The Deleted Items folder is the waste basket for all messages you have deleted. Deleted messages stay in this box until you dump the waste basket by deleting the messages again. It works the same as the recycle bin/waste basket on the desktop.

The Drafts folder is where partial messages are kept for you until you complete them. If, for example, if you start a message, get interrupted and have to go somewhere, you can save the partially complete message here until you can get back to it. In addition to the five folders, you can easily create more. I'll explain how to do that later.

The next window pane is located at the top right. In the above picture I've noted that this pane is where incoming message titles show. Actually it shows From, Subject, and Received Date and Time for each incoming message.

The third pane shows the text of the message. To read a message, you must first click the message in the top right pane to select it.

Also, while the message is selected, you can delete it by simply hitting the delete key on your keyboard.

Next, I'll explain the tool bar where Create Mail, Reply Forward, Print, Delete, and Send/Recv are located. Notice I skipped "Reply All". That's because it's not used for routine e-mail.

I have Outlook Express, version 6.0. The items I'm about to explain might have different words on earlier versions but they will mean the same thing. The first item Create Mail is the item you select to write a new message. This for new mail, not for reply. The difference is that Reply opens a window with the subject and the e-mail address already filled in. That's because the program copies the subject and address from the incoming message being replied to. So, to Reply to a message, you first select it from the message title list, then click the Reply item on the tool bar.