E-mail Formatting Tips

E-mail may not be as prevalent as it was in the last millennium, but it still has its place, especially in professional settings. Here are some tips on formatting, based on my own experience dealing with e-mail.

1. Don’t Duplicate Footers

Some e-mail systems are set up to add a footer to the end of every e-mail. In work environments, this usually includes some language about confidentiality.

If your system adds a footer, don’t put that same footer in your e-mail signature. Otherwise every e-mail will have two copies of the same text, one from your signature and one from the system:

Today’s meeting will be delayed until 3:00 PM.

Sincerely,

A

This e-mail may contain proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete this e-mail immediately.

This e-mail may contain proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete this e-mail immediately.

2. Don’t Mix Top- and Bottom-Posting

Top-posting and bottom-posting are the practices of placing a reply above and below, respectively, a quote of the original message. There is some debate over which is better, but I think most everyone can agree that either is better than mixing the two.

Here’s an example of top-posting:

Yes, I’ll have it on your desk in an hour or so.

B

A wrote:

Are you almost done with the report we discussed yesterday?

Thanks,

A

And here’s an example of bottom-posting:

A wrote:

Are you almost done with the report we discussed yesterday?

Thanks,

A

Yes, I’ll have it on your desk in an hour or so.

B

And here’s what happens when you mix the two:

Great! Could you also send a copy to C?

Thanks,

A

B wrote:

A wrote:

Are you almost done with the report we discussed yesterday?

Thanks,

A

Yes, I’ll have it on your desk in an hour or so.

B

How easy was that to follow? How easy would it be if you added a few more messages to the chain?

Follow the style that’s been established for the reply chain.

3. Trim Quotes in Long Reply Chains

If a reply chain is getting long, try to trim the oldest quoted e-mails until you have just the immediate context that’s needed.

For example, if you received this message:

I’ve heard of it. Friends say it’s good.

B wrote:

How about that new pizza place down the street?

A wrote:

Hi, everyone. You’re doing a great job. I’d like to take you all out for a team lunch, on me.

Any suggestions on where to go?

…then you might be able to trim A’s message if your reply relates only to the immediate subject of the pizza place:

I went there once and I definitely agree.

C wrote:

I’ve heard of it. Friends say their specials are delicious.

B wrote:

How about that new pizza place down the street?

4. Trim Footers in Replies

When replying to an e-mail, consider trimming the footer from the quote of the original e-mail, especially if your own e-mail will contain the same one.

This goes doubly if you use top-posting, because otherwise the bottom of the message becomes a mass of duplicated footers:

Thank you very much, C.

C wrote:

I think I know what the problem is. I’ll take a look.

B wrote:

I think C would know about this. I’ve CC’ed her on this reply.

A wrote:

I keep getting an error: “Error 234: Not supported”

This e-mail may contain proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete this e-mail immediately.

This e-mail may contain proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete this e-mail immediately.

This e-mail may contain proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete this e-mail immediately.

This e-mail may contain proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please contact the sender and delete this e-mail immediately.

E-mail is still the primary mode of communication in some places, and following these tips will make everyone’s inboxes a bit more manageable. Got any other tips? I’d love to hear them!