Email is one of the quickest, most convenient, and inexpensive ways of staying in touch with friends and family. Mac OS X makes it easy to send and receive email with a built-in email application called Mail. All you need is access to the Internet and an email account which is usually provided with your Internet account or you can even sign up for a .Mac trial account and get an @mac.com email.The first time you open Mail (by clicking the postage stamp icon in the Dock), your Mac automatically sets up an email account for you using the information in the .Mac pane of System Preferences. If you don't have a .Mac account (or haven't entered that information yet), Mail Setup Assistant opens to guide you through the process of setting up a new account—just enter the information provided by your Internet provider and you can create additional email accounts at any time.Once you've got your account set up, you're ready to send and receive email—we show you how to do both below. And if you're having difficulty sending or receiving email, we've got 10 things for you to try that'll help get you back in touch with the world again.

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