Electronic mail, or e-mail, is a method of communicating whereby an individual uses a computer or other electronic device to compose and send a message to another individual. Messages may be sent through computer systems linked by a network, through modems using telephone lines, or, in some cases, through wireless transmissions.

While some systems provide links only within a company's particular e-mail system, the prevailing trend is for e-mail users to be able to send e-mail to anyone in the world. In order to send an e-mail message, each party must have an e-mail address. The address is composed of an identifying name, an @ sign, the name of the fileserver where the account is located, and a domain name. Typical domain names are com (commercial), gov (government), edu (schools), and org (organization). An example of an e-mail address would be marysmith@linc.lincoln.com. In order to send a message outside the company e-mail system, the complete address must be used.

Address book: Most electronic mail systems offer an address book feature. The address book provides a place to store e-mail addresses, which can often be complex and difficult to remember. The address book can also be used to develop mailing lists. For example, if six friends frequently communicate, a user might list all their addresses in a folder in the address book. The folder would have a name such as "My Friends." Then the user could quickly send a message to all six friends at one time by addressing the message to "My Friends" rather than to each individual user.

Attachments: While the majority of e-mail messages are composed of text, e-mail users are sending increasingly complex messages with accompanying attachments. Users can send documents by using an attachment feature of the e-mail package. The attachment feature allows the user to specify where an electronic file—such as a text document, a spreadsheet, or a graphics presentation—is located and then to send a copy by e-mail. Attachments can also be sent to a list of people in one e-mail message. This feature has greatly enhanced the ability of people at a distance to work together. For example, if two people are planning a presentation at a conference, they can attach outlines of the presentation as well as slides of the actual presentation and transmit them for revision or review.

Photographs can also be attached to e-mail messages, in the same way as another file can. One caution is that multimedia files including photos can be quite large and take a longer time to send. With the additional use of digital cameras and/or scanners, photographs that are valuable to business are easier to send than ever before.

Deleting a message: After reading an incoming e-mail message, the reader may decide that the message does not need to be saved. All e-mail systems have a feature to allow for quick deletion of messages. However, many systems convey the deleted message to a trash file that will allow the message to be recalled. To delete the message from the individual computer, the message in the trash file must also be deleted. Even after this double deletion, the message may still be accessible. Large computer systems periodically back up all mail, so the message may be floating around in the organization's computer memory backup for a much longer time.

Forwarding a message: At times, the reader of a message may decide to forward a message to a third party. The person sending e-mail has no control over what the receiver will do with the message. The receiver can easily forward the message to one individual or a list of individuals.

Replying to a message: If the reader wishes to respond to an e-mail message, the reply feature provides a quick way to answer the message without keying in the e-mail address of the person who sent it. There is a common e-mail faux pas, however, that should be avoided. If a message has been sent to a list and one reader replies to the person who sent the message by using the reply feature, that reply may be sent to everyone on the list. For example, a conference coordinator sends a reminder message to a list of 500 people who will be attending a conference. One of the respondents has a question about whether his or her registration has arrived and replies to the message using the reply feature. Since the original message was sent to a list, it is quite possible that using the reply feature will result in that individual's message being transmitted to all 500 people on the list instead of only to the original sender. This is a common violation of "netiquette," a term that refers to using courtesy on the Internet.

Netiquette: Using the correct etiquette helps people respond correctly in their environment. For example, eating peas with a knife, interrupting a speaker, and not introducing people are examples of poor etiquette. Poor etiquette can also exist in the electronic environment. A few things that could be considered violations of netiquette are flaming (sending an immediate, angry overreaction to an e-mail message), shouting (typing a message in all capital letters), forwarding personal messages without permission, and sending a personal message to an entire list. Other problems include preparing a list that includes individuals who have no interest in the topic and bombarding them with e-mail, sending e-mail messages that criticize others, and using emoticons (typed symbols to indicate expressions) in business e-mail. Just as an understanding of good manners helps one move effectively in society, so an understanding of netiquette helps one perform effectively in electronic communication.

Privacy of e-mail: One of the controversies surrounding electronic mail has been the issue of privacy. The term "mail" seems to imply the same safeguards that one has when using the U.S. Postal Service. These safeguards include the right to open your own mail and legal protection from those who would tamper with your mail. Electronic mail, however, may not include these safeguards.

Courts have upheld the right of corporations to review the e-mail of employees who use company resources such as hardware, software, and/or company time to compose and send e-mail messages. It is the court's position that a company has the right to read the e-mail of employees is especially strong for those companies who have an e-mail policy in place.

Employees should be judicious in their use of e-mail and should not put in electronic writing anything they would not write on paper for public distribution. Both individuals and companies have seen their e-mail communications come back to haunt them in the media and in court. For example, some plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases have used negative e-mail messages sent by company employees to establish the legal definition of a hostile working environment. Others have seen their e-mail admitted in court as proof of their beliefs and actions that may disagree with their sworn testimony.

Electronic mail policy: Many organizations have implemented e-mail policies in the workplace. A good policy clearly defines an employer's expectations about how e-mail should be used by employees. If personal e-mail is acceptable, conditions for its use are outlined in the policy. In addition, a process should be developed so employees can indicate their understanding of the e-mail policy in place.

Volume of electronic mail messages: A concern for many employees is the large number of e-mail messages that they receive and are expected to respond to on a daily basis. Some e-mail systems allow the sender to assign a priority rating to the message. In this way priority messages are flagged. Other systems rely on the subject line. For that reason, a concise subject line that clearly defines the message is an asset when a reader reviews the message. The subject line will help the reader decide when the message should be read. A message from an unknown sender with no subject line may not be evaluated very quickly.

Organizing electronic mail messages: As e-mail messages arrive, the reader can reply, forward, or delete them. The reader can also save or store messages. E-mail systems allow the reader to set up filters to organize incoming messages and folders to organize messages that should be stored. The reader then merely transfers the message to the appropriate folder. This action will clear the inbox of messages and provide a logical arrangement to locate messages by sender or by topic.

Response speed: Just as it is easier to send an e-mail message than to mail a letter or, in many cases, to attempt to phone someone, the amount of time allowed for a response has also decreased. While a letter may take two to three days to travel to its destination, an e-mail message is transmitted almost instantaneously. Few would expect an answer to a letter within a week of sending it. However, the tolerance for a slow e-mail response has dwindled. Seldom would a person sending an e-mail message expect to wait two to three days for a response. If the first e-mail message elicits no response, the sender may send follow-up messages or attempt some other means of communication if a timely response is not received.

Junk mail or spam: Junk mail, or spam, can arrive in the inbox in the form of chain letters, unsolicited advertisements, warnings (usually not founded in fact) about viruses or files, and other non-business information. The difference between the junk mail received via the U.S. Postal Service and the junk mail received through e-mail is that the former can be quickly discarded. The junk mail received via e-mail, however, is more difficult to get rid of and ties up the company's resources as well. Some corporations use procedures to block junk mail, or spam, from entering their e-mail systems. Some users find that friends or acquaintances can be the worst violators and are too willing to pass along unnecessary information they have found on the Internet.