail providers also allow you to check your messages from your favorite email application!

General Email Tutorials

In addition to tutorials explaining how to use and customize various email applications, and webmail providers, there are also some general tutorials to help you with email-related issues, from troubleshooting and error codes to efficient spam fighting and email management (several of these still in progress!)

Email Tutorial for Beginners and Seniors

We'll first start with a generic Email Tutorial, targeted mostly at beginners and seniors who want to hop on the amazing technology that is internet mail. For the most part, these lessons are designed in a "technologically agnostic" way, so that you can understand and apply your newfound knowledge regardless of the operating system you use (Windows, Mac, Linux...) and email program or webmail provider.

Email Hosting Tutorial

If you decide to use your own domain name (typically, with a matching website), you have several options, including setting up your email account through a third party webmail provider; otherwise, you have the option of having your email messages hosted on your own server: learn more at our Email Hosting Tutorial.

Email Etiquette Tutorial

Learn good manners in the world of messaging with our Email Etiquette Tutorial.

Email Marketing Tutorial

While we're typically on the receiving end of official newsletters, email marketing offers an easy and low-cost solution to reach a near-unlimited number of clients and prospects to keep them informed and build brand loyalty. Discover advantages and pitfalls of this mass communication tool in our Email Marketing Tutorial.

Facebook Tutorial

The world's most popular social networking website offers much more than just email; but online messaging is at the core of the process, as you'll learn in our Facebook Tutorial - again, these lessons cover the basics, and revolve mostly around email; to learn more about this social network in general, see instead our Free Facebook Tutorials website - just like Free Email Tutorials, but concentrating exclusively on Facebook!

Email and Microsoft Office Tutorials

This short series of tutorials explores some basics of the most prevalent productivity suite in the business world, Microsoft Office: aside from our dedicated Outlook tutorials, you'll find a few tips and tricks on Word and Excel, especially with their integration with email: read more at our Email in Microsoft Office Tutorials. A separate site will give you plenty of tips on the word processor of the Suite at our Word 2007 Tutorial.

Web Browsing and Email Tutorials

Web browsers are the central platform for all webmail services, but also the basic hub of your browsing activity: from basic email functionality built into your favorite browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, or Opera) to more advanced options and settings you can customize, see what you can learn with our Web Browsing and Email Tutorials! (These topics also veer off from email, as you'll see.)

Targeted Windows Tutorials

The family of Microsoft operating systems are so tightly integrated to your desktop email experience that we had to create a basic Windows Tutorial for Windows 7 / Vista / XP, going from OS maintenance to customization - mostly revolving around email, one way or the other. To learn more about these operating systems in depth, please see our Windows Vista tutorial or our Windows 7 tutorial, in a separate website.

External Tutorials - In addition to email-related tips you'll find on this site, we'll feature other equally high quality sites we publish, like our iTunes Tutorial.