This article provides tips and best practices for email usage at Christenson.
Keep your Inbox small by moving messages to other folders
Keeping the number of items in your Inbox to a minimum will greatly improve the performance of your email, particularly when switching between mailboxes. One way is to organize incoming mail into folders, and manually drag & drop or right-click and move individual items as you read them.
Create rules to move messages
You can create Outlook Rules to move messages based on keywords in the Subject, From fields, or a combination of fields. Rules are usually applied to messages as they are received, but can also be run retroactively on items already in your Inbox.
To quickly clear out your inbox, you can create simple rules, based on Date ranges. For example, you could create sub-folders named 2017, 2018, 2019 ... and create three separate rules move items to each of those subfolders depending on their date of receipt.
There are many possibilities for creating rules and most can be applied on the server side, which means you see the rule's affect on all your email devices and mail clients (you don't have to recreate it for each mail client application).
Reduce your total mailbox size
Although the mailbox capacity in Exchange is very large, it is good practice to delete unwanted email. Before deleting any email make sure it is not considered a Christenson record, which needs to be kept for archival purposes.
Distribution lists: If you routinely send email to many people, consider using an email distribution list; this allows you to reach many individuals with a single email message. You can also create a distribution list in Outlook for your own personal use.
Deleted Items folders: When you delete an email, it is sent to the Deleted Items folder, but continues to count towards your mailbox size. To permanently delete mail from your Deleted Items folder in Outlook, right-click Deleted Items > Empty Folder.
Junk Email: Mail in your Junk Email folder also counts towards your mailbox size. Deleting mail from your Junk Email folder will move it to your Deleted Items folder, where you can permanently delete it.
Use attachments sparingly
Avoid attachments whenever possible. Attachments use a lot of disk space and can spread viruses when received from an untrusted source.
Alternative: Instead of sending a file as an attachment consider putting the file somewhere on a document management system, such as Google Drive cloud file storage, and sending recipients a link to access it. Be sure to set the appropriate level of permissions to view or edit.
In your email message, provide the link where they can find the file. This will also ensure that recipients view the latest version of the file.
If you do send or receive attachments, follow these practices:
Scan attachments with antivirus software: Most antivirus programs scan incoming emails for infected attachments. If your antivirus program does not do so, then save them and scan for viruses before opening them.
Be cautious of attachments with the following file types: exe, com, bat, vbs, zip, shs, pif, or scn extensions. These files may contain executable instructions, always confirm with the sender prior to opening.
Many of the attachments types that could pose a security risk are blocked automatically by Microsoft.
Junk mail / spam
Although Christenson provides anti-spam email security filtering globally, to block spambots and obvious threats to users, there are other actions you can take to reduce the amount of spam you receive in your Inbox:
Avoid using your professional address for unsecured commercial activities on the Internet. If you sign up for a service, a mailing list, or are required to register to enter a website, you should use a secondary or disposable email address. You can then forward mail to your professional account if necessary, or disable or discard the email address should it become a source of spam.
Avoid having your email address appear obfuscated (in clear text) on any website. If you want your email address to appear on the web, ensure that it is in a form that cannot be easily "harvested" by spambots.
Never reply to or click on an unsubscribe link in a spam message.
Consider eliminating any legacy email accounts that you are still having email forwarded from since they could be a source of spam.
Check for valid messages treated as junk email
Occasionally, some valid email is incorrectly identified as spam and sent to the Junk Email folder. If you are expecting email from someone and have not received it in your Inbox, check the Junk Email folder.
Right-click on any mail message, select Junk > and choose how to handle email from that sender in the future, such as Block Sender, Never Block Sender, Never Block Sender's Domain, Never Block this Group or Mailing List.
Right-click block menu
It is also a good idea to delete items in Junk Email folder periodically to keep your mailbox size down.
Security
Learn to spot fraudulent emails
You need to be aware of email scams and the vulnerabilities that are spread through email and what you can do to protect yourself. See some pointers below.
1. Warn recipients when sending confidential information
2. When sending email containing content that is not intended for sharing or distribution, notify recipients that the message should not be forwarded.
Email etiquette dos & donts
As a staff , you use email every day to communicate to colleagues and business professionals. You want your emails to be effective, communicate clearly and convey relevant information, especially when you cannot meet face to face. Email messages are also a great means to track what was discussed for future reference.
Here are some tips on how to be effective in your communication to get the best results.
Do:
Include a clear, informative subject: The subject lets your recipient know what the email pertains to immediately. People will more likely open an email with a subject that is relevant to them.
Address people respectfully. If you know the person on a first name basis, you can address them by first name. If not, use their formal title (Professor, Dr., Mr., Ms., etc.)
Keep emails brief and to the point, but be sure to include any relevant information that the recipient will need to know.
Put yourself in the recipient’s position. They may have missed the original email, so recap any assumptions, even if they were stated in a previous email.
Put one main contact in the To field and Cc (carbon copy) others. If you put all of your contacts in the "To:" field, no one has direct responsibility for taking action; the consequence is either no action, or an overlap of several individuals doing the same thing.
Include a signature containing your full name, department, location and phone number. This helps colleagues know who you are and how to contact you without having to hunt through the University directory. Create an email signature in Outlook (2013 & 2016)
Going on vacation or sick leave? Set up an Out of Office reply in Outlook
Use a spell checker. If you are using Outlook, set your preferences to spell check the message when you click Send.
Consider the level of confidentiality of the email content; if necessary, warn recipients that the message is confidential and should not be forwarded.
Don't:
Don’t forget the subject. A descriptive subject gives your contact an idea of the urgency of your message and makes it easier to track later on.
Avoid "Reply To All" when your reply does not involve everyone. If one email is sent to your whole team requesting information, everyone on the team does not necessarily have to read your response. In situations where the recipient already receives many emails daily, they do not appreciate unnecessary clutter in their Inbox. This advice really depends on the situation, so use your judgment.
Avoid cryptic acronyms and instant messaging (IM) shorthand. It’s not professional and could lead to unnecessary confusion. When using a Christenson acronym, if you are not sure the person will know what you mean you can spell out the full name and place the acronym in parentheses the first time you refer to it.
Don’t send attachments, if it is possible to include the same information as text within the body of the message. If you need to send a file to someone who works at Christenson, send the link to a cloud-based file location (e.g. on Google Drive).
If you need to send an attachment as part of a mass-mailing (for widest distribution), be sure to include a brief, but informative description of the contents, and attach a PDF (portable document format) version of the file; this format can be successfully opened on all computers and mobile devices.
Don't forward emails containing content might reasonably be considered confidential.