Unsure of emailing dos and don’ts? Here are 10 useful email practices to help you watch your email manners!

1. Always include a subject line. Without one your message is, at first glance, meaningless to the recipient. Clear subjects also help organize an inbox.
   
   
2. Use a personal name, to make your message more credible. Using personal names like “Guess Who” is annoying and may cause your email to be deleted before it’s even read.
   
   
3. Keep the length of emails brief and focused on one topic. If you have several different topics to communicate, consider sending a separate message. This will help the recipient organize the various ideas.
   
   
4. Don’t uppercase unless absolutely necessary. Uppercase usually indicates SCREAMING!
   
   
5. Don’t include credit card or social security numbers in email messages. Emails can be intercepted, leaving this personal information susceptible to theft.
   
   
6. Use a visual indicator with replies, commonly “>” at the start of a line of original content. This helps give the message context.
   
   
7. Pay attention to where your replies are sent. Be sure to think about whether your message is intended for just one person, or an entire list before you hit the send button.
   
   
8. When sending attachments, pay attention to format and file size. Detail the format in the body of the email. Also, be aware of the file size – most personal computers can handle between 500K and 1MB per email.
   
   
9. Is the message really urgent? Don’t mark a message as “urgent” unless it truly is. Otherwise, your messages will eventually not get the attention they deserve.
   
   
10. Use emoticons (smilies) and acronyms like IMHO (in my humble opinion) sparingly. People that don’t understand them can become very confused or annoyed.