Learning Technical Writing for Business

This is a guide for learning technical writing for business.

Improving Your Technical Writing Skills

Sometimes you need to use your writing skill to be persuasive. Maybe you are writing marketing materials. You will find it easier to get the results you want if you use a few clever strategies in your persuasive writing. Persuasive writing is often unsolicited, your readers probably did not ask to see your ad. So you need to work quickly to get the reader's attention, and keep it.

You can use punctuation to help. Try building up thought in a sentence, and before you finish the thought, and end the sentence with an ellipsis, a dash, or a colon. Your reader has to keep reading to find the conclusion, which comes after the punctuation mark. You can also draw readers in by using language that evokes emotion. For example, if you are selling a fast internet connection, paint the picture of a frustrated user sitting with a very slow connection. Then contrast this with your product, which offers blazingly fast access.

You can also get attention by using words with impact. For instance, enduring is stronger than long-lasting, and bargain is better than cheap. Another good strategy is to ask questions. When you ask a question, your reader has to engage with your material, instead of just passively receiving the information. You might place a question at the beginning, as an attention grabbing headline. You can ask questions throughout your text. Or you might ask a question as your conclusion, to remind your readers of the original problem and suggest that you can solve it.

One mistake people make in persuasive writing is giving technical information in the form of a list, without telling the reader why it is important. Instead, if you want to use information to persuade, it is better to present technical information as a solution or benefit. Do not just write a list of specifications - use those specs to show why your product is the best. So, for example, you could describe your new tablet like this: "Our product's compact, high-resolution, 3.75 in display makes it ideal for browsing your favorite web sites."

By the time you have reached the end of your persuasive document, you have put a lot of effort into trying to convince your reader to9 do what you want them to do. Drive the point home in your conclusion by giving a call to action; recommend a solution or action that will help your reader, and you. So, you might end promotional material with: "Call us today for a quote," followed by your contact details.

Adopting these strategies should make your writing much more persuasive - so be prepared to do what you have promised to do!

Writing Effective Emails

It is easier to fire off a quick email than hold a face-to-face meeting or pick up the phone. But this simple solution can end up taking more time, particularly if your email is unclear. Following basic rules of email etiquette will ensure your messages are professional and make the right impression.

First, be aware of tone. Make sure your email reads in a way that is appropriate for your message and speech. The speaker's tone and body language let you know how to interpret their statements. For example, a sarcastic tone can reverse the usual meaning of a phrase like, oh great. Tone is hard to convey in text. If the intentions or emotions in your message could be misunderstood, find a less ambiguous way to phrase it.

Consider a message like this. Get the report to me by 5pm or I will miss my deadline. It is a little abrupt is it not? The sender seems angry. Adding a few words and using a question, rather than a command, can transform the tone from threatening to appreciative. Consider who you are communicating with. How well do you know the other person? Use language that is appropriate for your message and the sender.

Many of the conventions of business letter writing have been lost in the move to email. But it still makes sense to use a formal, respectful tone when you are communicating with someone for the first time. You can suggest more subtle nuances of tone using emoticons and emojis. These are icons you create using either keyboard characters or selecting from a menu. A smiling or frowning face, for example, to communicate mood. Consider how emoticons can transform the meaning of an email message.

Adding a happy face shows the writer was sincerely impressed or pleased by the remarks. A frowning face implies a sarcastic tone. Emoticons may be appropriate in an informal message to a friend or peer, but they should not be a regular feature of business correspondence.

Another basic email rule is to avoid using inappropriate formatting. You might feel that writing text in all uppercase characters gives your email an urgent tone, but the reader will get the impression that you are shouting. Similarly, underlining or bold text can read as aggressive emphasis. Use plain sentence-case text in business emails. This approach maintains a neutral and professional tone and lets the readers focus on the message.

The final rule is to use proper composition to ensure your emails are clearly understood and professional. It is hard to follow a message when the points do not flow logically and the text is fairly dense. Grammatical errors, such as incorrectly used punctuation or misspellings, do not help. Make your emails easy to follow. Restructure your message to group logically related points. Space out separate ideas or topics appropriately. Use numbers or bullets to present list items. Keeping these rules in mind will help ensure the message received will be the same one you meant to send.

