▼ Email Programs
▼ Webmail Providers
▼ General Tutorials
Free Email TutorialsHotmailCompose email messages with Hotmail

Compose email messages with Hotmail

Next to reading your emails, composing new email messages is the most common task you will likely perform in Hotmail. The previous tutorials familiarized you with replying to emails and forwarding emails, both of which function with the same Hotmail email editor. This Hotmail tutorial assumes no prior knowledge of the email editor though, and will guide you through the options available in creating new emails: from picking recipients, using the Cc and Bcc fields, optimal subject lines, and some guidelines on content (email body). Create a new Hotmail message

To create a new email message, click on the New link displayed at the top of the screen. As you can see on the screenshot, you can also use the keystroke Ctrl+N to compose a new email (learn more about using keyboard shortcuts in Windows Live Hotmail).

Creating a new email

Clicking New will launch Hotmail's email editor, the same editor it uses when you reply to emails, of forward emails to other recipients. The email editor contains three portions: the email recipients, the title (or subject line), and the content (also known as "email body").

Picking recipients for your new email message

Hotmail lets you add email recipients in three ways: you can type the email address of one of the recipient. If the partial email address you are typing is found in your Hotmail contacts, a list of possible matches is displayed: click on the email address you want, or press Tab to use the currently highlighted email address:

Hotmail AutoCompleting recipient email addresses
Hotmail also allows you to type on of your contact's name or nickname, and it will try to find contacts whose information matches. If you wonder why Hotmail happens to suggest a certain matching contact as you type, simply look for the text in bold - it indicates which information Hotmail used to match the suggested contact(s).

Displaying your full contact list

You can also click the To: button to launch your Hotmail contacts, and pick one or more of them as recipients for your new email:

Load your Hotmail contact list!

Notice that Hotmail automatically places the blinking cursor in a search field: this search field allows you to type partial names or email addresses that Hotmail will try to match. Select the checkbox corresponding to each of the contacts you would like to email. You can also use the three contact filtering tabs to access the desired contacts more quickly: Categories, Favorites, and Recently e-mailed.

The Carbon Copy (Cc) and Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc) fields

Un-hide Hotmail's Cc and Bcc fields By default, Hotmail only displays the To recipient field for new emails; but the Cc and Bcc fields are only a click away, literally.

If you want to use the Cc or Bcc fields in your new email, simply click the Show Cc & Bcc link at the top right corner of the email editor. Hotmail will now show both the Cc and Bcc text fields right below the To field, and above Subject.

What is the Cc (Carbon Copy) field? From a functional standpoint, the Cc field works just like the To email recipient field; you will typically carbon copy email recipients who should be informed of your emails, but are not its primary recipients (the primary recipients are listed in the To field). People included as carbon-copy in an email are not expected to reply, unless directly asked a question. Whom you carbon copied in an email is visible to all.

What is the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) field? Here to, Hotmail's Bcc field works just like the To and Cc fields. Use the Bcc field when you want to "secretly" include an email recipient, without the other recipients' knowledge. You can put everyone's email address inside the Bcc field, and no one will know whom else was emailed.

Keep in mind that when someone chooses to reply to an email using Hotmail's Reply all command, none of the blind-carbon-copied recipients will be included in the reply - only the original sender, the To and Cc recipients of the email. (Learn more about replying to emails in Hotmail.)

New email subject line

When typing a subject line (or title) for your new email, make sure that the subject is short, while highly descriptive of the email content. This makes it easier not only for your recipients, but also for you later on. By having an intact email subject throughout an exchange, you will have a useful ability to sort emails by subjects to retrace all parts of the conversation. We always Bcc ourselves on new emails to have a copy of all our emails as well.

You can modify the email subject line at any point in the exchange if the topic changes - the main point is to allow email titles to identify their content, or their belonging to a particular conversation. An email titled "RE:" (the default title Hotmail gives an email reply when no subject line was defined) helps no one!

Typing and formatting the content of your new email

The next tutorial explains Hotmail's email text editor in detail, with all its functionality: learn how to format your emails with Hotmail.

Hotmail Tutorial The new Hotmail Hotmail.com Create a Hotmail account Hotmail sign in Hotmail sign out Read your Emails Read your emails Show images and content Download attachments Delete email messages Delete all emails from a person Unsubscribe from mailing lists Mark emails as Unread / Read Hotmail Instant Actions Unflag / Flag email messages Hotmail Quick Views Compose & Send Emails Hotmail email Reply to emails Forward emails Compose a new message Formatting emails Send attachments File attachment size limits Add pictures to your emails Create a signature Sending emails Send mail from other accounts Send plain text emails Change importance of emails Select multiple emails Spam & Junk Mail Filtering Mark spam email as junk mail Spam and junk mail settings Block email senders Unblock email senders Report phishing scam emails Standard Hotmail Folders The standard folders Hotmail Inbox Hotmail Junk folder Hotmail Drafts folder Hotmail Sent folder Hotmail Deleted folder Show or hide email folders Custom Hotmail Folders Create a new folder Rename a folder Empty a folder Delete a folder Mark an entire folder as "Read" Hotmail Contacts Hotmail Contacts Add a sender as contact Create a new contact Edit contacts' information Delete a contact Remove duplicate contacts Import contacts into Hotmail Export Hotmail contacts Contact categories Copy / transfer Hotmail contacts Add picture to contacts Block emails from non contacts Add Safe Senders to Hotmail Hotmail Tips and Tricks Hotmail Tips View email headers X-Originating-IP Show / hide basic headers View emails full screen Check for new emails Print email messages Hotmail Help Add another email account Check another email account Sort your emails Find emails with "Search Tool" Create email filters Automated vacation replies Use Hotmail as default email Hotmail account start date Configure Hotmail Settings Customize Hotmail Options Hotmail Login Hotmail accountCheck last Hotmail accessChange "From" name in emails Change password Reset your Hotmail password Change security question Forward emails to other account Skip "Hotmail Today" Change Reply-to email address Disable sent email confirmation Show conversations / threads Disable conversation grouping Disable photo / video previews Change Hotmail language Hotmail.com in English Hotmail.com en Español Change country setting Change birthday / birth date Keyboard Shortcuts Delete your Hotmail account Reading Pane Settings Change Theme Switch back to the old Hotmail Save / delete sent messages Change Hotmail address Change profile picture Change Hotmail account Other Products & Services Hotmail Messenger Hotmail Messenger Download Hotmail Plus Cancel Hotmail Plus Hotmail Customer Service Hotmail Live Hotmail Kids Set Hotmail as homepage in IE Hotmail as homepage in Firefox POP & Mail Server Settings POP3 settings IMAP Settings Incoming Mail Server Setup Hotmail on iPhone Hotmail Outlook settings You've reached the daily limit Outlook Connector Hotmail Gmail Hotmail Yahoo!
Tutorial last updated on February 19, 2012
Copyright © 2016 Free Email Tutorials - All Rights Reserved - About Legal & Privacy Feedback Sitemap