Writing.Com 101

"Compose Email" Tab

The Compose Email tab is where you can create a new email, rather than replying to or forwarding an existing one. Clicking on this tab will open a standard email template. There is a link to "Open Address Book" at the top, which will open a new window with your Address Book, and allow you to select your pre-saved addresses to email. For more information on your address book, please check out: "Addresses" Tab.

Below the link (and the From field with your handle), there are the recipient and subject fields:

To: The primary recipient(s) of your email. You must include at least one, and multiple recipients (up to 25) are allowed, separated by commas. One of the great features of WdC is that you can use a person's username without needing to add "@writing.com." For example, if you wanted to send an email to both the Storymaster and Storymistress, you could enter, "storymaster, storymistress" into the field, rather than, "[e-mail], [e-mail]." For off-site emails, however, you'll need to use the whole email address.

Cc: Any secondary recipient(s) of your email. Short for "Carbon copy," this field was originally intended to differentiate from primary recipients in business situations where someone needed to be informed of the content of an email, but from whom a response was not necessary or expected. This field also accepts up to 25 recipients though, and is sometimes used so that 50 (total) users can receive the same email. Please note that Writing.Com has a zero-tolerance policy for spam.

BCc: Short for "Blind Carbon copy," any recipient(s) in this field will not show up to anyone else on the email, and they will not be able to see to whom else the email was sent. This field is typically used when the sender wants to copy a third party without letting it be known to the sender. For example, in a heated email exchange, an employee might BCc his or her boss because he or she wants the boss to be informed, but doesn't wish the sender to know his or her boss is reading the emails (to avoid issues of authority or confusing the recipient about with whom they should be interacting).

Subject: This is the main topic of your email, and the content of this field does appear in the email list of a user's inbox and subfolders. As a result, email etiquette typically suggests this subject field be concise and on-point with the content of the email. Examples of effective subjects could include, "Contest entry question," "Issue with judging decision," or "Activity sign-up request," all of which tell the recipient exactly why they're receiving the email.

Attach: Below the recipient fields are buttons to "Browse" and "Attach," which allow you to send attachments with your WdC email. Next to the "Attach" button is the "Send" button, which is the same as the "Send Email" button below the email body field (next to "Preview Email" and "Store Draft", below the field for enclosing Gift Points with your email).

WritingML Icons: Above your text area, you will see the WritingML icons, which you can use to "Enhance Your Item With WritingML" . These are a quick and easy way to add embellishments to your email text!

Send Gift Points: Below the text area, you will find a small text box which you can use to send "Gift Points" . Simply type in the number of GPs you would like to send to your recipient, click "Send Email" and your Gift Points will be sent along with the rest of the email. NOTE: If you are sending your email to more than one person, Gift Points will only be sent to the first person listed in the "To:" field.

Preview Email: To see exactly how your email will look before you send it, click Preview Email. After you have edited and approve of your email, click Send Email.

Store Draft: Use the Store Draft function to store an email that you have not finished and would like to save. To find your email again, visit your 'Drafts" folder, which is automatically created for you when you save your first draft email.1

Recommended Reading

1. Gift Points
2. Enhance Your Item With WritingML
3. "Addresses" Tab

Footnotes
1  Written by Jeff