Understanding tone, formatting, and composition helps you convey your intended message. But that is not all there is to email etiquette. Maybe you have received an email reminding you to respond to an earlier email, or your failure to respond to an email quickly delayed solving a problem. Perhaps you created new problems by responding too quickly without proofreading what you said. Let us look at ways to avoid these situations.

First, answer emails within a reasonable time. Aim to respond to emails within 24 hours, if not by the end of the working day. Failing to respond promptly is not just discourteous, it also risks creating a costly delay if your input is needed to solve a problem. Remember, the longer you leave your reply, the less useful it is likely to be.

Say you have received an email from a client requesting proof. If you take several days to respond, the client may become frustrated and annoyed and end up contacting a competitor. Answer all questions posed to you in emails. Sending a timely reply will not really help the recipient if your response is not complete. Try to anticipate follow-up questions the recipient will have, and answer these up front to avoid a lot of back and forth emailing.

Suppose Paul emails you asking if a basic website should be created to promote a new product, and how long this would be likely to take. Your reply addresses only the first issue. Now Paul has to email you again to get the missing answer. If you had really looked at what he was asking, you would have answered both questions. And you might have even anticipated another likely question, and added more information about how long a more complex site might take to develop.

Another bit of email etiquette you should make a habit, is adding a signature to your business emails. A signature includes your contact information and is appended automatically after the body of any email message you send. Adding a signature lends a professional touch, and makes it easier for recipients to contact you. Your signature should contain your name, position, the name or logo of your company, and your full contact details. This allows the recipient to choose their form of response, a reply, a phone call, or even a fax.

The last step before sending an email message is to proofread your message. This will help you catch and correct any errors before you hit send. Always proofread your message with the recipient in mind. Taking one more minute to correct the errors in your mail before sending it results in a far more professional message. Adopting these techniques will help prevent some of the most common problems of email correspondence.

Every email you write should contain certain elements. A clear subject line, for one thing, and a professional looking address in the form field. Using these and other elements correctly, as well as following the basic rules of email etiquette, will help you create email messages that people will open and read.

Let us start with the "from" field. When you send a message, most email applications automatically display your email address in the form field. In some applications, you can also specify exactly what the "from" field displays. The name in the "from" field is what will be seen by recipients, and it can be an important influencer in their decision to open the email. That is why it is worth giving some thought to the name you use for your email account.

For example, if you use a nickname in the from field, your recipient may not recognize the email as coming from you. It is best to include your full first and last name. This is more professional than including only a first name or nickname, and helps ensure recipients will recognize who the email is from. If you are thinking about using just your company name, remember that the "from" field of an email should make it clear to the recipients exactly who sent the message. Using a company name does not do this. The email could originate from anyone who works for your company. And do not enter your contact details. Remember, if you use a signature, all that information will be included there.

Another key element of every email is the subject line. A good subject line can mean the difference between your email being opened. Treat the subject liner as an opportunity to make it clear what your message is about. Do not leave the recipient in any doubt about its relevance. Keep the subject line short, so it is easy to read and does not get cut off in the recipient's inbox.

Aim for a maximum of five to seven words. If the correspondence develops, remember that you may need to update the subject line in your response to reflect a change in focus. First impressions are important. And with email, this first impression will likely come from the from field and the subject line. These two seemingly small parts of an email can mean the difference between getting a quick reply and having to write another message, prodding the recipient for a response.

Once you have come up with a subject line that makes clear what your email is about, you can open your message with a greeting that acknowledges the intended recipient. Depending on the level of formality required, your greeting can be formal, such as Dear Ms. Smith, or more informal, as in Hi Jane. If you are not sure how to interact with someone, try to avoid being too informal. Take your cue from the way the person chooses to sign off her own e-message and address her in that way.

The final component of an email, the closing, is where you wrap up the points you have made, and conclude in a manner that is consistent with the tone of your message. Use phrases like "Best Wishes", "Warm Regards", "Thank you for your time", or "I look forward to hearing from you" to make your message appear less abrupt and insistent. If your message is slightly more formal, you may use "Best Regards" or "Sincerely". The right closing marks the end of your message and demonstrates consideration for your email's recipient.

Leaving out a closing can make the message seem abrupt and even complete. Adding something like "Best Wishes" softens the tone and confirms the message is complete. And finally, think about setting your email application to add a signature with your full contact details. This will make it easy for the recipient to choose their form of response. From the opening to the sign off, each part of your email contributes to the overall interpretation of your message. So pay attention to each element and choose the most appropriate words for your message and recipient.

