Reply, Reply all, and the classic mishap
Which button answers one person and which answers forty — before you press it, rather than afterwards.
Forwarding has a habit worth knowing: everything further down the message goes with it. Scroll to the bottom before you send a long conversation on to somebody new.
Everybody who has used email for any length of time has sent something to more people than they intended. It is not carelessness; it is two buttons sitting next to each other, one of which is often the larger.
Key points
- Reply goes to one person; Reply all goes to everybody in To and Cc
- Forward carries the whole conversation, so read to the bottom first
- Read the To line before sending, and give yourself thirty seconds of undo
- When it goes wrong: two plain lines, once, and no more about it
What to remember
- Look at who received it before you choose a button. That one glance is the whole skill.
- Ask one question before pressing: does everybody need this, or does one person need it?
- Reply for answers, Reply all for things the group needs, Forward for people who were never in the room.
- Short, plain, once — and then let it go. Everybody who uses email has been here.
Try this
Open a group email you have been sent and look carefully at where Reply and Reply all sit in your program. Knowing which is on the left, before you are in a hurry, is the whole defense.
Practice: Reply, Reply all, and the classic mishap. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.