• How can I create email signatures?
• How can I set up a new "email persona"?

I've read many e-mails that have a standard name/company name/phone number, etc at the end of every e-mail. I assume that these people have this set up in such a way that they do not have to write this out every time. . . How can I add this to my e-mail?

These are called "signatures". Here's what to do....

If your mail program is Microsoft's Outlook Express:

• Open up Outlook Express.
• Under "Tools", select "Options".
• Select the "Signatures" tab.
• Press the "New" button, and enter in the "Text" box, what you'd like to have appear at the bottom of every message. (We suggest you start with a separator line of some kind, e.g., ---------------------------------, followed by your basic contact info)
• Check the "Add signatures to all outgoing messages" box. (The signature will appear in the body of each new message, and you can always simply delete it, if you don't want to use it in a particular message.)
• Press OK.

If your mail program is Netscape Navigator:

• Get in a text-editing program like Notepad or Wordpad or Microsoft Word, write your little "signature" message (don't include more than about 40 characters per line, and no more than 3 lines), and then save it into a file with a name of your own choosing, in a place you'll be able to find it again.
• Get into Netscape. You now have to tell Netscape that the file you just created is your signature file. Under "Edit", select "Preferences". Double click on "Mail & Newsgroups", and then click on "Identity".
• Type the name of the signature file into the field labelled "Signature File". Press "Choose", go find the signature file you just created, and double click on it to select it. Then press "OK".

When you create a new message in Netscape, it automatically puts the contents of the signature file at the bottom of your new message. To not use your signature in a given message, just delete that stuff at the bottom.

How can I set up a new "email persona"?

Let's say your domain name is neatthings.com, and you'd like to be able to send email so that it looks like it's coming from don@neatthings.com (Don Smith). Here's how to do it.

If your mail program is Microsoft's Outlook Express:

• Get into Outlook Express.
• Press the "Tools" option at the top of the Outlook Express window, and select Accounts.
• Select the "Mail" tab.
  • If you already have a "mail account" set up there, what you want to do now is add another. But you need to write down info from your current account first. So select your current account, and press the Properties option. Then select the Servers tab and write down the following info: Incoming mail (POP3); Outgoing mail (SMTP); Incoming Mail server name; Incoming Mail server password. Then press ok to exit the Properties Window.
  • If currently there are no "mail accounts" created, then you will have to find out the above info from your Internet Service Provider. When you signed up with them, they very likely provided you with your "incoming mail server" (something like "mail.serviceprovidername.com"), your "outgoing mail server" (something like smtp.serviceprovidername.com), and your account information (user name and password). You will need to get these four pieces of information before you can create your new mail account.
• Now add your new account by pressing the Add button and select "Mail. . .", which will pass you to the Internet Connection Wizard.
• In the "Your Name" (or "Display Name") window that pops up, enter your name (e.g., "Don Smith"), then press "Next".
• In the "Internet E-mail Address" window, select the "I already have an email address" option, and type in the desired email address (e.g., don@neatthings.com); then press "Next".
• You can leave "My incoming mail server is a POP3 server" set that way, then fill in the other 2 fields with your incoming mail server and your outgoing mail server. Press "Next".
• Again fill in Account and Password with the info you obtained (either from your already created account, or from your Internet Service Provider). Press "Finish".
• You've now created a new mail account. If this is your one and only account, then when you create a new message, the "From" field will display your new account. If your new account is one of several, then the "From" field will display a menu, and you can choose which "persona" you want your message to be "from".

• Get into Netscape. Under "Edit", select "Preferences". Double click on "Mail & Newsgroups", and then click on "Identity".
• Type in your name (e.g., "Don Smith") and your email address (e.g., "don@neatthings.com"). You may have to replace your current information. If the current information is your default "reply" address, don't forget to set this back after you send your message.
• Press OK.
• Send your email message. On the receiving end, it will look like it came from the person and address you just typed in.

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