There are lots of reasons to keep your emails concise. For one, research shows that the longer the email message, the less likely it is to receive a response. It is tempting to add detail when you are writing an email, but it is always better to be brief and to the point. A concise message saves time for both the sender and recipient. It avoids information overload, making it more likely the recipient will reply. Consider some guidelines you can apply to help keep your email messages concise.

In your emails, try to convey a single core point. Decide what it is you want to communicate, and maintain a tight focus on that one issue. This will make your messages easier to write and read. If you have to communicate several points, consider making each point in a separate email message.

Above all, get to the point quickly. Remember that when people are busy, they want to know what you are trying to communicate as fast as possible. So do not give them irrelevant information. Use a simple greeting too. By overloading it with pleasantries and small talk, you risk losing the reader's attention. Messages are more focused and easier to read when your sentences are short and simple. Try to keep each sentence to no more than 15 or 20 words. If this is difficult6, try refining or breaking down your ideas before expressing them. Use bulleted lists to group related points. This is a good way to make your remarks stand out, and  it encourages the reader to respond to each one.

If you really want to be concise, you will have to consider the dreaded thank you email. How many of the emails you send and receive are an unnecessary thank you for an unexceptional task? Thank you messages waste the time of the sender and the recipient. If you really feel someone has made an effort, send a handwritten card or make a phone call.

Whatever the subject of your message, one way to control length is to make sure that the message fits completely within the preview pane in your email application. If a full message fits in the preview pane and you can see where it ends, you are more likely to take the time to read the entire message.

Another tip, do not attach unnecessary files to your emails. Attachments are a regular source of computer viruses, and large attachments can be slow to download and time consuming to read. If you must include attachments, make sure your virus scanner is up to date, so that you are also not sending viruses. Compress the files, and generally try to restrict the total size of the email to less than 10 megabytes. Keeping these guidelines in mind will result in you writing fewer, shorter, and more effective emails.

Instant messaging, often called IM or just chat, is firmly established alongside email as a key communication tool in the modern office environment. Instant messaging gives you the ability to communicate in real time through text conversations. Some instant messaging applications also offer web cam support, which allows you to see and be seen by the other party. As useful as instant messaging is, however, there are pitfalls too. Used incorrectly, it can be a constant, nagging presence that disrupts your own or other's focus. Or it can sometimes become a tangled dialog that confuses rather than clarifies an important topic.

IM conversations are usually brief and on a single topic. Avoid problems by applying most of the rules of email etiquette.  For instance, compose your instant message logically and clearly to make it easy for readers to follow.  Instant messaging also has its own rules and conventions. One basic rule is that you respect contacts' status indicators and only send messages when people are available. Your instant messaging software will let you know if a contact is available to receive your instant messages.

If contacts are offline or have a busy status indicator, do not try to contact them. Instant messages may feel disposable, but they can be saved and kept or even passed on to others. They can also be viewed by anyone near the computer where the messages are received. So, make sure whatever you are writing is appropriate for a business environment. Treat an instant messaging session like any face-to-face interaction, and always start with a greeting. Your greeting lets the recipient know that you are beginning a conversation. It is less abrupt than charging right into a message. When you have something to say in an instant message, take the time to write it in full. Splitting what you want to communicate across several shorter messages could be confusing.

The recipient may try to reply to each message before getting the next one. If there will be a delay while you compose a message, however, inform the person on the other end. You do not want him thinking you are simply not responding. And if you are not at your computer, do not stay logged in. If you do not log off, you will keep receiving messages from contacts. Your lack of response may come off as rude. You also run the risk of others reading your messages while you are out. Follow these guidelines, along with the accepted rules of email etiquette, and you will make the most effective use of instant messaging.  

Sending Emails to the Right People

It is hard to imagine a working day that does not involve email. Even holidays and sick days often require you to check your inbox, to make sure you have not missed something crucial. There are downsides, however, to people's reliance on this medium. Email's speed and ease of use mean that messages are often composed quickly and delivered after very little reflection. But the content of your emails, and crucially, the recipients you include, require planning and thought. If you want to be taken seriously at work, you have to take how you communicate seriously too.

