We send out dozens of official emails in a day. However most often people fail to discern the fine line that separates a professional and a personal email. Most people will vouch for the fact that they've been bombarded by informal emails from people at work that just doesn't seem appropriate in a professional set-up. Be it jokes or pictures in their sign-off to smileys and other emoticons, a lot of people don't seem to understand the fact that they have no place in an official email, which is expected to be nothing but formal.

Sarcasm and puns sound great but when they are in black and white, unless a person has a great sense of humour, it will only be construed as rude and can be irritating, even if you try to pacify by adding an emoticon. Thus the best way to make sure this does not happen is by keeping your email messages short, to the point, focused and clean. Whatever it is that you wish to convey, try to ensure that it remains focused on what it is that you want to communicate, without beating around the bush or sounding too familiar.

Email Etiquette Simplified

Keep it brief
Steer clear of abbreviations; those are good only between friends not colleagues.

Break them up
If you have to send out a long email then remember to break them up into easy to assimilate paragraphs, you certainly don't want to shock the reader by sending across a novel!

Cut the slang
Never use words like 'gonna, wanna, wazup, hafta' in a professional email, even if you and your boss are school chums! At work you have certain designation, responsibilities and make sure you keep that in mind.

Lower the case
Emails are expected to be written in lower case. However most people don't seem to realize that; however if you have to use upper case, do so sparingly.

Check before hitting 'Send'
Nothing can be more irksome than an email that has too many errors, grammatical or otherwise. When you don't think it is necessary to read what you've written before sending it to someone, it could look as if you don't really care what's in it. When it's official it is obviously important, so don't ever let it leave your inbox without taking a look at it first. After all what is sent cannot be taken back!