AOL E-mail for Dummies

With AOL, your best tool for sorting unwanted E-mail is the Mail Center.

To get there, go to AOL Keyword: Mail Center

From the Mail Center, there are many options for sorting E-mail. AOL has built in spam controls. In Mail Center, you can click on Be in control to adjust your spam and other E-mail security settings.

AOL's Advanced Spam Filtering will automatically move junk mail and unwanted mail into your Spam folder. This process is simple, automatic, and personalized based on how you use mail. There are 4 levels you can click to set the filter and they are described below.

The default, recommended setting is Medium.

• Off Messages suspected as Spam will still be delivered to your New Mail mailbox.
• Low Only obvious Spam messages will be identified and delivered to the Spam Folder. Some Spam messages may be delivered to your New Mail mailbox.
• Medium Almost all Spam will be identified and delivered to your Spam Folder. Check your Spam Folder every few days to make sure wanted mail was not accidentally delivered there. This is the default recommended setting.
• High Virtually all Spam will be identified and delivered to your Spam Folder. This high level of filtering may inadvertently send wanted messages to your Spam Folder. Check your Spam Folder regularly.

To clear your individualized Advanced Spam Filter settings, click the Clear Filter button.

For More information on Spam and Junk Mail, see AOL Keyword: Junk Mail.

From this screen, you can also click on Edit next to the Sender Filter to change who you will and will not accept E-mail from (Use a Custom Sender List allows you to enter individual E-mail addresses to block or allow), and to choose whether blocked E-mails go to the Spam Folder or are permanently deleted.

Once the spam settings are to your liking, you can start adding folders to your mailbox to sort incoming and outgoing E-mails.

First, go to the main mailbox by clicking the mailbox icon, and then click on the Manage Mail tab.

Highlight the Saved on My PC folder on the left of the screen, then click on the Setup Folders button, and choose Create Folder from the drop-down menu. A box will appear in which you can type the name of your new folder. You can create as many as you want, and name them however you like. You can make folders for personal E-mail, work related E-mail, family E-mails, GenX E-mail, etc.

Once these folders are created, you can easily sort your received E-mails by dragging and dropping them from your inbox to the appropriate folder (this only works when you are in the Manage Mail tab of the mailbox).

If you are in your inbox, you can sort E-mail by left-clicking on it, and following through the pop-up menu: Move to>On My PC>(folder name).

The great thing about sorting E-mail this way is that it is now saved on your computer, so it can be read even if you are not signed on to AOL. You can access all mail that has been saved to your hard drive by opening AOL (not signing on) and clicking on the Mailbox icon.

The AOL Help menu can always be accessed by hitting the F1 key OR Alt-H

AOL also offers a more advanced way to sort E-mail with AOL Communicator. Go to AOL Keyword: AOL Communicator for more information, and where you can watch a demo video on this great new tool.

All images are from the latest version of AOL 9.0 Optimized.
Some portions Copyright AOL 2004