Salutations are not something that I've particularly struggled with when emailing professors and faculty. However, when emailing administrative staff is where I struggle. I am always unsure whether to use something along the lines of "Honorific. X" and rather to use their first name informally such as "Hello X,". So I usually end up going with the generic "Good afternoon" or something else along those lines.
As for sign-off, I almost exclusively use Thank You or Greatly Appreciated as my usual communication is that of a request for a particular service.
No tips but re: salutations - it feels like the pandemic has led to a small evolution in email etiquette (or maybe it's just me). I never used "Hi __" before, but I do all the time now. I also now will say things like "Thanks for the reminder David," whereas pre-pandemic I never would have saved an addressee's name for the end of a sentence. Maybe because even more than before email is a substitute for live conversations?
In my previous (government) job I used to get between 200 and 300 emails a day. Many of those I was cc'd on as a result of people copying *all* people in my position; there were corporate or broadcast messages that went to EVERYONE; alerts and digests from news services I subscribe to; and spam/phishing messages. About 20% of messages actually *required* my attention or action/response. I have the preview window open at the bottom of my screen so just sliding over a given message, I can see the first few lines which give me an indication of whether there is something of interest in it.
Needless to say, I am a pretty ruthless deleter, within the confines of Canada's Acess to Information and Privacy legislation that requires retention of certain records. Triage is everything! Subfolders are useful for moving certain things into that you may need to find, but I admit I never really had time to do that....
As for reducing your inbox, Outlook has a "clean-up" feature that removes redundant messages from chains. When able to multi-task (e.g. on conference calls or in the back of a car) I would sort messages by sender and delete everything coming from certain sources (like the WaPo; NYT; digests from our Media Relations office; reports on issues that really had nothing to do with me...), or by subject lines, e.g. if I got trapped in a useless conversation chain. I immediately "unsubscribe" from lists I got added to just because I bought something. Again, ruthlessness is the name of the game! Ditto with the "Draft" box - a lot of those are actually empty. Delete regularly!
As for greetings, I don't use any in swift replies, only in more substantive or initiating messages. "Dear Colleagues" if sent to several addressees, "Hi David" if only to one whom I know well, or "Dear Mr. X" if more formal. I usually end with "Thanks and cheers," in exchanges with colleagues, or "Best/warm regards," with outside contacts. I also have a pre-set signature block so I don't have to type my name each and every time.
1. I use the heck out of Personal Folders in Outlook (.pst folders). I have about 30 of them which allows me to quickly get rid of anything that I either don't need to reply to but don't want to trash or those I want to save for later to reply to. Once those are out of the way, it's easy to go through the most important emails left in my inbox. The Other tab in Outlook also helps because that's where all my reading/marketing stuff goes so I know that it can usually wait until later.
2. My greeting usually mirrors that of the person I'm replying to in terms 9f whether I use Hi or nothing, etc. If I'm not replying, I use "Hi, David" or "Hey, David" or go with a more formal "Dear, David" depending on how well I know the recipient.
3. I almost close with either "Thanks!" or "Take care," followed by my first name and then signature block.
Emails mimic the format of paper memos with the "To, From, Date, Subject" built into it. Just like in a paper memo, it is redundant and incorrect to include a letter-like salutation and closing (very truly, sincerely, etc.). So I use neither in what is essentially an electronic memo (despite the misnomer "email").
I've taught various email-management techniques over the years. Some suggestions.
1. In regard to your questions re opening and closing, most email programs have a signature-block feature. Use it to automatically populate your closing, which can be as simple as Thanks, David. (That works for everyone.) And skip the opener for folks you're in regular correspondence with. That's three or four words you don't have to type and they don't have to read.
2. Set up folders, and don't let stuff sit in your inbox (once you get to the bottom of the current stack). You can glance over a folder with a dozen mails and figure out what to do next. 1700 is not just overwhelming but useless as anything other than a hoarder's "junk drawer."
