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Newsletter Archives: Attaching and Downloading For graphical instructions on attaching and downloading, click here to visit our Manual Pages on Downloading and Attaching Files. After visiting there, click your browser’s Back button to return to this page. January 6, 2002
Today's Featured Computer Term: Attachment
An attachment is a file attached to an e-mail message. This is usually a text or graphics file that is sent along with an email message.
Email attachments are often used in business to send documents back and forth between employees or companies. Also very popular is the ability to send a photo email attachment to family and friends.
November 11, 2001
Today's Topic: Attaching a File to an Email
Thanks to one of our newsletter subscribers for the following question:
Your newsletter is great and has given me a lot of tips. Please keep sending it! I would like to know how I get a letter that I write or a picture I scan so I can e-mail it.
To begin with, save your document in an easy to find location. Let's use a letter that you typed as an example (although the same steps apply to a picture you've taken, scanned or created, or any other kind of file). You have typed your document and you're ready to send it. First you must save it; to do so, click on File, and then Save.
In the Save As dialog box, click the arrow to the right of the Save in section; a list will drop down, click on the folder named My Documents. This will place your document in the My Documents folder.
Type a name for your document where it says File Name. Let's name it Letter for our example. Click the button in the lower right hand corner that says Save.
Close out of that program and open your e-mail program. Since you don't say which e-mail program you are using, this part of the directions will be a little more general.
Open a new e-mail the way you usually do. Fill out the e-mail address and subject section of the e-mail, and then look for an icon, button or blue underlined text that says Attach, Attachments, Insert, Browse or has a picture of a paperclip.
Click on that and you will see the same type of dialog box that you used when saving your file. Click on the list of folders (which probably says Look In), and select My Documents. You should see Letter listed in the area in the middle of the dialog box. Click on it and then on a button that will say either Open or Attach. That will do it!
October 8, 2001
Today's Featured Computer Term: Download
Thanks to newsletter subscriber Lorraine for the following question:
Can you please explain what "to download" means?
Download means to copy data (usually an entire file) from a main source to a peripheral device. The term is often used to describe the process of copying a file from an online service or bulletin board service (BBS) to one's own computer.
In order to be able to use the file (read it, view it, edit it, or run it), the file must be downloaded to the computer it is to be used on.
The opposite of download is upload, which means to copy a file from your own computer to another computer.
To see the graphical directions for How to Download a File, go to http://www.sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/download.html
December 3, 2000
How To Download on America Online
Downloading from America Online is easy! Select the Download Now or Download Later button at the bottom of the file description window. Regardless of which method of downloading you select, your download will go to a default file folder that you can select.
Selecting Download Now
1. With your mouse cursor, select the file you want to download, or the e-mail with the attached file, and double click your left mouse button to open it.
2. Select Download Now. The Download window will appear.
3. Select OK. The download will begin.
As the download initiates, you will see a progress bar that will tell you the approximate time it will take to complete the download.
Once the download is completed, you can find it in your default download destination folder.
Selecting Download Later
1. Select the file you want to download, or the e-mail with the attached file, to open it.
2. Select Download Later.
3. The file will be listed in a queue in your download manager and you can look for other files to download. The benefit of this is that you can select a group and then start your download.
4. When you're ready to start downloading the file or files you've selected, pick My Files from AOL's top menu (for AOL 5.0). Or click on File on the menu bar (for AOL 6.0)
5. Select the Download Manager.
6. Use the Download icon to start your download.
After downloading has started, you can do something else on AOL (or, go away from your computer) while your files are downloading.
Once the download is completed, you can find it in your default download destination folder.
Uncompressing
1. Many of the files that are uploaded are compressed. What this means is that a bunch of files have been packed into one file. This saves time for downloads. Most PC files are compressed in .ZIP format. Most Mac files are compressed in .SIT format. You'll be able to tell if a file you're downloading is compressed because the name of the file will end with .ZIP or .SIT.
2. You won't be able to run these programs right off the bat. You must uncompress (unZIP or unSIT) them first.
3. The AOL software can do this for you automatically. To see if you have this option turned on, pick My AOL from the top menu then Preferences then the Download icon (for AOL 5.0). Or, Click Settings, then Preferences (for AOL 6.0).
4. See if "Automatically Decompress files at signoff" is selected. If so, you're all set! Files will extract to a subdirectory (sub-folder) of your download location that has the same name as the file itself.
December 3, 2000 Downloading
I just downloaded a file. The download appeared to go smoothly, however, I can't find the file I downloaded.
You need to note the filename when you download a program.
Downloading a file means that you are transferring a file from an Internet server (a computer located in some far away land) to your computer. The problem is, just downloading the file to your hard drive does NOT install the program. It's like receiving a delivery package in the mail, just because the box has arrived at your front door does not mean that the contents of the package have been unboxed. Obviously you must open the box and take the contents of the package out before it becomes useful to you. Likewise, YOU must RUN the program (file) after you download it. It is very important to make a mental or written note as to where you downloaded the file on your hard drive. Just saying "I saved it to drive C" is like saying to your employer that the lost keys to the filing cabinet are "somewhere in California". The question is, "WHERE on your C drive? Which folder did you save it in? What was the name of the file you downloaded?"
It’s a good idea to make a temporary folder for all of your downloads, and save all of your downloads there. (We did an example on creating a download folder in our article, How to Download a File; you may want to review that again. - http://www.sharpertrainingsolutions.com/html/archives.html )
If all this advice is too late, and you have already downloaded a file but you don't know where you put it, there is still a possibility you can find it. If you want to find your recently downloaded file, and you are using Windows, then click "Start, then Find, then Files or folders". Type the name of the file you downloaded (if you forgot the filename, then you definitely are making things even more difficult on yourself), and choose "C:\" for the "Look in" location. This will locate any file on your hard disk.
December 1, 2000
How Do I download a file?
Before you begin downloading, I would recommend that you create a NEW folder on your hard drive for TEMPORARY download files. It would be best to create this new folder directly underneath the C: drive and call this new folder DOWNLOAD. This is where you can place newly acquired downloaded files.
So...let's get started...
1) If you are using Windows, open up Explorer. You can find Explorer by clicking the Start button, then choose Programs, then choose Windows Explorer. 2) Left mouse click on your C: drive icon located in the left side panel so that it is highlighted. 3) Choose File from the Main Menu. 4) Choose New, then choose Folder. 5) Name the folder Download. Note the words New Folder are blue. You just need to type the word Download, it will replace the words New Folder. Press the Enter key when you’re done.
You will only need to create this Download folder one time. Once this procedure has been accomplished, you can proceed directly to the following steps:
You can now surf the Web until you find a file you wish to download. Or, if someone sends you an email with a file attached, you can download the attachment.
When you find a file you want to download, or you’re in the email screen with the file attached, you’ll see either a download button or the words download that you can click on. After a few seconds, your browser will display a window asking you where you would like to store (or save) this new file. Make sure "Save it to disk" is selected, and then click "OK."
In the next window you see, click on the new Download folder that you created. Note: you may want to jot down the filename to make it easier to find this file when you want to open it.
Once the download process has completed, simply use Windows Explorer to go to the Download folder, and double click on the filename you downloaded. This will start up the file. |
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