Network and Internet Fundamentals
Senior 1 · ICT
Network and Internet Fundamentals
Lesson 5 of 5
25 min
In this lesson you will go through the whole life of an email account: creating it, writing and sending messages, replying, organising your inbox, saving contacts in an address book, and attaching files. The buttons have slightly different names in Gmail, Outlook and other services, but the steps are the same everywhere.
| Field | What goes there |
|---|---|
| To | The address of the main receiver |
| Cc (carbon copy) | People who should see a copy for information. Everyone can see these addresses |
| Bcc (blind carbon copy) | People who get a copy secretly: other receivers cannot see Bcc addresses |
| Subject | A short title that says what the email is about |
| Body | The message itself: greeting, message, closing and your name |
| Attachment (paper-clip icon) | A file sent with the message |
Notice the clear subject line (class, subject and task), the polite greeting, one short sentence that mentions the attachment, and the full name and class at the end. An email to a teacher is formal: no slang and no emojis.
| Folder | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Inbox | Messages you have received |
| Sent | Copies of messages you have sent |
| Drafts | Messages you started but have not sent yet |
| Spam (Junk) | Messages the service thinks are unwanted or dangerous |
| Trash (Bin) | Deleted messages. Gmail empties it automatically after 30 days |
You can also create your own folders (called labels in Gmail), such as ICT or Football club, and move messages into them. Star or flag important messages, and use the search box to find an old message by a word or a sender's name.
The address book stores the names, email addresses and phone numbers of people you write to. Once a contact is saved, you only type the first letters of the name and the service completes the address. You can also create a contact group, such as S1 B class, and send one email to the whole group by typing the group's name.
Services limit the size of attachments; Gmail allows up to 25 MB per email. For a bigger file, upload it to cloud storage (such as Google Drive or OneDrive) and send a link instead.
Worked example
Keza wants to send 4 photos of 7 MB each. Total size: 4 × 7 = 28 MB, which is more than 25 MB. She can send two emails of 2 photos each (14 MB each), or share a link to the photos in cloud storage.
Safety: open attachments only when you know the sender and were expecting the file. A file that ends in .exe is a program and can install a virus; services such as Gmail block such files.
Tip
Reply, Reply all, Forward: Reply goes to one person, Reply all goes to everyone on the message, Forward goes to someone new. Use Bcc when you write to many people who do not know each other, so that their addresses stay private.
Mutesi wrote half an email, then closed it to finish later. In which folder will she find it?
Solution: Drafts. Unsent messages are saved there automatically.
The class teacher emails all 45 parents about a meeting and does not want parents to see each other's addresses. Which field should she use?
Solution: Bcc. Each parent receives the email, but no one can see the other addresses.
Gatete receives an email from his coach sent to the whole team. He wants to tell only the coach that he will be late. Which button should he press?
Solution: Reply. Reply all would send his message to the whole team.
A student wants to email 3 videos of 12 MB each through Gmail. Will they fit in one email? What should the student do?
Solution: 3 × 12 = 36 MB, which is more than the 25 MB limit, so no. Upload the videos to cloud storage and send a link, or send them in separate emails (at most 2 videos, 24 MB, per email).
Write a suitable subject line for an email asking your ICT teacher for an extension on the network project.
Solution (one possible answer): "S1 B ICT: request for extension on the network project". It names the class, the subject and the purpose.
Summary
Sources and credits
The account steps, the homework email, the folder table, the attachment calculations and the practice items were written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
To: teacher.ict@example.rw
Cc: class.monitor@example.rw
Subject: S1 B ICT homework - school network map
Attachment: network-map.pdf (240 KB)
Good morning Mr Habimana,
Please find attached my map of our school network for the Unit 5 project.
Kind regards,
Keza Uwase, S1 B