Weekly Computer Tip # 75
7 August 2004

Adding a Subject to your email hyperlinks (Microsoft FrontPage)

This time last week I was getting ready to go to the Cambridge Folk Festival (any of you who were there too?). Now I have to make do with listening to the (signed!) CD of "Show of Hands" to bring back the memories of yet another excellent festival with blazing sunshine. But I'd better turn it off and clear my desk of distracting clutter and focus on this week's tip ...

In FrontPage you can create a hyperlink that automatically opens and addresses an e-mail message to the address you specify. This type of link is useful when you want a reader to be able to send you an email message from your Web page, like I did on my Contact Details page (http://www.roem.co.uk/contact.html). However,

Did you know ...

You can create a hyperlink that, as well as the email address, automatically enters a pre-defined Subject to your email message.

Here's how:

1. In Page view, type the text you want to use as a hyperlink. (To use my Contact Details page http://www.roem.co.uk/contact.html as an example I typed: "bladebla ... send a blank email subscribe@roem.co.uk.)
2. Select the text you want to use as a hyperlink. (For example, subscribe@roem.co.uk)
3. Click the Hyperlink button on the Standard toolbar or right-click the selected text and choose Hyperlink.
4. Click the Make a hyperlink that sends E-mail button.
5. In the Create E-mail Hyperlink box type desired the email address and add ?subject=[YourSubject] to the end of the address. (For example:subscribe@roem.co.uk?subject=subscribe)
6. Click OK. FrontPage has automatically entered the correct protocol: mailto:subscribe@roem.co.uk?subject=subscribe
7. Click OK.

When you have published your Web page and a user clicks your email hyperlink, the resulting e-mail will include your pre-defined subject. Combine this with a rule to have Outlook check messages when they arrive in the Inbox to file them into different folders and you have saved yourself even more time! ("How?" I hear you say. Let's talk about that next week.)

If August is a quiet time for you ("komkommertijd" - cucumber time - as the Dutch call this time of the year when things slow down) why not use it to learn how to build or maintain your own or your organisation's website using Frontpage. To see how FrontPage can help you to create and manage a visually-pleasing and easy-to-navigate Web site without having to learn Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) please ring me on 01223 214177, email me or check out the full course outline (http://www.roem.co.uk/msfpage2000.html). Half day one-to-one training sessions - at a reasonable price - are available at short notice.

Until next week.

PS I’m committed to sharing the best of what I know with others so please don’t keep me a secret. If you enjoyed today’s tip, please forward it to anyone you feel may benefit. Alternatively, feel free to reprint it (with full copyright and subscription information) in your newsletters and message boards.

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