Let us look at a few problems first. In particular, those that can arise when you pre-address emails, do not include direct recipients in the "to field", or include too many recipients in the "to field". The problem with pre-addressing your emails is that it makes it too easy to send an inappropriate or unprofessional message, which could have lasting consequences. It seems obvious to say, but you should always review an email message carefully before sending it. Many people do not do this. They are all pushed for time. However, this final review can save you from having to spend time trying to patch up a broken relationship caused by a hasty reply. So, do not enter a recipient in the "to field" until you have written and reviewed your email.

If you are replying to a message from someone else, delete the recipient from the "to field" before composing your response to eliminate the possibility of accidentally sending an incomplete or rash message. Business messages are often relevant to more than one recipient. Direct recipients are individuals who have to act on your message or reply directly. Put their addresses into the "to field" of your email.

Suppose you have completed an order for a new server on behalf of your company. You want to confirm the order in an email to Rob, the head of procurements, so you put his address in the "to field". You also believe it is necessary to inform Matt in IT of the confirmation, as he will be the person installing the server when it arrives. You add Matt to the "to field".

Ever receive an email where it is unclear who should take action because everyone is in the "to field"? This is a common problem. The solution? Do not include too many direct recipients in the "to field". If you overdo the number of direct  recipients, they may not take responsibility for replying to the email, because each may think that someone else will respond.

There is also a risk that each recipient may wait to see how others respond before replying. With the result that nobody responds or everyone weighs in behind the most influential personality. Make sure your direct recipients are people who are directly involved, who understand what their role is in relation to your message. You will be more clear about what you are asking for in your email messages if you are clear about who needs to be included in the "to field".

Using the "cc" and "bcc" Fields

The "cc" or carbon copy address field, and the "bcc", or blind carbon copy address field, are useful email features, but are often misused. You can create a nuisance by "cc'ing" people unnecessarily, cause offense by "cc'ing" over the head of someone, or even generate scandal by confusing the "cc" and "bcc" fields.

Let us consider basic etiquette rules in relation to these fields. First, use the "cc" field to copy someone from whom you do not require a direct response. Be aware that any addresses you add to this field can be read by other recipients. Use the 'cc" field sparingly. Always ask yourself, why are you copying someone? Is it really important to copy this person, or are you just adding unnecessarily to the list of emails they will have to read? Too much copying confuses recipients, jams up their email inboxes, and wastes people's time. If you overuse the "cc" field, your emails may end up being ignored.

One good reason to use the "cc" field is to keep the recipient visibly in the loop regarding discussions. And maybe, for example, that your company has processes that demand this type of visibility. Another good reason for using the "cc" field is to keep people informed so they can track discussions and monitor situations without being directly involved.

Also, do not use the "cc" field to copy over someone's head. Say you are not happy with the role your manager has assigned you on a project. You write him an email, making this point. But then you include his manager in the "cc" field. You have just escalated the situation before your boss has even had a chance to respond to your complaint.

What about "bcc"? When do you use this field? Use it when you want to include recipients in an email without disclosing them to direct or "cc" recipients, thereby protecting the address and privacy of the party and the "bcc" field. Suppose you are an HR manager that informed a candidate for an upcoming interview. You may include the panel interviewers in the "bcc" field. You want the interviewers to know the applicant has been informed of the date, time, and place for the interview. But you do not want the applicant to know who will be conducting the interview or what their addresses are.

Before using the "bcc" field, ask yourself why you need to copy anyone secretly. Think about your motives and make sure your intentions are respectable. People often consider their emails private, even when they do not say so. If you really have a good reason to copy someone on a message, consider using the "cc" field or emailing other recipients separately. Following this guidance on using the "cc" and "bcc" fields correctly can help you avoid some of the worst problems that result from email communications.

Flagging Emails

All of your email messages are important. But some may be more important than others. Indicating the priority status of an email can help you communicate better. Most email systems allow you to set the message priority when you compose a message. How you set the status of an email decides the priority flag it receives in the recipient's inbox. Emails automatically receive normal priority when they are created. When you give an email a high priority flag, that email will stand out and be noticed.

You can also set a low priority flag for emails that are unimportant or that do not demand a reply. Priority settings can be important when your message requires someone's attention urgently, or alternatively, when you feel the recipient should not divert themselves from other priorities to look at your email.

