Start with email

In the past, mail came into your home through the letterbox. Nowadays many messages are sent digitally, via the computer. These messages are called e-mail (electronic mail). You type a message, add files (eg text files or photos) to it and send it to a recipient over the Internet. Or you receive a message that someone has sent you. This is called e-mailing, sometimes abbreviated to ’emailing’.
Both sending and receiving e-mail are done by means of a special program called an e-mail program. It is also possible to send and receive e-mail via special websites. That’s called webmail.

You need an e-mail account to be able to e-mail. That is an e-mail address with associated passwords and other data. The e-mail address is the digital counterpart of a postal address. You can recognize an e-mail address by the fact that it always contains an at sign (@), also called ‘at sign’.

You get an e-mail account from your provider, that is the company that provides your internet subscription. Most providers provide multiple addresses upon request. In addition, you can request an email address yourself from free mail services such as Gmail from Google or Outlook.com from Microsoft.

An email address always consists of a username, the @ sign, the provider name and the internet extension. In the Netherlands, for Dutch providers, that extension is always ‘.nl’. An e-mail address therefore looks like this: username@provider.nl. When you request an e-mail address yourself from a free mail service, the extension is often ‘.com’ (username@maildienst.com). People who get an email address through work usually have their company name after the @ sign.

In addition to an e-mail address, you need a program that can send and receive the messages. This can be a program that is standard on your computer, such as the free mail program Mail (Windows 10). But it can also be a website, such as Outlook.com or Gmail.

The e-mail address you receive from your provider belongs to that same provider. If you switch internet providers, your old address will expire and you will be given a new one. That is not pleasant because you have to let all your contacts know that you can be reached at a new address. For that reason, more and more people are creating a separate email address at Microsoft’s Outlook.com or Gmail, Google’s email service. If you create an account there, it will be yours for a lifetime. You can, however, cancel it if you wish.

Are you just starting out on the computer and would you rather have email lessons from a teacher? This is possible in a SeniorWeb Learning Center. You will find almost 425 SeniorWeb teaching locations spread throughout the Netherlands. There you can follow various courses. Almost all Learning Centers offer email courses. Search our website for the Lesson Location closest to you.

Here are two more tips for getting started with email:

You compose your e-mail address yourself. Be careful not to make this too complicated. You can use your own name. But suppose your name is Annemarie van der Linden, your address could be annemarie.van.der.linden@provider.nl. Very long. The address avdlinden@provider.nl is more compact and easier for everyone to remember.

Keep the information you receive from your internet provider in a fixed place where you can easily find it. If you need to reset the e-mail program, you will always have the data to hand.