Electronic mail, commonly known as email, is a method of exchanging messages over the
internet. Here are the basics of email:
1. An email address: This is a unique identifier for each user, typically in the format
of [email protected].
2. An email client: This is a software program used to send, receive and manage
emails, such as Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail.
3. An email server: This is a computer system responsible for storing and
forwarding emails to their intended recipients.
To send an email:
1. Compose a new message in your email client.
2. Enter the recipient’s email address in the “To” field.
3. Add a subject line to summarize the content of the message.
4. Write the body of the message.
5. Attach any relevant files if needed.
6. Click “Send” to deliver the message to the recipient’s email server.
7. Emails can also include features such as cc (carbon copy) and bcc (blind carbon
copy) to send copies of the message to multiple recipients, and reply, reply all,
and forward options to manage the conversation.
Electronic Mail (e-mail) is one of most widely used services of Internet. This service allows
an Internet user to send a message in formatted manner (mail) to the other Internet user
in any part of the world. Messages in mail not only contain text, but it also contains
images, audio and videos data. The person who is sending mail is called sender and the
person who receives mail is called recipient. It is just like postal mail service. Components
of E-Mail System : The basic components of an email system are : User Agent (UA),
Message Transfer Agent (MTA), Mail Box, and Spool file. These are explained below.
1. User Agent (UA) : The UA is normally a program which is used to send and
receive mail. Sometimes, it is called a mail reader. It accepts a variety of
commands for composing, receiving and replying to messages as well as for
manipulation of the mailboxes.
2. Message Transfer Agent (MTA) : MTA is actually responsible for transfer of
mail from one system to another. To send mail, a system must have client MTA
and system MTA. It transfers mail to mailboxes of recipients if they are
connected in the same machine. It delivers mail to peer MTA if destination
mailbox is in another machine. The delivery from one MTA to another MTA is
done by Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
3. Mailbox : It is a file on the local hard drive to collect mail. Delivered mails are
present in this file. The user can read it and delete it according to his/her
requirement. To use the e-mail system each user must have a mailbox . Access
to the mailbox is only to the owner of the mailbox.
4. Spool file : This file contains mails that are to be sent. User agent appends
outgoing mails in this file using SMTP. MTA extracts pending mail from spool
file for their delivery. E-mail allows one name, an alias, to represent several
different e-mail addresses. It is known as mailing list. Whenever a user have to
send a message, system checks the recipient's name against an alias database.
If mailing list is present for defined alias, separate messages, one for each entry
in the list, must be prepared and handed to MTA. If for defined alias, there is no
such mailing list, the name itself becomes naming address and a single message
is delivered to mail transfer entity.
Format of Email :
An e-mail consists of three parts that are as follows :
1. Envelope
2. Header
3. Body
These are explained below.
1. Envelope :
The envelope part encapsulates the message. It contains all information that is required for
sending any e-mail such as destination address, priority and security level. The envelope is
used by MTAs for routing message.
2. Header :
The header consists of a series of lines. Each header field consists of a single line of ASCII
text specifying field name, colon and value. The main header fields related to message
transport are :
1. To: It specifies the DNS address of the primary recipient(s).
2. Cc : It refers to carbon copy. It specifies address of secondary recipient(s).
3. BCC: It refers to blind carbon copy. It is very similar to Cc. The only difference
between Cc and Bcc is that it allow user to send copy to the third party without
primary and secondary recipient knowing about this.
4. From : It specifies name of person who wrote message.
5. Sender : It specifies e-mail address of person who has sent message.
6. Received : It refers to identity of sender’s, data and also time message was
received. It also contains the information which is used to find bugs in routing
system.
7. Return-Path: It is added by the message transfer agent. This part is used to
specify how to get back to the sender.
3. Body:- The body of a message contains text that is the actual content/message that
needs to be sent, such as “Employees who are eligible for the new health care program
should contact their supervisors by next Friday if they want to switch.” The message body
also may include signatures or automatically generated text that is inserted by the
sender’s email system.
The above-discussed field is represented in tabular form as follows :
Services provided by E-mail system :
● Composition – The composition refer to process that creates messages and
answers. For composition any kind of text editor can be used.
● Transfer – Transfer means sending procedure of mail i.e. from the sender to
recipient.
● Reporting – Reporting refers to confirmation for delivery of mail. It help user to
check whether their mail is delivered, lost or rejected.
● Displaying – It refers to present mail in form that is understand by the user.
● Disposition – This step concern with recipient that what will recipient do after
receiving mail i.e save mail, delete before reading or delete after reading.
