by Nicole Williams

Created on: January 06, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2011

Email is usually the most efficient way to communicate in the professional world. Because of this, it's important that you know about email etiquette. Below is a helpful list of dos and don'ts in the email world.

The Dos:

1. Save your emails that are sent by others for future reference. If you're unsure how long to save them, ask your boss what the company policy is. Create folders to hold your saved emails. If you're unsure how to create a folder, ask a coworker or a member of your information technology staff.

2. Immediately report any and all spam emails. If you have an information technology department, alert them at once. If you don't, tell your supervisor right away.

3. When sending emails, check your spelling and grammar. Most email software, such as Outlook have a spell check feature and there's a way to automatically have it check your spelling before an email is sent. If you're unsure how to do this, ask a coworker or a member of your information technology staff. Beware! Not all spelling errors may be picked up. Read your emails before sending them!

4. When replying to emails, check to see if more than one person was addressed in your email and if anyone was copied on it. Make sure to use your "Reply to All" option in this case so everyone is still kept informed.

5. Use your "High Importance" and "Low Importance" options accordingly, if applicable. If you need someone to respond to your email quickly, use the "High Importance" option to capture their attention. If you need to inform your department that you brought doughnuts in and they're in the break room, you may opt to use the "Low Importance" option.

6. If you are working on something for someone else, either internally, or a customer, make sure that this person or persons are copied on any emails you send to research or act on this issue.

7. Ask your company if there is a certain format that they like to use for their emails. Some companies want you to use a certain greeting or closing, but most of all, companies may want certain information in your signature or may want a certain size or type of font or may require the company logo in the email. I'm sure you get the idea.

8. Try to keep your Inbox and Sent box as clear as possible. Some companies have a size limit on your email boxes. If you exceed this limit, you will not be able to receive any more emails. It's very important that you also clean out your "Deleted" folder as well. When you delete an email, it gets put in this folder in case

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