Emails are often written in an informal style,
and are generally brief.
The text of an email is entered in the main body of the message.
The most important tip for writing an email message is brevity (see netiquette
-- be brief). People typically get so many emails in a day that a long
email often doesn't get read until later -- sometimes much, much later, if at
all.
Remember that you can copy text from a document or another email
and paste it into a new email, so you don't have to retype text.
Many
email
programs will
also let you paste pictures and documents directly into your message.
Email is more informal than paper mail because it is used with more frequency
and immediacy. Unless it is a personal letter, email usually gets right to the
point without a lengthy introduction. Many people don't include a "Dear Sir" clause,
and often do not include a signoff, letting the "To:" and "From:" fields speak
for themselves. Signatures can also include a
standard signoff.
Make sure that you have turned off any word
wrap options that cut lines into standard lengths by inserting
carriage returns, since these are unnecessary and cause formatting problems
with most modern email programs. You can avoid having the formatting of your
email get messed up by putting your email
in Text Standard Format.
