How do I use the Colour and Graphics toolbar?

All right! You’re going to write something fun and cool-looking with colour and graphics. Good choice!

The first step is to get into Colour and Graphics mode. Are you already in it? If you are, when you click Compose, you’ll see a row of buttons (the Colour and Graphics toolbar) above the Compose window—Font choice, bold-italic-underline buttons, etc. If you don’t see this toolbar with these buttons, here’s how to get in the right mode:

1. Click Options in the upper-right corner of your Mail page.
2. Under “Management”, click General Preferences.
3. In the “Composing E-mails” section, select “Compose messages as colour and graphics”. OK!

Working from left to right, the first few buttons on the toolbar are the familiar word-processor organizational stuff—spell-checking (abc), cutting (scissors), copying (two sheets of paper) and pasting (a clipboard). Next come the buttons where you get to express some style in font and colour.

First comes the Font pull-down menu. It has two F’s on it. Click this button to view other Font choices and select another Font.

Next is the Font-size pull-down menu. Choose the size of type you want by clicking the button with two A’s on it and browsing down this menu.

To use the next few buttons, first highlight the words you wish to change by clicking and dragging the cursor over them. You can also double-click on just one word, or use the arrow keys while pressing Shift.

"B" (Bold): Highlight the text you wish to make bold and click the "B" button.

"I" (Italics): Highlight the text you wish to italicize and click the "I" button.

"U" (Underline): Highlight the text you wish to underline and click the "U" button.

Text Color: Highlight the text you'd like to put in color. Then, click this button to see a palette of many colors. Select the text color you want. Or, you can select the font color first, then start typing, and the color will be applied to what you type.

Highlighter (background): Want to give your text a background color? Highlight the text to which you'd like to add a background, then press this button to choose the highlighting color.

Smiley Face: Add emotional oomph to what you say by selecting from the list of graphical emoticons.

Globe with Links (Web): Insert a web site link!

Line: Insert a horizontal line. Handy!

Align Text: Choose from flush-left, centered, or flush-right text alignment.

Bullets and Numbering: Create bulleted or numbered lists.

Decrease Indent: Place the cursor where you would like to move the text to the left and click the "Decrease Indent" button.

Increase Indent: Place the cursor where you would like to move the text to the right and click the "Increase Indent" button.

Stationery: Personalize your email using a wide variety of backgrounds.

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