I hesitated about this post because it’s not related to enhancing life. But it will surely enhance your communications over emails. I don’t know about you but I get really peeved about a few things people do when using emails. Here are some established email etiquette to consider:

1. Subject line. Some people try to convey the entire message in the subject line. And some people never bother to change/update the subject when the topic of the email changes. The subject line should only be used for the subject.
2. Group emails. If sending an email to a group of people who don’t know each other, put everyone under ‘bcc’ instead of ‘to’ or ‘cc’. Otherwise you expose everyone’s email addresses without their permission.
3. Reply. Only hit ‘reply all’ if you want all the 100 people on the email to see your reply. Otherwise, hit ‘reply’. This is particularly relevant when sending an acknowledgment to the sender.
4. Punctuation. have you seen those emails where the writer doesn’t use any punctuation marks those emails are not only difficult to read but also very unprofessional punctuation marks are for a reason and they should be used even in informal emails. SIMILARLY, AN ENTIRE EMAIL IN UPPER CASE IS EQUIVALENT OF YELLING AT SOMEONE. and full emails in lower case are as annoying.
5. Templates. Those email templates that come with Outlook and other email programs don’t always show up on the recipients screen as you see them. They often come as attachments of photos. Those colorful and flowery templates also make your email look childish.
6. Signatures. Signatures that contain your full mailing address, phone and fax numbers should only be sent if necessary. Such signatures should not be part of your standard template. Similarly, putting your email address in the signature looks stupid.
7. Spellings and grammar. Most email programs come with an auto spell-check, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t activate that function. Don’t create your own abbreviations like ‘plz’ or ‘pls’ for ‘please’. I think it’s worse than not saying ‘please’ at all.

Please share your email peeves or other tips through comments.