Office Emails with Multiple Subjects

Something to consider, if you are writing a long email that contains a number of subjects: It may be easier for the recipient to process if you send a separate email for each subject. So instead of 1 long email with 3 different ideas, you might try 3 short emails. This makes it easier for the recipient to file, if they're filing by subject matter. And easier for you to do follow-ups on your projects.

(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: business writing, editing, writing styles, emails, business emails

Beware of Default Spacing

Suddenly everyone in the office has weird and uneven spacing in their memos and bulletin board postings. I figured out that at some point Word put in a default line spacing that left everyone feeling miffed. 

"Yes, I know it looks funny, but that's the way it turned out."

Beware default spacing. As of this writing, Word's default line spacing is 1.15 and its font size is 11. Worst of all, the "Spacing After" (found from the Page Layout tab) is 10. Most of the time, IMHO, this makes lists look bad and instructions difficult to read. 

Whenever you start a document, make sure the line spacing is what you want (I recommend starting at 1, or single spacing, and then changing it later if you need to.), and make sure the "Spacing After" is set at 0. From there you can build your document and format it when it's done, making it exactly the way you want it.

(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: Word, formatting, technical writing, business writing, spacing

This is an actual instruction on a website that provides critical alerts and medical pagers. People's lives depend on these instructions being accurate and easy-to-follow:

If you are a (name of company) user you may still page by 7 digit pager number simply leave the area code blank you may also still page by name simply type name in pager field.

A sentence ends with a period and the next sentence starts with a capital letter. If you work for any company, anywhere, that provides any sort of services of any kind, be sure your documents are written coherently. 

(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, writing styles, business writing, technical writing, editing, proofreading

Flush Left, Baby

The goal is to make your memos, emails, and instructions easy-to-read, easy-to-follow, and logical. You want people to be able to translate your written word into action. Therefore, you want to make sure your copy is FLUSH LEFT. No matter what it is, it's going to read easier if you format it flush left. 

Lately people have been doing center formatting. Unless it's advertising copy or a sign advising that the sidewalk is icy, center formatting is not effective.

Center:

Hospital Visiting Hours: Please remember that our patients are here to rest. Our Patient Quiet Time begins at 7:30pm. Thank you for your cooperation.

Flush Left (and de-verbaged):
Hospital Visiting Hours: Patient Quiet Time begins at 7:30pm. Nurses and aids, please clear visitors out at this time. Thank you.

(c)2014 Suzann Kale

Tags: formatting, business writing, editing, proofreading, technical writing