Amal Nagm

Creating an E-mail Business Card

I received an e-mail from someone the other day who had a business card attached to their e-mail and I thought that was a really good idea! Then I got to thinking that some of you may want to create one as well. So, if you've ever had the desire to include a business card along with the e-mails you send out, here's how you do it!

You can include a business card in your e-mail for any reason you want. Maybe you work for a top notch business and you like to let other people know about it along with the e-mails you send. Or, maybe you run your own business and you figure e-mail is a great way to get the word out about what you do. You could also make a business card just for fun if you wanted to. It's the perfect way to exchange contact information with other people. So, no matter which way you slice it, it's a good deal!

Okay, let's get started! To create a business card in Outlook Express, open up the e-mail program and open your Address Book (Tools, Address Book). Now, you'll want to create an entry for yourself, so click on New, New Contact and type in your name or your business name (whichever you prefer). You can include just your first name or your full name. That is up to you. Click OK when you're done.





Now, go and find your name in your list of contacts and click on it to highlight it.
Next, go to File, Export, Business Card (vCard). vCard is the format the business card uses, which can also be used in different digital devices and operating systems. Now, a new window will appear and you'll just want to choose a location to save your business card in. You can save it in your My Documents folder or even on your desktop. It doesn't really matter where you put it. Just place it somewhere you will remember and a spot that is easy to get to. Once you pick a location, click Save. That's all there is to that!





Now, you also have the option of inserting your business card into every e-mail you send out. That's probably a smart thing to do if you want to get more information about your business out to people. But, if you just need to exchange contact information with a few people, you can also just attach it to certain e-mails. That saves you from having to type out all your information every time you need to give it to someone. Also, if you just want to send your card to business people and not to family and friends, you'll only want to attach it to certain e-mails and not every single one.

So, to put the card into certain e-mails only, go back to the main page of Outlook Express and compose a new message. Then go to the Insert menu and choose My Business Card. That will take care of that part.

To put your card into every e-mail you send out, go to Tools, Options and select the Compose tab. Under the business cards section (toward the bottom of the box), you can choose either Mail or News. (You'll probably want to choose Mail unless you often use the News part of OE). Either way, use the drop down menu and find your name in the list of contacts that appears. Your name should be there, because you already created your own contact earlier. Click OK when you're done and your business card will now show up in every e-mail you send out