Let us examine best practice for using these settings. Do not overuse high priority flagging. High priority flagging is only useful for urgent emails that may demand immediate action. Using this flag helps to get your email noticed and read in a business environment where people deal with many emails daily. But do not cry wolf and misuse the high priority flag for a message of normal or low priority just to get a quick reply. If you are seen as someone who regularly overstates the priority of your messages,  you may not be able to get someone to read your email when the message is genuinely urgent.

The low priority flag can be used for sending an email that is not urgent, or is casual. Use it for when you can get around to it kind of email. Or for issues not directly related to work. Imagine you want to send three emails. The first, to a colleague, has the subject line "team building ideas for next year". The second email is an urgent schedule change request. And the third, to a security company requesting a quote for a conference that is due to take place in six months' time. How would you set the priority status for each message? Due to its urgency, you might set the status email requesting a schedule change to high priority to ensure that it is addressed immediately. The team building email is not as important and is more exploratory than urgent. So you give it a low priority flag to let your colleague know that it does not require attention or a response, and can be read at any time. Finally, because the request for a quote is not urgent, you leave the status setting on this email as normal priority. Recipients can see that the message is neither very urgent nor casual and unimportant. And that they are free to reply at their convenience. Setting the priority of all your email messages appropriately will help ensure you get the response you require when you need them.

Targeted Email Replies

Suppose your manager is looking for your private opinion on a performance report she is sending to an employee. She includes you in the "bcc" field of her email. You compose your response but, without thinking, hit reply to all. The employee gets to see your opinion. But also the fact that you were secretly copied on the manager's original email.

Who you send email messages to is important because it can affect, and sometimes disrupt, work and business relationships. Consider some best practices for using, "reply" and "reply all". You have probably been at the receiving end of emails from annoyed colleagues asking why you have included them or did not include them on a particular email. Nobody wants to have to take the time to figure out if the message is directly relevant to them. Always edit the addresses in the 'cc" field, so that you copy only people who require the information you include in your response.

When replying, update the subject line of your email to reflect the content of your response. Updating the subject line will make it easy for recipients to identify what your message is about, and to find it in their inboxes. Reusing the same subject line repeatedly can mean recipients confuse your response with previous emails with the same subject lines. The recipient may have to open lots of messages to find yours. Always include the original thread of the email below your response. The thread is a record of all the communication that has occurred before your current response. It covers the original message and any previous replies.

By default, the thread appears below your new reply. Do not delete the thread or compose a completely new email message to respond. If there is no thread, recipients may have to search for and read other emails to figure out what you are referring to.

Choosing the "reply to all" option means that your response to an email will automatically be addressed to all recipients of the original message. "Reply to all" is a powerful feature, but it is often used incorrectly, roping a bunch of people into a response that just is not relevant to them. Best practice for "replying to all" is to avoid overusing it. Use it only if everyone who is included in the "to field" and "cc" fields needs to read the response.

And if you have been included in the "bcc" field of an email, avoid using "reply to all". The last thing you want is your identity shared and the fact that you were secretly copied.  Using "reply to all" to send personal messages of thanks or agreement is not a good idea. Instead, send thank you and me too replies to the direct recipient. Following these best practices in your email replies will make your communications more effective.

Forwarding Emails

Forwarding emails is a fast way to pass on information to others, but it can create problems if used incorrectly. For example, if the email you forward is not of use to the people you send it to, you are adding needlessly to the stack of emails they have to get through. If it includes content that may offend, forwarding it could upset recipients and damage your organization's reputation. Let us consider guidelines for forwarding emails.

As a general first step, always ask the author of an email if you may forward it to others. With all the communication traffic in a workplace today, some people lose sight of the fact that business email is confidential. Forwarding a message carelessly can violate the privacy of your company and your colleagues. It can also reveal private information like company addresses to people who should not have access to them. Before forwarding an email, ask yourself, why am I forwarding this information? If the information is not relevant to the recipient's work, do not forward it.

There are certain kinds of email you should never forward, including mass marketing emails, also known as spam. Look out for chain letter emails which usually promise rewards if you forward them or terrible consequences if you do not. When  you forward an email some email applications add forwarding symbols such as right-pointing arrows at the start of each line of the original message. Always delete these forwarding symbols and other forwarding headers from your message before forwarding it as they make an email confusing for recipients.

