How do I send a word file by email?

Middle_Sister · 27 October 2011 at 4:23PM

I need to send a word document (5 pages) to a number of email recipients. I have figured out how to zip it (I think) but when I sent it to myself and opened it it was all little boxes and unreadable. I tried to convert it by clicking on the 3 choices but nothing worked.
What am I doing wrong?

leseul · 27 October 2011 at 4:26PM

What email client are you using? or is it webmail?

If you're using an email client such as outlook, outlook express, thunderbird or Windows Live Mail then simply right click the file you want to send > send to > mail recipient.

Zipped files need to be decompressed before they can be used, that could be why you're seeing boxes, modern OS's will do that automatically for you. What steps did you follow to zip the file? You say you have managed to send it to yourself? Is this on a different computer?

It could be that the font you used originally doesn't exist on the recipients computer, in which case word will try to guess at the font and replace with little boxes. Try highlighting the text and changing to a common font like Arial.

johnnyreggae · 27 October 2011 at 4:34PM

If its only five pages it probably doesn't need zipping unless you know some of the recipients only have dial-up ! Even then its only a big problem if the document is full of drawings or pictures to give a very large file

Middle_Sister · 27 October 2011 at 4:35PM

I am in hotmail. Then I click new. start tying in the person I want the email to go to and it fills the rest in automatically because they are in my contacts. Then I click attachment. I click on the word document and then click sent to. I click on compressed zip folder then send but when I open it I get a load of boxes with the 3 choices windows default MS-DOS and other encloding

johnnyreggae · 27 October 2011 at 4:39PM

Middle_Sister wrote: »

I am in hotmail. Then I click new. start tying in the person I want the email to go to and it fills the rest in automatically because they are in my contacts. Then I click attachment. I click on the word document and then click sent to. XXXXXXXX I click on compressed zip folder then send but when I open it I get a load of boxes with the 3 choices windows default MS-DOS and other encloding

I don't see why you don't try stopping at XXXXXXXX ?

Middle_Sister · 27 October 2011 at 4:39PM

Another thing. If I just click on the word document and then send to it opens another box and when I type in the email address it gives me a message. I can never just click on email addresses that you see on websites. I always have to make a note of the email address then go into Hotmail to send an email.

johnnyreggae · 27 October 2011 at 4:50PM

What's the message - its probably your computer telling you it cannot find an email program to use - which is easiest solved by having outlook or similar on your computer - I think webmail cannot direct launch as you describe (but I'm happy to be wrong)

leseul · 27 October 2011 at 4:55PM

Middle_Sister wrote: »

Another thing. If I just click on the word document and then send to it opens another box and when I type in the email address it gives me a message. I can never just click on email addresses that you see on websites. I always have to make a note of the email address then go into Hotmail to send an email.

Yep, that's because you are using a webmail system (like Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail etc. instead of an email client (like Outlook or Thunderbird) you can link your hotmail account to an email client if you really need the ability to send emails from email address links (google hotmail in outlook), but I would suggest you stick to what you know.

As to your problem, what version of word are you using? -> In your original document, check the fonts are standard ones like Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman Etc.

In Hotmail -> Under the address bar (to: cc: subject:) look for Insert, then attachment, browse to your word document in the box that pops up, wait for it to upload, then click send.

Dave_C_2 · 27 October 2011 at 5:07PM

Does it have to be in Word Format?

If it is simply text then just cut and paste the text into your email.

A straight email is several orders of magnitude smaller than a Word file and recipients don't have to mess about opening Word files.

Dave

macman · 27 October 2011 at 5:30PM

Stop trying to zip it! The file size of a 5pp Word doc is tiny-any ISP can process that without compressing it first.

eamon · 27 October 2011 at 7:12PM

I agree with macman. I regularly send attachments between home & work (at home use hotmail & at work outlook pro) and I never zip them. Whats the point? Oh and at home I use open office and at work MS Office. Even when I had dial up it was never an issue.