Creating a Yahoo Account

Go to http://www.yahoo.com

click on Sign up

Fill out the short form and be sure to answer all questions.  Make up a password that is hard to guess, but that is easy for you to remember.

Click the button to add your account. If your chosen id is taken, pick one of the suggested options given to you.

Using your Yahoo Account

All of the messages that are sent to you are stored in the Inbox. The inbox shows you the following information:

New -- Tells you if the message is unread or new. The icon for new messages looks like a red triangle: 
From -- Tells you who sent the email message.
Date -- Tells you the date the mail was sent.
Subject -- Gives you a brief description of the body of the message.
Size -- Tells you the size of the file.

To read one of the messages, click on the underlined words in the From column. Your email message will open and you can read it. When you are through reading it you have several options at the top of the screen.

Reply -- reply to the author of the message.
Reply All -- reply to everyone who received the email and the author.
Forward -- forward the message to someone else's email address.
Delete -- Get rid of the message
Previous -- read the email message before the one you have open.
Next -- read the email message after the one you have open.
Close -- leave the message alone and go back to the Inbox.

Composing a Message

To send someone an email click on the compose button. A screen will appear with TO: Subject: CC: BCC: and a large white rectangle.

In the TO: box put the email address of the person to whom you want to send an email message.  Remember that you have to put the whole email address, and not just their name.  For instance, my email is nolson@bcconline.com, not just nolson, and not Nancy Olson.

In the Subject line put a brief description of the information you are sending them. For instance, if you are sending a teacher your email address, put (Your Name's) Email Address as the subject line.  For example: Nancy Olson's email address, or Charlotte McNeil's email address.

CC: is used when you want to email more than one person the same message.

BCC: sends another person a copy of the email, but the person whose email address you put in the TO: box doesn't know the BCC: person received a copy.

Now put the body of your message into the large white square box. When you have finished filling out the TO:, Subject:, and message body you are done composing your message. Always make sure to click inside the box which says Save copy of outgoing message, so you will have a copy of what you sent to your teacher. 

The Spell Checker

Yahoo comes with a Spell Checker. After you have finished composing your message, click on the spell check button, and a new screen will appear, with the following buttons:
Suggestions -- this box contains suggestions for the misspelled word; click on the change button to choose it
Change -- change the word to one of the suggestions.
Ignore -- ignores the misspelled word (or a name) one time.
Close -- closes the spell checker, whether you are done spell checking or not!

When the spell checker is done you must click the close button to go back to the Compose screen. Now you can click the send button to send your email.

Folders

In order to access your folders, look on the left hand side of the screen. The following folders are shown by default:

Inbox -- this folder contains all the email messages that are sent TO you.
Drafts -- this folder contains the drafts you saved BEFORE you spell checked.
Sent -- this folder contains all the email messages that are sent BY you. 
Trash -- this folder contains deleted email and the messages can be deleted at any time.

The add link located to the right of the word Folders allows you to create your own folders. This is especially useful when you are taking online classes, as you can create a folder with the class name to save all of your work in. When you create your own folder, you can rename or delete it with the edit button.

To move messages into your new folder go to the folder which contains the message you want to move, and select the message. Then go to the bottom of the screen and select the folder you want to move the message into. Click Move and select the folder you wish to which you want to move the message . The message will be moved to the chosen folder.