An email that you have cleaned up is more likely to be taken seriously. Do you ever receive a forwarded email and find yourself puzzled about its relevance to you? It is always a good idea to explain why you think the email you are forwarding is relevant to the recipient. Add a personal comment or greeting above the message. How do you respond when you are one among dozens of people targeted by an email? Probably slowly and indifferently, if at all.

Avoid forwarding messages to many recipients at once, because you cannot include a personal comment explaining the relevance of the message to each recipient. When you forward an email to other people, the addresses of previous recipients display by default in the message pane immediately above the original message. Delete these addresses before forwarding the email to protect their privacy. If you have to forward an email to different recipients who do not know each other, add all the recipients' addresses to the "bcc" field. This ensures you do not reveal the recipients' addresses. Add your own address to the "to field" so that you can send the email. Applying these best practices demonstrates respect for the people you communicate with and can help ensure your message is professional and easy to follow.

Poor Copying Practices

You are unhappy with a colleague's response to a proposal you made, so you email him again, this time copying his manager and the CEO. You may feel you had no alternative, but by copying over someone's head you have just engaged in a form of manipulation. This approach may achieve results but it will not win you many friends. You will come off as self-serving and may turn a simple situation into a nasty personal attack. Before you copy people on emails ask yourself why you are copying them. The only good reason to copy someone is to keep them visibly informed.

So what are inappropriate motives for copying a message over someone's head? Consider these examples. A colleague says something that embarrasses you in a meeting with a client. Back at your desk, you fire off an angry email and copy the message to your manager. You are clearly acting from the wrong motive, copying over your colleague's head just because you are angry. Some people may copy over someone's head in order to promote themselves or make themselves look good. An example might be copying a manager on emails sent outside work hours to highlight you are working overtime. If it is truly important, tell your manager directly. It is clearly inappropriate to try to manipulate someone into doing what you want by revealing your intentions to other recipients. 

Organizing Your Email

Email has dramatically increased the volume of communications and the amount of information that you need to process every day. To keep up, you must sort, file, respond to, or delete every email that comes to you during a business day.

Managing Business Email

When you are looking for an important document in a stack of papers you have not filed properly, you quickly realize that a little bit or organization could have saved you a lot of time and frustration. What is true for your filing cabinet is equally true for your email inbox. A cluttered email inbox will not only frustrate you, it can also hinder your productivity and distract you from other obligations. So let us consider ways to organize your business emails in order to manage your time and work effectively and efficiently.

The first rule is to keep your inbox as empty as possible. It seems obvious to say, but the fewer emails you have in your inbox, the less you have to deal with. Keeping your inbox free of clutter also means it is easier to identify the messages that demand your immediate attention. One way to keep your inbox as empty as possible is to handle business-related email as soon as it arrives. Another way to reduce your inbox size is to regularly delete junk email and old email that you do not need anymore. You can also organize incoming email into different categories or subjects, each with its own folder in your email client.

From there, you can decide which emails need to be handled and at what time. This should streamline your inbox, leaving it with only relevant email messages that you need immediately, or that require a response. Deleting unnecessary emails and organizing your email are good ways to deal with the messages you have already received. But what about cutting off some of the flow before it reaches you? Try to prevent your inbox from becoming jammed up by eliminating the sources of unnecessary emails. If you are on email lists or have subscribed to news groups, you probably receive many emails you do not really need.

Product alerts and newsletter can also add to the pile. Despite the assurances you are given that your email address will be kept private, subscribing to these services can increase the chances that you will receive more spam. Do not subscribe to services that will result in emails arriving in your business mailbox, unless you really need them for your work. You can usually unsubscribe from a service by using the service's website, or sending an email. Even if you need a service, you can usually restrict the communications you receive. For example, specify that you do not want to receive any promotional content. Or opt to receive a daily digest instead of several individual messages. Following these simple techniques will help you avoid the problem of serious email overload.

Keeping Personal Email Separate

Work related email messages alone can clog up your email account. But when you add in personal emails, it becomes harder to spot the important business messages. This just adds confusion and wastes time. If you are getting personal emails when you are at work, the first step to better management is to set up separate business and personal email accounts. Separating these accounts keeps your business and personal emails, and those parts of your life, separate. It also enables you to use your time at work more efficiently. Your personal email can be handled at another time, when you are not working. Check to see if your company's email program supports multiple inboxes. You may be able to get permission to set up two separate accounts, each with its own email address, one for business and one for personal email.

