How many emails do you receive each day? Yeah, I know. I’m right there with you.
Everyone knows that email is an essential form of communication at DUSON. In a recent meeting working through preparations for the spring semester, our DUSON students representatives recommended that we outline some basic guidelines for email communication. SON-IT and the DUSON Marketing & Communications teams have worked together to come up with the following guidance for email communication within the school.
Let’s take a look …
But first, here’s our Tech Tip of the Week –
Do you use any USB cables to connect a device to your computer?
Sure you do. Plugging them in should be a no-brainer, but how many times do you get it right on the first try?
Here’s an easy way to ensure you never have to guess again. Pick up a USB cable. See the USB symbol? It’s only on one side. Keep that on top and you’re plugging it in correctly. If you’re plugging in vertically, the symbol should face you.
Try it – works every time.
Duke Email Basics …
For basic information about your email account, here is our recent Tech Tuesday with a summary of your email account.
Need some help managing your inbox? Try LinkedIn Learning. They offer free training for several methods of inbox organization, including the currently popular Inbox Zero. For more information about LinkedIn Learning, check out our recent Tech Tuesday with all you need to know.
DUSON Email Guidelines …
Here are some DUSON community email guidelines that will help make our email communications within DUSON more efficient:
The High Priority Flag
The high priority flag should only be used for an urgent communication that requires an immediate response. Particularly with students, please do not use the high priority flag to raise the importance of a routine message. Need a response? Why not put that in the subject line? That is a more visible way to deliver the message (see The Subject Line below).
The Address Line
- Need a response from someone? Add them in the “To:” field;
- No response needed? Add them in the “Cc” box;
- If you need to send to a large group, consider using the “Bcc” for addressing.
- It is a courtesy to recipients and shows that you respect their time by not having their email clogged with accidental Reply All
The Subject Line
- Always make sure the subject line matches the email content;
- If you are replying and the subject line no longer works, your recipients will appreciate your thoughtfulness in updating it;
- Include Action Required if what you’re sending needs some type of response;
- Too strong? Use Action Requested instead;
- Is it time-sensitive? Try something like Read & respond prior to November 3, 2020.
- Especially if you are sending to students.
- If you are sending sensitive information outside of Duke, include [Send Secure] in the Subject;
- For more information about secure email, check out this Tech Tuesday article;
- Personal emails to DUSON email lists – We discourage members of the DUSON community from sending personal communications using the DUSON email lists. If you must send a personal note to a DUSON email list, place the word Spam as the first word in the subject line. That provides enough information for those who prefer not to read it to simply delete it.
Email Signatures
Email signatures provide a professional, uniform way to share your name, title and contact information with email recipients. Duke neither requires them nor regulates their use. Click here for directions on how to create your own email signature. The most common format for DUSON?
- DUSON has some other recommended guidelines regarding email signatures which can be found under s:\Team Projects\Marketing & Communications\Brand Guidelines\
- Duke has provided a resource to show approved ways to show support for anti-racism in your signature line
- Specifically for students, here’s a link to an article published on Duke Uloop regarding student email signatures.
Attachments
- Is that attachment necessary?
- If the email is staying within DUSON, consider placing the document on a shared folder and send a link. It helps cut down on network traffic.
- Make sure your attachment matches your audience.
- Check to make sure you aren’t sending sensitive information to recipients who do not need to see it.
Frequently Asked Questions …
- Can I forward my Duke email to my Gmail account?
- No. It is a security risk.
- What happens to my email after I graduate?
- Duke graduates can use their NetIDs and Duke email for one year after graduation. After that year, the account will expire and all associated accounts, including e-mail addresses, mailboxes, e-mail forwarding and personal file storage space will be deleted. If you are a former Duke employee, your DHE/NETID account will expire after graduation.
- What if I’m a staff or faculty member? What happens to my email when I leave Duke?
- When you leave Duke, your email file is deleted. There is no option for keeping your email file open and/or forwarding your mail to your new position outside of Duke. You are authorized to make a backup copy of your email file – it’s easiest through Outlook and if you need assistance, please contact the IT Service Desk at least one week before leaving.
- Who has access to my email?
- Only you. If you and your supervisor agree, there is a process by which your supervisor can obtain a copy of your email file for business purposes if you should leave. This requires a strong business case and multiple levels of approval.
- How do I recall a message that I mistakenly sent?
- You can read all about Message Recall options by reviewing this linked edition of Tech Tuesday.
Extra Credit
For a summary of published guidelines at Duke that can help you understand appropriate use of your email account, here are some documents that can help::
- DUSON policy for the use of Email Distribution Lists (only accessible via login)
- Duke University policy for Group Email;
- Duke University policy for Computing and Electronic Communications;
- Duke University policy for Use of Computing and Electronic Resources – contains additional guidance about what types of information are prohibited from being sent via email.
- Duke Health System policy for DHE Electronic Communication Policy (only accessible via login) – this one provides guidance on acceptable voice, email, fax and text communications. (Helpful for our research faculty and staff, in particular.)
- Duke Health System policy for DHE Smartphone and Tablet Standard (only accessible via login) – this policy contains information related to acceptable smartphone and tablet use. (Helpful for our research faculty and staff, in particular.)
- Duke Health System policy for DHE Use of Personal Mobile Devices Policy (only accessible via login) – a policy that details who choose to use their personal mobile device for accessing Duke Health data (including Duke email).
