Email tricks and tips that come in handy

You know that ill-feeling you get when a colleague calls you up to say they received an email from you stating how your trip to Thailand had become ill-fated?

Apparently you had been robbed and now you needed a Western Union wire of $500 (about Shs1.3m) to return in one piece. Because of this popular email hack, many people opt to close the email account.

Imagine how much important correspondence you lose when you abandon an email account that has been compromised. Worse still, you have to let all your contacts know about your new email address.

There are plenty of quick, simple practical email tips you can use to buffer yourself from inevitable hazards and put your best email foot forward to clients and prospects.

Email backup
Back up your email in case it is ever hacked and you have to abandon it or your organisation server crashes and for some reason the backup can’t be restored. Using the pre-installed Microsoft Outlook, you can get all your internet mail (Yahoo, Gmail etc) on your computer. Open Outlook, create a new account, select internet email, and input your login details. Your emails will all download automatically.

To back up email in Outlook, go to File>>Open>>Import >>Export to a File>>Outlook Data file .pst>>Select the folder you want to back up>> Create a folder on your computer or preferably back up to an external disk. You may assign a password to protect the folder. You can view the backed up files in Outlook>>Open.

If you don’t have Outlook, Apple’s Mail App and Mozilla Thunderbird are great free alternatives you can download to back up your Gmail/Yahoo.

Exporting contacts
Export your email contacts to an excel spreadsheet to use them in sales and marketing sessions. In Gmail, select the drop down arrow next to Gmail>> Contacts>>More>>Export. When your file has downloaded, open it in Excel and save it in a more memorable folder. You can now view contacts details.

All email accounts in one
Link all your email accounts (Hotmail, company mail etc ) to one email account to save time signing in and signing out to multiple accounts. In Gmail, go to the gear icon at the top right, select the drop down arrow to see Settings >>Accounts and Import>>Import Mail and Contacts>>Import from Another Address. The imported email account will show up in your mail list on the left. (Note, to add Yahoo, you need to have a Yahoo MailPlus account). You can also add accounts to Outlook or vice-versa to Hotmail, the steps are similar.

Email signature
Add company logo to your email signature. Upload your logo on a free image storage site like photobucket. In Gmail, go to Settings>> Signature, enter your address >> Select the grey mountain icon>> Paste in the complete web address where your picture is stored. Your picture should show up.

Signing email attachments
Sign attachments received in Gmail without downloading them. Install the HelloSign add-on and whenever you open an email that has attachments, beside it there will be an option to sign it and send back to sender. You will use the mouse cursor to write your signature or use a saved signature on your computer.

The author is the Managing Editor, Enterprise Technology. www.ictcreatives.com
jonaiga@gmail.com