Do you use > and indentation to keep the context?

Last updated by Brady Stroud [SSW] over 1 year ago.See history

This rule has been archived

Electronic communication can easily cause misunderstandings. Help the reader understand your message better by:

  • Keeping the prior email in your reply
  • When quoting text from someone else (e.g. The original email you are replying to, a web page, etc.), use the “>” and indentation. Your new text should be kept to the left. When quoting text on web pages, always include a link to the web page.
  • Add numbers if the sender didn't
  • Optionally, use a different text color in your reply

This way you won't forget any questions in the original email.

Please change from X to Y
The program flow logic worries me a bit  Done. Sorry, this wasn't a final decision - I just put it there for testing purposes

Figure: Bad Example - there's too much information here

     > 1. Please change from X to Y
Done, I made the changes - <add a link to the page or a screenshot>

> 2. The program flow logic worries me a bit  Sorry, this wasn't a final decision - I just put it there for testing purposes 

Figure: Good Example - You can clearly see the context of each part of the reply

Note: For those using mobile devices the indentation function is not available, try instead using 3 spaces to indent manually.

Video:  Top 10+ Rules to Better Email Communication with Ulysses Maclaren


Adam Cogan
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