First Class Email Tips and Tricks

There used to be a time a couple of months ago where the only way that you could transfer a graphic from your computer to another using First Class was by attaching the file to a message and then sending it. At that point in time, the receiver had to download it in order to view it. This, of course, presumes that they have appropriate software on their end to actually view the file once it was downloaded.

A new feature of the latest version of First Class is the ability to embed a graphic image right into the body of a message. First Class then, becomes your viewer.

The process is simple. Can you say copy and paste? In the message below, I went to the beautiful Computers in the Classroom website, right clicked on the image (click and hold on a Macintosh) and copied it to my computer's clipboard. Open a new First Class message and paste the graphic and it's done!

But you're not done yet. Before you send the message with the graphic, right click on the image (or select it and press COMMAND-M) and up pops the following dialogue.

You've got all kinds of formatting tools that can be applied to this image. One thing to note right off the bat is the size of the graphic. Keep in mind that the receiver on the other end will have to download this thing. The smaller the better. It's the same rule of thumb that you would apply to attachments.

Take a look at the file type. It's a PNG file. You might be asking, "What's a PNG file?" Life was a little too easy with GIF and JPG as the file types that you expect to see on the Internet. PNG is a format that has the benefits of both formats. (Be careful, though, not all web browsers support PNG.)