{"id":53,"date":"2021-12-22T10:54:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T15:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/comptech\/chapter\/email\/"},"modified":"2022-10-05T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T17:50:11","slug":"email","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/comptech\/chapter\/email\/","title":{"raw":"Email","rendered":"Email"},"content":{"raw":"
\n\nEmail has become an ubiquitous part of most people\u2019s lives. Here are some things to consider to make your email communications more effective.\n

From:<\/h1>\nPeople often have more than one email account, possibly: work, school, personal, business. Separate accounts allow you to organize email you send and receive, so if you don\u2019t have multiple accounts ask yourself if this would be a good choice for you? If so, search the web for \u201cfree email accounts\u201d, there are many providers that will offer you a free email account.\n\nIf your personal email account isn\u2019t professional (e.g. hotbabe@... beerdrinkingchampion@...) consider getting a second account with an email address you wouldn\u2019t be embarrassed to put on your resume (e.g. firstname.lastname@...).\n\nThe email app on your phone\/tablet\/computer likely supports multiple email accounts, so it\u2019s easy to check all your accounts from one app. When you reply to an email, it will be from your account that the message was originally sent to, so this helps keep things organized. When starting to compose a new email though, you will need to consciously pick which email account you want to send \u201cFrom\u201d.\n

To:<\/h1>\n

Address Books<\/h2>\nUse the \u201caddress book\u201d in your email system to keep track of the people you correspond with. Ensure you have an entry for \u201csurname\u201d as well as the \u201cfirst name\u201d, since if you have 2 contacts named Robert, you want to know which one to pick.\n

Distribution Lists<\/h2>\nDo you have a group of people you email regularly, perhaps a group at work, or something like a sports team, non-profit organization, club or bridge group you belong to? Create a distribution list, so all you type is the name of the distribution list, then the email message will be sent to all the addresses in the list. If you are using a distribution list, make a conscious choice about putting it in either the \u201cTo:\u201d field (where everyone will see all the other email addresses the message is being sent to) or putting it in the \u201cBCC:\u201d field (where no one will see all the other email addresses the message is being sent to)\n

Cc:<\/h1>\n\u201cCc\u201d is an abbreviation for \u201cCarbon Copy\u201d. Back in the days before photocopiers, a piece of carbon paper between 2 sheets of paper in a typewriter was the way a copy of the letter\/message was made. In today\u2019s email world, \u201cCc\u201d is typically used to let another person(s) know about the contents of the email. This differs from the \u201cTo:\u201d field, which is usually addressed to the person(s) that we want to do something (e.g. answer a question, make an appointment, etc.), the email address we put in the \u201cCc\u201d field is typically for the \u201cinformation\u201d of that person (not for their action).\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_52\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"505\"]\"Image 9.1 Addressing Email[\/caption]\n

Bcc:<\/h1>\n\u201cBcc\u201d is an abbreviation for Blind Carbon Copy, and is somewhat similar to the \u201cCc\u201d field, with one important difference - visibility of the other recipients of the message. Normally, if there is more than one email address in either the \u201cTo:\u201d or the \u201cCc:\u201d field, everyone receiving a copy of the email can see all the other people\u2019s email addresses that are also receiving a copy.\n\nIf you put an email address in the \u201cBcc\u201d field, any email addresses listed in either the \u201cTo:\u201d or \u201cCc:\u201d field will not know that a copy of the message went to the person(s) in the \u201cBcc:\u201d field; however, the person listed in the \u201cBcc:\u201d field will see the email addresses listed in the \u201cTo:\u201d and \u201cCc:\u201d fields, but not any other email addresses that are also in the \u201cBcc:\u201d field.\n\nSometimes, you might want to send an email to a group of people, and do it in such a way so that the people you are emailing can\u2019t see each other's email address, and also won\u2019t be able to \u201cReply All\u201d to everyone. For example, a realtor sending property listings to their clients, or a business sending out a special promotion to its clients, etc. This could be accomplished by putting all the email addresses of the group in the \u201cBcc:\u201d field, and putting your own email address in the \u201cTo:\u201d field (as most email programs require at least one address in the \u201cTo:\u201d field). It is impolite or \u201cbad form\u201d to reveal people\u2019s e-mail addresses\n\nto other people, without permission. If a) ask you for b)\u2019s e-address, you can forward a)\u2019s request to b) with the message \u201cThis person asked for your e-mail address -- reply if you wish. He too is my friend and I trust him.\u201d.\n

Subject Lines<\/h1>\nA descriptive \u201csubject line\u201d (the one line summary of your email) can be particularly important for effective email communications. Consider the following:\n\nSometimes people will just scan the list of email in their inbox (i.e. they see the subject lines, but not the body of the emails) so a descriptive subject line helps people decide if they should open the email right away (e.g. today\u2019s meeting cancelled), or wait until later (e.g. review this for our end of week meeting).\n\nIf you have had an email exchange with someone about one topic, and then you change topics, ensure you update the subject line.\n

Attachments<\/h1>\nYou can attach documents, pictures, spreadsheets - essentially any type of electronic file to your email messages. Be aware that different email systems have different size limits for their attachments, so if you are prevented from sending a large group of files, you may need to either send a smaller group of files, or compress the size of some of the files (this is common when sending pictures).\n

Etiquette and Best Practice<\/h1>\nThere are certain conventions with respect to email that encourage the polite and efficient exchange of messages:\n