Using Signatures on Emails

Including a relevant signature at the end of emails you send, is helpful to the receiver. Your signature can include your phone numbers, ‘skype’ address, home address, inspirational message and even your picture or logo. You can set up signatures for different purposes. For example, a ‘personal signature’ for family and friends, a ‘business signature’ for work associates, even a signature that includes a standard reply to job applicants, for example. To do this in Microsoft Outlook, select Tools > Options >Mail Format > Signatures. Simply type in what it is you would like appear as your signature.  You can set up multiple signatures with individual names. You can even set up signatures to be associated with different email addresses. When sending your emails, the default signature will appear when you start a new email. To change the default signature if you are using Outlook 2007, simply select ‘Signatures’ from the top ribbon, and choose the signature you want to use.

 

Keep Your Friends and Business Associates Email Addresses Private and Help Minimise SPAM

Don’t send an email to your family, friends or business associates and include the list of their email addresses in the (Carbon Copy) field of the email. This means that everyone can see everyone else’s email addresses.

When I send an email to a group I put my address in the ‘To’ field, and I put everyone else’s addresses in the ‘BCC’ (Blind Carbon Copy) field.

To make the BCC field available to you in Outlook 2007 simply start a new email, and in the Options Tab at the top, select ‘show BCC’. In Outlook 2003, Open a New Mail, Select the Options button, and from the drop down select BCC. Or in Outlook Express go to File, New Message, then select View, then Enable All Headers. This will bring up the BCC Box, which you click to create new messages. Similar features are probably available in other email programs such as gmail, hotmail etc.

Annoyingly I have received emails from government bodies and large companies with hundreds of email addresses in the ‘CC’ field. This carelessness contributes to SPAM and other security breaches on the internet. Please use the ‘BCC’ field.