Go to login.microsoftonline.com, click on ‘Create one!’ and follow the steps. Think carefully about the email address you want and try different options. Using your initials and a number will mean a much shorter email but you need to be able to say it clearly. Creating an Outlook email means creating a Microsoft account so add the details to those pages in the Tomtie Toolkit

Outlook webmail is provided by Microsoft and is an excellent free email as it syncs with all devices and includes Calendar and People (your contacts). The areas to get to know are – The left hand Navigation pane showing from the top; Folders (Inbox, Junk Email, Drafts, Sent Items, Deleted and more) then the top Search box, the Home, View, Help ribbon which can be simplified to be a toolbar – just click on the down arrow at the end to see ‘Classic ribbon or Simplified ribbon’ and check the one you want. The vertical bar on the left shows the different apps within including Calendar and People

Turn on in the Microsoft account, click on profile icon ❯ My Microsoft account ❯ Security ❯ Advanced security options Two-step verification should be ‘ON’. In the ‘Ways to prove who you are’, add a second email address, mobile number and if you can the Microsoft authenticator app to your mobile

Open Settings (click on cog icon – top right) ❯ Mail ❯ Layout and make changes as needed so Outlook is easy to read (e.g. ‘Text and line spacing’ set to Large or Focused Inbox – don’t sort, and Message Organisation set to individual messages – not conversations). Spelling and grammar checks are on by default but are only suggestions, so you need to click on a word with a red underline to see the correct spelling. Turn on ‘Show suggestion count’ – click in the text area of a new email then click the three ‘more options’ dots, scroll to Editor and click the expansion arrow to select. A box with a number will appear in the new email if there are suggestions. Click on the box to see details

Open Settings (click on cog icon – top right) ❯ Email ❯ Compose and reply ❯ Message format – in ‘Compose messages in’ select HTML then select a font and font size click on the small triangles to select the font and font size then click Save

Open Settings (click on cog icon – top right) ❯ Email ❯ Compose and reply ❯ Email signature. Click ‘+’, give the signature a name then add text and formatting and click Save. Select default signatures ‘For New Messages’ and ‘For Replies/Forwards’ click Save

Open Settings (click on cog icon – top right) ❯ General ❯ Privacy and data ❯ External images. Select ‘Always use the Outlook service to load images’