Thursday, April 7, 2016

Backward e-mail

David Sparks of MacSparky explains backward e-mail. I can’t imagine starting without an addressee and a subject line, but whatever works, works. Sparks’s logic is undeniably logical.

Related reading
All OCA e-mail posts (Pinboard)

comments: 4

Rachel said...

I always compose e-mails in this "backwards" way. Attachments, body, subject, recipient(s).

Michael Leddy said...

Who knew!

Slywy said...

I'm not sure I agree with all this, although occasionally I will leave off the recipient to avoid sending too soon.
The subject line helps me focus on sticking to a subject (or lets me ramble). Many times I leave it blank. This annoys some people.
Some email clients prompt you for attachments if you say something like "Attached are those reports you wanted." I'm not sure what other than "attach" prompts the prompt.

Michael Leddy said...

For me the subject line is like a thesis statement. I like starting out with it. (In an essay the thesis might only become clear after writing for a while — a very different project.)

Gmail seems to respond to attach as a word or part of a word. “I’m sending the file” doesn’t cue the warning.