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Diana Lynn Tibert

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E-mail is fast, but finding an e-mail address can be daunting if they're saved haphazardly in a cluttered address book.

What can you do to save time and make life easier?

Organize!

Many e-mail programs have the feature where the address pops up as soon as you begin typing. That's great if you only have one address starting with that letter, but in many cases, more than a few letters are required to find the right address.

Most programs automatically add the address of outgoing mail. I don't recommend using this option simply because you may add dozens of addresses without proper names and eventually you won't know who's who. Some addresses are used only once and don't belong in the address book.

To find addresses quickly, divide the master address book into smaller address books. These smaller books can be appropriately named: Family, Friends, Genealogy Lists, etc.

To do this, choose FILE from the drop-down menu and select NEW ADDRESS BOOK. This is not to be confused with NEW CARD. New cards create an individual file to record things such as name, e-mail address, other contact information and notes.

Some programs, such as Thunderbird, have icons near the top to easily create new address books, cards and lists. Lists are excellent for sharing the same message with a number of others on a regular basis. Once created, one click will send a message to everyone on the list.

Address books can be further organized by last names, first names, addresses, screen names or other properties. With the address book open, click a column title, such as NAME, and the names automatically rearrange.

If at first you had them organized by first names, one click reorganizes them by last names. I recommend organizing the list by addresses to spot any duplicate entries. Once that task is complete, organize the addresses the way you want.

Don't panic if your default Personal Address Book contains 500 addresses. Once you create smaller address books, you can drag and drop addresses to file them.

Double clicking an address opens a pop-up window which allows further information to be added. It's important to enter a name to correspond with the address so it can be quickly found. If the name is not immediately recognized, you may want to explain who it is in the notes section.

With my genealogy research, I often find contacts for branches of my family tree. The note section is where I record their connection with the family, the date I first made contact and any pertinent information.

The note section is also a great place to store information about your genealogy mailing lists. Things to include are how to subscribe and unsubsribe, material that can be posted and the administrator's name and e-mail address.

While organizing your address book, delete any defunct addresses. Not sure if they're defunct? Send a test message.

You should learn right away if the address is useless.

For information on e-mail in general and specific address book programs, visit E-mail Made Easy (http://www.oeupdates.com/).

* Researcher's File: When and where was Richard Bartlett Taylor born? Richard may be the son of Margaret Bartlett and James Taylor. Can anyone confirm or disprove this? Richard married Amelia Flewelling (born 1788, possibly in New Brunswick). Contact: Beryl Morrill, 4057 S. Laredo Way, West Valley City, UT 84120 USA; email: berylgm@gmail.com

* Diana Lynn Tibert is a freelance writer living in Milford, NS. Submit a query. It's free!: RR#1 Milford, Hants County, N.S., B0N 1Y0; email: tibert@ns.sympatico.ca