Remember though, you really should not be dealing with personal communications during work. Your employer may be legally entitled to check your email. And if personal messages you receive are sensitive or offensive, they may end up causing you embarrassment or even disciplinary action. Whether your personal account is set up at work or at home, you need to ask your personal contacts not to email you at your business account. People will probably appreciate that your business account is for work only and that all personal emails, especially forwarded emails, should go to your personal account. You can also help to manage your work hours more effectively if you designate a time for handling personal email. Read, organize, and reply to personal email outside of work hours, so you keep focused when you need to get your work done. Following these steps can help you manage the time you spend on email at work, allowing you to focus only on business related messages without distractions.

Deleting Emails

If you look at your email inbox, you will probably notice only a few of the emails are truly important. When you are feeling swamped, you may be tempted to start deleting anything unnecessary, but then you risk deleting important emails. So, how do you decide which emails you can delete? Let us look at those types of emails that are ripe for deletion. First up are those emails that just need a quick read, but no further action from you. For example, a short thank you note from a colleague contains nothing you need for future reference. And does not require a reply, read it then delete it. You can also delete emails that are not required anymore.

For example, reminders for meetings that have already passed or newsletters of no real value. However, be careful not to delete emails you may need for future reference. For instance, some project related emails may be needed even after a project closes. Another category of emails to delete are messages that are not work related, such as jokes, and friendship forwards. These kinds of emails not only clutter your email account, but also are more likely to contain material that may be offensive.

Cut these emails off that source by asking senders to stop putting you on these messages. If that does not work, set your email client to delete messages automatically from specific senders. Spam is the most obvious type of email to delete. These unsolicited advertisements or junk mail can jam up your inbox. Creating frustration and thwarting productivity. You can usually identify spam by reading the subject line, or the first few lines of an email. These often tell you that the email is an unsolicited promotional offer. As a rule, delete spam as soon as you receive it.

Be wary of unsolicited emails that use garbled subject lines including special characters to try to draw your attention. Confusing or tricky subject lines can be a ploy to peak your curiosity, enticing you to open the message. If you do open the message your computer may very well end up infected with a virus. Avoid this potential trap completely by deleting these emails without opening them. Along the same lines, it is particularly important to delete messages from unknown senders that have suspicious subject lines.

These emails could be spam or worse, they could infect your computer with viruses. If the subject line seems odd to you and you do not know the sender, delete the email immediately without opening it. If you have already opened an email and you feel even slightly suspicious, do not open any attachments it may contain. Opening an attachment could allow a virus or other malicious software to run on your computer. One of the best ways to make your business email easier to manage is to delete these and other unnecessary messages from your mailbox. Doing this can help defeat email anxiety, and give you a sense of control.

Using Folders

Deleting emails you do not need can help you avoid being overwhelmed by email. But how can you prevent the important messages you hold on to from turning into a bewildering pile of information? The most effective solution is to organize your email using folders. Email programs consist of an inbox and basic folders for outgoing, sent, deleted, and draft email messages. But to manage your email more efficiently, create additional folders.

Let us explore a few guidelines for creating folders that will make your email easier to manage. Stop thinking of the inbox as a place to store email. Instead, treat it as a temporary holding place before you categorize your emails into folders that accurately reflect their area of relevance. Each folder you create should have a particular purpose and be named accordingly. Do not select a purpose so specific that it applies to very few emails. Nor should it be so general that the folder becomes full enough to resemble an extra inbox.

Try to create a balanced number of folders, fitting your needs. Having too many, or too few, will make it more difficult to organize your email. What are the action items you deal with? Make these action items the basis of the folders and folder names you create. If you are a writer, for example, you might base your folder structure on the phases of your document review cycle. So you would create folders named, "for editing", "edits to implement", and "completed documents".

Folders can also be named based on the subjects of the different sorts of email you receive regularly. For instance, you may create separate folders for each client or project you are working on. A folder for administrative email, one for emails about company events, and one for newsletters and subscriptions. Treat the amil you send in the same way as incoming email. File sent items into folders relating to their purposes. You might want to organize sent and received mail relating to the same purpose into the same folder. Or perhaps create a folder with the same name within your sent folder.

