Do you avoid using inline when replying to an email?

Last updated by Chloe Lin [SSW] about 2 months ago.See history

Replying inline can mess up the history of the email thread. What you should do is to copy and paste the entire email in your reply and comment on each issue at a time, keeping the history intact as per reply 'Done' and delete the original email.

In the rare cases where you really need to reply inline for a special reason, it's important to write your comments in a different color. You might want to mention what color your comments are in (to make it extra clear). Make sure what you text should always be aligned left, not indented.

Figure: Bad example - Replying inline can mess up the history. No indentation makes it harder to read

Figure: OK example - Replying inline should be avoided, but if you have a good reason to, use different colors and indentation for a better readability

Figure: Good example - Copying questions and answering without altering the history. Include indentation and different colors for a better readability

See Top 10 Rules to Better Email video for more details on how to reply to emails.

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