iPhone™ for Dummies®

Chapter 11. The E-Mail Must Get Through

In This Chapter

• Setting up your accounts

• Sending e-mail messages

• Reading and managing e-mail messages

• Searching for e-mail messages

• Setting e-mail preferences

Chapter 5 shows you how well your iPhone sends SMS text messages. But SMS text messages aren't the iPhone's only written communication trick, not by a long shot. One of the niftiest things your iPhone can do is send and receive real, honest-to-gosh e-mail, using Mail, its modern e-mail application. It's designed not only to send and receive text e-mail messages but also to handle rich HTML e-mail messages — formatted e-mail messages complete with font and type styles and embedded graphics.

Furthermore, your iPhone can read several types of file attachments, including PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents, as well as stuff produced through Apple's own iWork software. Better still, all this sending and receiving of text, graphics, and documents can happen in the background so that you can surf the Web or talk to a friend while your iPhone quietly and efficiently handles your e-mail behind the scenes.

Prep Work: Setting Up Your Accounts

First things first. To use Mail, you need an e-mail address. If you have broadband Internet access (that is, a cable modem or DSL), you probably received one or more e-mail addresses when you signed up. If you're one of the handful of readers who doesn't ...