You also want to avoid clogging up your mailbox with too many messages that are out of date. A folder will not help much if it contains hundreds of old messages. Fortunately, email applications have an automatic archiving feature that saves you from having to root out old messages and store them somewhere else yourself. Once you enable the archiving feature, it automatically moves items you no longer use into a separate storage folder. You can decide when an email message in your mailbox is ready for archiving. You can also decide if and when you want the archiving feature to operate automatically. Once you get the hang of folders and archiving, you will be able to clear a path to a more user friendly inbox.

Using Filters

Using a clear set of folders to organize your email makes managing your email quicker and easier. But it defeats the purpose if you have to spend too much time sorting all the email in your inbox and filing it to the right folders. Fortunately, a solution is available in the form of filters. Filters are rules you can establish to move certain kinds of email directly to the folders in which they belong. 

There are a number of different ways to specify which emails must be routed to a particular folder. You can specify that all messages from a particular email address must be routed to a relevant folder. For instance, most of your email traffic comes from either your manager or your organization's main client. So you set up separate folders to receive the email messages from these two addresses. You can also set any email that includes certain words in its subject line or body to be routed to a folder on a particular subject. Emails can also be routed to folders based on who the message is addressed to.

For example, you may use one folder for emails addressed to you only and another for emails that use a company wide distribution list. How do you filter in a way that avoids emails getting misrouted, mixed up with unrelated emails, or even lost? Well, there are some guidelines you can follow to set up effective filters. First, use precise terms as the criteria for filtering incoming email. It is worth taking a little time and investing some careful thought in specifying accurate terms to use in your filters.

Filtering your email based on the sender's address is easy. But it is not always an effective way to manage your messages, especially if you get lots of emails on different subjects from a particular person. It often makes more sense to use filter terms specific to your email folders. For example, you could specify that all messages containing a term like leave or vacation are routed to your "days off" folder. Or all emails on a particular project are routed to a folder with that project name. Bear in mind, using specific words to filter emails is effective only if you know emails you receive about a specific subject will actually contain these terms. You may need to ask people who email you to use those specific terms in their email subject lines.

Suppose you are managing a project for a company. You ask your colleagues to use the name of the company in the subject line for all their product related emails. This will enable you to route all relevant messages directly to that company folder you created. Follow these guidelines to set up effective filters that automate email organizing for you.

Searching for Email Information

Using techniques for managing your inbox will make dealing with your business emails a lot easier, but they will not solve every problem. For example, what if you misplace an email containing important information? Let us examine three ways of dealing with the common problem of mislaid emails. First, try searching for the email by entering a keyword or phrase you know it contains into the search feature of your email problem. When the search is complete, the results are displayed in the form of a list of all emails that meet your search criteria. That is useful, but sometimes a search still leaves you with a mountain of mails to check.

How do you make your search effective? It is a good idea to keep your search terms as precise as possible. This refines search results, making it easier to locate your mislaid email. For example, if you are looking for an email from "mike smith", his name is the most precise search term. If you use a less precise search term, such as 'smith" alone, you could end up with some irrelevant results from other people with the surname "smith". Forgetting an exact spelling that was used in an email can make it difficult to enter a precise search term.

You can get around this using a character known as a wildcard, which is a substitute for another unknown character. The wildcard can be any symbol but is usually denoted by an asterisk. Let us say you cannot recall whether a client's surname is spelled 'smith', with an I, or 'smyth', with a y. Replacing the disputed letter with an asterisk will produce a list of all emails from people who spell the surname in either way. Bear in mind however, not all email programs accept wildcards.

Another way to locate a lost email is to use your email program's built in  sorting mechanism to help find a particular email. In the folders of most email programs, email is displayed in a list with several columns. These columns contain important information, such as the sender's name, the email subject, and the date the email was received. When you click the column header, the email program rearranges the listed emails according to the category of information you have clicked.

If you only know the date the email arrived, for example, you click on the date column, allowing you to browse the rearranged list, looking for emails received on that date. Finally, if neither of these approaches help you find the missing email, you can always contact the original sender and ask this person to resend the email. These tips will help you avoid the frustration you may feel when an important email slips through the net and your otherwise organized inbox.