Like it or not, email is a part of our lives, business and personal.  To the consternation of many, it is here to stay, at least until our mental telepathy gets better.

Email when used properly and in the right context is a very good tool for electronically connecting with others.  The issue is many people do not use it properly and some see it as a hammer and every type of communication as a nail.

There are many times when a simple phone call is a much better form to build rapport or discuss an item.  The nuance is lost in an email.  The phone also can get an issue resolved much quicker, as opposed to emails back and forth over a longer time span.

The subject line of an email is very important.  It provides the reader with the gist of the content.  Try to send one email instead of many.  Most of us are handling a high volume of email and sending multiple emails to a person when it all could be put into one, makes it easier for the reader.

Disable your email system from automatically sending emails as soon as you press the send button.  One, it can cause multiple emails to be sent when one would suffice, because it was still in your outbox.  Two, this give you time to think about what you wrote.  Just as  words cannot be pulled back in once said, email’s live forever.

Unless you yell and shout to everyone you communicate with, don’t use all upper case letters.  While many would think everyone knows this, they don’t.  Use proper grammar and punctuation.  How do you want people to perceive you?  If your email is forwarded to someone else, would you be proud of it?

The inbox and deleted items is not meant as a storage system.  In almost all email applications whether software or Web based, can be setup with file folders for organizing.  If an item can be deleted, then delete it and periodically empty your deleted items.  If an email can’t be deleted, file it.

For some, all email must be saved.  For those people who fall into this category, automated email archiving is the proper solution.  Not only will it archive every incoming email, but also every email which gets sent from the domain.

Email is a good tool, but the world is not a nail.

This article was written by The Boss of HITman Services, a computer and IT company serving the Albany, Troy, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties of New York.