3. Mentally sort your mail on three axes as you first encounter each item:
a. Action v. advisory. If no action is needed, or needed now, read and delete (or read and file). If action is needed now, respond briefly, sometimes just to put the ball back in the other person's court and in effect kick the can down the road for a bit. If serious action is needed, flag it and/or put it on your calendar.
b. Urgent v. important. Focus on the important. You'll be surprised at how much "urgent" crap disappears if you don't respond. Reserve time in your day to deal with the important mail. Dispense with the merely urgent tersely (not rudely, but with a single sentence or so).
c. Only-I-can-take-the-next-step v. group mail. Spend most of your energy on stuff you alone can make progress on. For mails to a group, delete unless you know a one-line answer off the top of your head. (I presume you're already sorting newest-on-top so you don't waste time on old threads.)
4. You're entitled to one "mail mulligan." Delete everything, tell people you have a mailbox problem, and ask them to re-send anything truly important. But remember, this is a one-time get-out-of-jail-(mostly)-free card, so don't waste it. But it sounds like now might be the time to play this card.
I need to be much better about deleting email. My go-to greeting for business and personal is: Hi (first name),. If I have said, "Look forward to hearing from you," then I leave it at the with my sig block after in professional emails. I will also end with Best regards in professional emails. Generally my CRM tracks with my business email if the person with whom I am communicating has been added to the CRM so I don't worry too much if I delete earlier emails as the CRM will save them anyway.
I use the same defaults you use for start and finish of messages. Due to public records laws I have multiple email sources/addresses and use different applications to keep them separate(Fastmail, Gmail, Apple Mail and Outlook). In each application I use its filters to automatically sort messages to help me more quickly spot those needing response. For example, all messages from anything ending in substack.com go to a folder that doesn’t require a response. Even so, responding is a huge task…no way around that. I just wish I could sort messages coming in on Slack and Facebook too…more responses required. :-O
I go with "Dear David Lat" for someone that I do not actually know. Unless Dr. or Prof. is called for. The reason is that, with people you do not know, probably you also do not know their preferred pronouns.
I usually sign off with something like a full sig. unless I know the person well. This reflects my own frustration in trying to locate this sort of information in past email chains.
I am not particularly skilled at keeping "up" with email. Aspirationally: As I go through emails, if something requires my attention, AND if it can be dealt with in less than one minute, I just reply and archive. Otherwise, if email requires a longer response or study, I put a star next to it. Most emails do not fit into either category, and are ignored. Then, when I have time, I go through the starred emails: handling, un-starring, and archiving. Every few months I archive my whole InBox except for starred emails. I never discard emails, nor do I categorize them. I rely on Google's excellent search capability to find them if needed.
is a handout I gave to my seventh-graders last week. I like "Hello" instead of "Dear", but I am not satisfied with it. There ought to be a valediction too. I use IHS, as a Christian, or YT, as a gesture towards Yours Truly.
No salutation unless it's old person who still thinks email is a letter.
No signoff because it all seems fake. Not every set of regards can be the best. Not every person get "best wishes". Seems hard to claim that an autosignature that includes "sincerely" can actually convey sincerity.
Maybe it's a librarian thing, but I am huge fan of using Outlook folders (and subfolders, and subfolders of subfolders) to organize e-mail I've already dealt with. In terms of my e-mail inbox, I have assigned different colors to different types of e-mails, so for example, I have one color for work/job and another color for professional/industry. When I am behind in keeping up with the e-mail in my inbox, I can easily scan the colors and deal with the work/job ones first, and not get paralyzed and overwhelmed. Now, if I could only get some tips on how not to end up with tons of browser tabs open with articles/blogs/stuff I want to read but don't have time to read...
Salutations are not something that I've particularly struggled with when emailing professors and faculty. However, when emailing administrative staff is where I struggle. I am always unsure whether to use something along the lines of "Honorific. X" and rather to use their first name informally such as "Hello X,". So I usually end up going with the generic "Good afternoon" or something else along those lines.
As for sign-off, I almost exclusively use Thank You or Greatly Appreciated as my usual communication is that of a request for a particular service.
