Greetings and salutations, fellow Hogwarts students!

If you are like any potential witch or wizard through the ages, receiving your acceptance letter to a magical school is one of the most exciting moments of one's life.  There has, however, been an increasing trend of these letters being sent electronically rather than by the standard owl post.  The reasons for this are as many and varied as the wizarding schools themselves: new threats to long-distance owls caused by a proliferation of Muggle wind turbines, new Muggle security measures such as drones that, while not intended to affect wizard communication, has forced the magical community to adapt to the changing world with new technologies (effectively hiding our activities in plain sight), the Jumbuck Feather Fungus that has affected owls imported to Australia turning their feathers to wool and thus rendering them flightless, to name just a few.  Innovative witches and wizards tried many other means of replicating the postal system in new ways that would continue to evade Muggle detection - our Aussie friends, for example, did try implementing a "kangaroo post" in conjunction with the owls, but it caused problems with roos flocking to urban areas and in one notable instance, causing a disturbance as a kangaroo got lost during delivery in a Melbourne airport parking garage - but none of these contingency operations worked as well as the comparatively simple e-mail.

This new approach to wizard communication has had the unfortunate side effect of newly accepted students of magic no longer having that hallowed letter to hang on their walls.  The purpose of this pamphlet is to provide the instruction needed for those who are less versed in Muggle computer technology to print out their e-mailed letters so that they too can continue this timeless tradition.  This First Edition will contain only two chapters: one chapter for those who use the Windows Operating System that shows how to print your acceptance letter using Microsoft Paint, and one for Windows, Mac, or Linux computer operators using a free program called GIMP.

I highly encourage any and all students, prefects, or professors to please send me a message using the inter-House mail system if any of these instructions are insufficient or confusing in any way.

Best of luck in your scholarly endeavors!

Shab Haii

First Year Student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Ravenclaw House