The fastest way to begin using Desktop Server IV if you are a beginner to bulk email programs is to click the picture that says "Wizard" under it at the top right corner of Desktop Server IV. This will walk you step by step through the process of sending a mailing, but if you have any problem using the wizard, please read the standard non-wizard instructions below.

The first step to begin using Desktop Server IV is to click "Tools" on the menu bar at the top of your screen. Then select "Options". There it will ask you for your DNS numbers. Your computer should have automatically looked these up for you if you are online, and you should see some numbers in the DNS field. If there is nothing in your DNS field, you should close Desktop Server, sign onto your internet provider, then re-open Desktop Server. Now if you click "Tools" from the menu at the top of the screen, then select "Options", you should see a number in the DNS field. If you don't see anything there, then call your isp and ask what their primary DNS numbers are, and enter them by hand.

The next field in the "Options" screen asks you for your from name. You can enter any name you want there. It's recommended that you enter your real name or real business name, but anything will work.

The next field in the "Options" screen asks you for your from Address. Here you should enter your email address. The address you enter must be a valid email address. You're mail may not get delivered if you just make up a fake email address that does not actually exist. It's recommended that you get a free email account and enter that email address there. You can enter your main email address that you use everyday, but that email address could get canceled, so it's best to use an email address that you don't care much about. To find a free email address, just go to your favorite search engine and do a search for "free email" you will see hundreds of companies to choose from and they're all free!

The next field says "Timout" and this is default set at 30 which should be fine, so don't change this unless you are having problems with the program the way it is.

The next field says "Connections" and this is default set at 20 which should be fine, so again, don't change this number unless you are having a problem with the program running on your computer the way it is.

When you are done with the above entries, they are automatically saved, so don't worry about saving anything.

Next click "Message" on the menu bar at the top of your screen. Then select "View" and the message editor screen will pop up. The first field says "Subject" and this is where you will type the subject line of your email. The next large field below the subject line is the body of your email where you will type your main letter, message, or advertisement.

When you are done typing your subject line and your main body of your email message or advertisement, the information has now been automatically saved and will always be there until you change it.

Next click "Files" on the menu bar at the top of your screen. Then select "Import List" and an OPEN dialog box will ask you what email list you would like to load into Desktop Server. You will need to know what folder you stored your email list on your computer, and double click on that folder when you find it. Your list must be a list that has been saved in a standard text file format. An example of how your text list should look is below:

info@emailtools.com
webmaster@emailtools.com
sales@desktopserver.com
you@yourdomain.com
support@emailtools.com
test@emailtools.com
anything@emailtools.com

Our email harvesting and collecting programs such as Atomic Harvester IV and On Target IV automatically save all email addresses they find in a text file just like the sample listed above. So if you have any problems importing a list of email addresses you already have, try using Atomic Harvester or On Target. You will need to purchase a copy to use them though, because the demo will not let you save email addresses.

You can also enter email addresses one at a time by hand if you want by selecting "Addresses" from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Then selecting "Add" Then a screen will pop up that says "Add Record" and you can enter an email address by hand along with the name of the person if you have their name. If you don't have their name just leave the name field blank and press "OK"

Well, now it's time. Now that you have a list loaded into Desktop Server IV, a message or advertisement typed, and your name/email address entered, you are ready to press the send button. The send button is the picture of a letter with wings on the right hand side of your screen. You can now click the send button.

After you press the "Send" button to begin mailing your list, Desktop Server will ask you "Do you want to clean the removes from your address list (Y/N)?" If you click "Yes", Desktop Server will look at your remove list to see if you have any addresses of people you don't want to mail to. If it finds that you have email addresses in your remove list, it will take them out of your main list that you are about to send. If you don't have a remove list, you can just click "No" when it asks you if you want to clean the removes from your address list. Then it will begin sending and you will see the counter at the bottom of your screen showing you how many emails have been sent so far. It will keep counting until it's finished and will then display a message that says "Finished"

To add a remove list to Desktop Server IV, select "Remove List" from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Then to load an existing list into Desktop Server, select "Import List" and an "OPEN" dialogue box will ask you what directory you have your remove list in. Find your remove list and double click on it, then it will be loaded into Desktop Server. If you just have one or two email addresses that you'd like to add to your remove list, select "Remove List" from the menu bar at the top of your screen, then select "Add" and it will bring up a screen that says "Add Remove Record" Just type in the email address and press "OK" Then you should see it in your remove list.

Now let me give you a tip to make finding things in Desktop Server easier. If you find it easier, you can access the message editor on the right hand side of the screen with all the little pictures. Just click the picture that says "Message"

Also in that list of pictures on the right hand side of your screen, you will see a "list" button. You can click "List" at any time to view the current list that is loaded into your Desktop Server.

Now that you understand the basics, let's go over a few real life events that may happen when you start your first bulk emailing with Desktop Server IV. Suppose your internet provider disconnects by accident while you are in the middle of a bulk mailing? Sometimes internet providers disconnect all by themselves for no reason at all. I'm sure you've had this happen to you before. This can be a tricky situation if you're in the middle of a mailing. You see, if your internet provider disconnected in the middle of a mailing, Desktop Server IV would obviously stop mailing because there is no connection to the net. And if you just signed back onto your internet provider and clicked send again, your list would just start right back at the beginning. This would mean that all the people that were sent an email before you got disconnected would get the same email from you twice. I'm sure you have received multiple copies of the same bulk email ad or spam ad in your email box before. And you probably thought the person who sent 2 or 3 of the same advertisement to you was a complete idiot. But Desktop Server IV has prepared for this event and made it very simple to re-connect to your isp and continue your mailing from where it left off. Then you will never accidentally send multiple emails to the same person. Here's how you do it:

If you ever get disconnected from your isp during a mailing, just close Desktop Server IV and sign back onto your isp. Then open Desktop Server IV again and select "Tools" from the menu bar at the top of your screen. Then select "Remove sent mail from list" and this will automatically remove all of the emails that were sent before you got disconnected from your main list. After you click the menu option "Remove sent mail from list", you will immediately see the number of email addresses in your main list decrease as it removes all the people that have already received your email. Now you can just press the send button again and the mailing will continue right where it was at the time you got disconnected. So it's starts from right where it left off.

Another question I'm sure you have is "How do I send my emails with all those fancy colors, interesting fonts, bolds, and underlines? Simple, just select "Tools" from the menu bar at the top of your screen, and select "Options" And in the options screen you will see a little tiny white box that says "Send message in HTML" next to it. Just click that box. Now all you need to do is get some HTML source code and paste it into your message editor box. You paste your HTML code in the exact same place you would normally type your letter, message, or advertisement. And now that you have the HTML box checked in the options menu, Desktop Server will know to read and send your bulk emails in full fancy colored HTML. If you don't know anything about HTML, find someone who does to help you with this part.