I also use best regards and best; however, I also use “warm regards” when my soul tells me that’s the right one to use :)
No tips but re: salutations - it feels like the pandemic has led to a small evolution in email etiquette (or maybe it's just me). I never used "Hi __" before, but I do all the time now. I also now will say things like "Thanks for the reminder David," whereas pre-pandemic I never would have saved an addressee's name for the end of a sentence. Maybe because even more than before email is a substitute for live conversations?
In my previous (government) job I used to get between 200 and 300 emails a day. Many of those I was cc'd on as a result of people copying *all* people in my position; there were corporate or broadcast messages that went to EVERYONE; alerts and digests from news services I subscribe to; and spam/phishing messages. About 20% of messages actually *required* my attention or action/response. I have the preview window open at the bottom of my screen so just sliding over a given message, I can see the first few lines which give me an indication of whether there is something of interest in it.
Needless to say, I am a pretty ruthless deleter, within the confines of Canada's Acess to Information and Privacy legislation that requires retention of certain records. Triage is everything! Subfolders are useful for moving certain things into that you may need to find, but I admit I never really had time to do that....
As for reducing your inbox, Outlook has a "clean-up" feature that removes redundant messages from chains. When able to multi-task (e.g. on conference calls or in the back of a car) I would sort messages by sender and delete everything coming from certain sources (like the WaPo; NYT; digests from our Media Relations office; reports on issues that really had nothing to do with me...), or by subject lines, e.g. if I got trapped in a useless conversation chain. I immediately "unsubscribe" from lists I got added to just because I bought something. Again, ruthlessness is the name of the game! Ditto with the "Draft" box - a lot of those are actually empty. Delete regularly!
As for greetings, I don't use any in swift replies, only in more substantive or initiating messages. "Dear Colleagues" if sent to several addressees, "Hi David" if only to one whom I know well, or "Dear Mr. X" if more formal. I usually end with "Thanks and cheers," in exchanges with colleagues, or "Best/warm regards," with outside contacts. I also have a pre-set signature block so I don't have to type my name each and every time.
1. I use the heck out of Personal Folders in Outlook (.pst folders). I have about 30 of them which allows me to quickly get rid of anything that I either don't need to reply to but don't want to trash or those I want to save for later to reply to. Once those are out of the way, it's easy to go through the most important emails left in my inbox. The Other tab in Outlook also helps because that's where all my reading/marketing stuff goes so I know that it can usually wait until later.
2. My greeting usually mirrors that of the person I'm replying to in terms 9f whether I use Hi or nothing, etc. If I'm not replying, I use "Hi, David" or "Hey, David" or go with a more formal "Dear, David" depending on how well I know the recipient.
3. I almost close with either "Thanks!" or "Take care," followed by my first name and then signature block.
Hope that helps!
Stephanie
Don’t bother with salutations or signoffs. You are wasting precious seconds with each email. It adds up.
1. I begin and end each day by doing email until I’m caught up.
2. Hi ___
3. Best, (or no sign-off if it’s someone I’m in constant contact with)
Emails mimic the format of paper memos with the "To, From, Date, Subject" built into it. Just like in a paper memo, it is redundant and incorrect to include a letter-like salutation and closing (very truly, sincerely, etc.). So I use neither in what is essentially an electronic memo (despite the misnomer "email").
I've taught various email-management techniques over the years. Some suggestions.
1. In regard to your questions re opening and closing, most email programs have a signature-block feature. Use it to automatically populate your closing, which can be as simple as Thanks, David. (That works for everyone.) And skip the opener for folks you're in regular correspondence with. That's three or four words you don't have to type and they don't have to read.
2. Set up folders, and don't let stuff sit in your inbox (once you get to the bottom of the current stack). You can glance over a folder with a dozen mails and figure out what to do next. 1700 is not just overwhelming but useless as anything other than a hoarder's "junk drawer."
