Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team
Gmail is very popular, free to use email service provider. This guide will help you setup the Windows 10 Mail program to access your email, rather than rely on the web interface.
Before You Begin:
Verify Password
Before setting up, take a moment to visit the web-based version of your email, and try to log in (sign out then back in if you need to). You will need to remember your password in order to complete setup.
Windows Mail is a simple program to use, with the workflow going from left to right. What this means is you choose things on the left, then move a column to the right, choose something else, and move a column to the right to read or do something.
This guide will give you a brief overview of the three sections of Windows Mail, and the options in each one.
On the left-hand side is the Menu Ribbon containing many of the major areas you may wish to visit when you are working with your Mail.
Menu
Expands the menu with text descriptions, favorite folders, etc.
New Mail
Allows you to compose a new mail message to someone.
Accounts
If you have multiple mail accounts, you can choose which account you are working with.
Folders
Allows you to choose what folder of mail you are in, such as a subfolder in your Inbox for organization, or the Trash if you've deleted something on accident.
Microsoft considers Mail part of a suite of communication applications, this reminds you where you are.
Calendar
Open the Calendar app to organize appointments.
People
Open the people app to manage your Contacts.
To-Do
Opens the Tasks app to create to-do lists.
Settings
Change settings in the Mail program, such as customizing how often it checks for new mail, or the background image.
Just after the Menu ribbon, you will see your Messages Pane, where you're shown a small icon (a picture if the contact has one, otherwise just their initials), the sender's name, the Subject, and the first little bit of the message itself as a preview. It's organized by date, and shows the time the message came in on the right if it was recently.
Items in bold haven't been opened yet. Normal items have been opened.
At the top are the following options:
Search
Allows you to search through your messages.
Sync
Refreshes your messages, and checks-in any new messages right away.
Selection Mode
Most useful when you want to delete a lot of messages, Selection Mode will let you put checks next to messages to select multiple pieces of mail, and either delete, move, copy, print, or any other "bulk" task to a bunch of messages at once.
In addition, when you move your mouse over any mail in this list, three other icons appear.
Archive
Move the message to the special Archive folder, so you can save an important message, but it won't be synced to your computer all the time, and won't show up in your inbox to get in your way.
You can show archived messages again by choosing Folders, then All Mail.
Delete
Moves the message to the Trash.
You can always access your Trash by choosing Folders, then Trash.
Flag
Allows your to flag a message so you know to look back over it later.
Select the + from the Menu Ribbon, and the far-right pane will change to allow you to write an email.
Generally speaking, you will need to put in the other person's email address for To, the Subject of your email, and then the body of your email. When you are done, select Send in the top-right corner.