Editing Email (section)

==Terminology==
{{Further|History of email#Terminology and usage}}
The term ''electronic mail'' has been in use with its modern meaning since 1975, and variations of the shorter ''E-mail'' have been in use since 1979:<ref name="Oxford English Dictionary 2012">{{cite web | title=email noun earlier than 1979 | website=Oxford English Dictionary | date=2012-10-25 | url=https://public.oed.com/appeals/email/ | access-date=2020-05-14 | archive-date=April 6, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406100025/https://public.oed.com/appeals/email/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Ohlheiser 2015">{{cite news | last=Ohlheiser | first=Abby | title=Why the first use of the word 'e-mail' may be lost forever | newspaper=Washington Post | date=2015-07-28 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/07/28/why-the-first-use-of-the-word-e-mail-may-be-lost-forever/ | access-date=2020-05-14 | archive-date=April 7, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407131904/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/07/28/why-the-first-use-of-the-word-e-mail-may-be-lost-forever/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

* '''''email''''' is now the common form, and recommended by [[style guide]]s.<ref name="cmos"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://styleguide.yahoo.com/word-list/e|title=Yahoo style guide|publisher=Styleguide.yahoo.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509154006/https://styleguide.yahoo.com/word-list/e|archive-date=May 9, 2013|access-date=2014-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/ap-removes-hyphen-from-em_n_837833.html|title=AP Removes Hyphen From 'Email' In Style Guide|website=[[Huffington Post]]|location=New York City|date=March 18, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512055628/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/ap-removes-hyphen-from-em_n_837833.html |archive-date=May 12, 2015}}</ref> It is the form required by [[IETF]] [[Request for Comments|Requests for Comments]] (RFC) and working groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-style-guide/terms-online.txt|publisher=IETF|title=RFC Editor Terms List|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228152111/https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-style-guide/terms-online.txt|archive-date=2013-12-28}} This is suggested by the [https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-style-guide/rfc-style-manual-08.txt RFC Document Style Guide]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424002009/https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-style-guide/rfc-style-manual-08.txt |date=2015-04-24 }}</ref>  This spelling also appears in most dictionaries.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/email | title=What is the correct way to spell 'e' words such as 'email', 'ecommerce', 'egovernment'? | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] | work=FAQ | access-date=4 September 2009 | author=AskOxford Language Query team | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080701194047/https://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/email?view=uk | quote=We recommend email, this is the common form | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 1, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/email |title=Reference.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=2014-01-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216094405/https://dictionary.reference.com/browse/email |archive-date=2013-12-16 }}</ref><ref name="cmos"/><ref>{{cite web |title=''"RFC Style Guide"'', Table of decisions on consistent use in RFC |url=https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-style-guide/terms-online.txt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228152111/https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-style-guide/terms-online.txt |archive-date=2013-12-28 |access-date=2014-01-09}}</ref>
* '''''e-mail''''' was originally the form favored in edited published American English and British English writing, and was formerly preferred by some style guides.<ref name="cmos">{{cite web |title=From E-mail to Email: Is the Sky Falling? |url=https://cmosshoptalk.com/2017/10/11/from-e-mail-to-email-is-the-sky-falling/ |website=CMOS Shop Talk |publisher=[[Chicago Manual of Style]] |access-date=18 September 2024 |date=11 October 2017}}</ref>
* '''''E-mail''''' is sometimes used.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxhowdoy.html |title=How do you spell "e-mail"? |first1=Mark |last1=Israel |publisher=Alt-usage-english.org |access-date=2014-01-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403084841/https://www.alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxhowdoy.html |archive-date=2012-04-03 }}</ref> The original usage in June 1979 occurred in the journal ''[[Electronics (magazine)|Electronics]]'' in reference to the [[United States Postal Service]] initiative called [[E-COM]], which was developed in the late 1970s and operated in the early 1980s.<ref name="Oxford English Dictionary 2012" /><ref name="Ohlheiser 2015" />
* '''''EMAIL''''' was used by [[CompuServe]] starting in April 1981, which popularized the term.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Did V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai Invent Email? |website= SIGCIS |author1=thaigh |date=2015 |url=https://www.sigcis.org/ayyadurai |access-date=2020-09-05 |archive-date=April 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417130400/https://www.sigcis.org/Ayyadurai |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Masnick |first=Mike |title=Laying Out All The Evidence: Shiva Ayyadurai Did Not Invent Email |url=https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190518/23370542236/laying-out-all-evidence-shiva-ayyadurai-did-not-invent-email.shtml |access-date=2020-09-05 |website=Techdirt. |date=May 22, 2019 |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127173452/https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190518/23370542236/laying-out-all-evidence-shiva-ayyadurai-did-not-invent-email.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>
* '''''EMail''''' is a traditional form used in RFCs for the "Author's Address".

The service is often simply referred to as ''mail'', and a single piece of electronic mail is called a ''message''. The conventions for fields within emails—the "To", "From", "CC", "BCC" etc.—began with RFC-680 in 1975.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pexton |first=Patrick B. |date=2012-03-01 |title=Origins of e-mail: My mea culpa |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/omblog/post/origins-of-e-mail-my-mea-culpa/2012/03/01/gIQAiOD5kR_blog.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-04-18 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |archive-date=May 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519192857/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/omblog/post/origins-of-e-mail-my-mea-culpa/2012/03/01/gIQAiOD5kR_blog.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

An Internet email consists of an ''envelope'' and ''content'';<ref>{{cite ietf
 |       title = Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
 |         rfc = 5321
 |     section = 2.3.1
 | sectionname = Mail Objects
 |       quote = SMTP transports a mail object.  A mail object contains an envelope and content.
 |   publisher = [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]] 
}}</ref> the content consists of a ''header'' and a ''body''.<ref>{{cite ietf
 |       title = Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
 |         rfc = 5321
 |     section = 2.3.1
 | sectionname = Mail Objects
 |       quote = The SMTP content is sent in the SMTP DATA protocol unit, and has two parts: the header section and the body.  If the content conforms to other contemporary standards, the header section is a collection of header fields, each consisting of a header name, a colon, and data, structured as in the message format specification
 |   publisher = [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]]
}}</ref>