3. Mentally sort your mail on three axes as you first encounter each item:
a. Action v. advisory. If no action is needed, or needed now, read and delete (or read and file). If action is needed now, respond briefly, sometimes just to put the ball back in the other person's court and in effect kick the can down the road for a bit. If serious action is needed, flag it and/or put it on your calendar.
b. Urgent v. important. Focus on the important. You'll be surprised at how much "urgent" crap disappears if you don't respond. Reserve time in your day to deal with the important mail. Dispense with the merely urgent tersely (not rudely, but with a single sentence or so).
c. Only-I-can-take-the-next-step v. group mail. Spend most of your energy on stuff you alone can make progress on. For mails to a group, delete unless you know a one-line answer off the top of your head. (I presume you're already sorting newest-on-top so you don't waste time on old threads.)
4. You're entitled to one "mail mulligan." Delete everything, tell people you have a mailbox problem, and ask them to re-send anything truly important. But remember, this is a one-time get-out-of-jail-(mostly)-free card, so don't waste it. But it sounds like now might be the time to play this card.
Good luck.
I need to be much better about deleting email. My go-to greeting for business and personal is: Hi (first name),. If I have said, "Look forward to hearing from you," then I leave it at the with my sig block after in professional emails. I will also end with Best regards in professional emails. Generally my CRM tracks with my business email if the person with whom I am communicating has been added to the CRM so I don't worry too much if I delete earlier emails as the CRM will save them anyway.
I use the same defaults you use for start and finish of messages. Due to public records laws I have multiple email sources/addresses and use different applications to keep them separate(Fastmail, Gmail, Apple Mail and Outlook). In each application I use its filters to automatically sort messages to help me more quickly spot those needing response. For example, all messages from anything ending in substack.com go to a folder that doesn’t require a response. Even so, responding is a huge task…no way around that. I just wish I could sort messages coming in on Slack and Facebook too…more responses required. :-O
Dear David: My greetings are always formal. David, I always use a comma after the direct address. Kind regards, Pam McKinney, MLIS, (312) 342-4348
I go with "Dear David Lat" for someone that I do not actually know. Unless Dr. or Prof. is called for. The reason is that, with people you do not know, probably you also do not know their preferred pronouns.
I usually sign off with something like a full sig. unless I know the person well. This reflects my own frustration in trying to locate this sort of information in past email chains.
I am not particularly skilled at keeping "up" with email. Aspirationally: As I go through emails, if something requires my attention, AND if it can be dealt with in less than one minute, I just reply and archive. Otherwise, if email requires a longer response or study, I put a star next to it. Most emails do not fit into either category, and are ignored. Then, when I have time, I go through the starred emails: handling, un-starring, and archiving. Every few months I archive my whole InBox except for starred emails. I never discard emails, nor do I categorize them. I rely on Google's excellent search capability to find them if needed.
I am glad to see somebody thinking about this. We need to establish a norm. Maybe that means you and me need to do it. At https://www.rasmusen.org/special/Cedars_School/02_08b_Writing_letters_and_Emails.pdf
is a handout I gave to my seventh-graders last week. I like "Hello" instead of "Dear", but I am not satisfied with it. There ought to be a valediction too. I use IHS, as a Christian, or YT, as a gesture towards Yours Truly.
No salutation unless it's old person who still thinks email is a letter.
No signoff because it all seems fake. Not every set of regards can be the best. Not every person get "best wishes". Seems hard to claim that an autosignature that includes "sincerely" can actually convey sincerity.
Maybe it's a librarian thing, but I am huge fan of using Outlook folders (and subfolders, and subfolders of subfolders) to organize e-mail I've already dealt with. In terms of my e-mail inbox, I have assigned different colors to different types of e-mails, so for example, I have one color for work/job and another color for professional/industry. When I am behind in keeping up with the e-mail in my inbox, I can easily scan the colors and deal with the work/job ones first, and not get paralyzed and overwhelmed. Now, if I could only get some tips on how not to end up with tons of browser tabs open with articles/blogs/stuff I want to read but don't have time to read...