The best tips for professional email etiquette are:
Practicing professional email etiquette shows respect and builds credibility.
Try QuillBot’s Paraphraser to adjust your tone for different audiences and contexts.
How you set up an out-of-office message varies between email platforms. Look for an option in your general or account email settings called “Automatic Replies” or “Vacation Responder.”
Once you’ve found the right setting, you can turn on automatic replies, draft your message, and specify when you’d like these messages to be sent.
Struggling to strike the right tone when drafting your out-of-office message? QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool can help you rewrite your message in a more formal or friendly way.
Yours truly is used as a formal sign-off to end an email or letter. Yours sincerely and Yours faithfully are considered synonyms of Yours truly, but there are some regional and traditional distinctions:
QuillBot’s rewording tool can help expand your writing in new ways.
Yours truly is a common sign-off in formal correspondence. It’s typically used when you’re writing to someone you haven’t communicated with before.
“Truly yours” is less commonly used than Yours truly. However, this and alternative forms of the sign-off are used in some contexts. For example, “Very truly yours” is commonly used by attorneys to end an email or letter.
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
Your sincerely is a common misspelling of the email sign-off Yours sincerely.
The phrase consists of the possessive pronoun “yours” and the adverb “sincerely” and does not make use of the possessive adjective “your.”
It’s used to end an email to someone you’ve already had correspondence with.
Bcc stands for “blind carbon copy.” The term dates back to when people would create carbon copies of paper letters by placing a sheet of carbon paper underneath the paper they were writing on.
When you’re writing emails, whether you bcc someone or not, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you instantly find and fix typos.
Bcc and cc are both ways to attach someone to an email. Someone who is cc’d on an email is visible to all other recipients, whereas someone who is bcc’d is not visible to anyone.
Someone who is cc’d is also included in “reply all” emails; someone who is bcc’d is not.
Worried about writing error-free emails? QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you identify and correct typos before you press send.
People who are bcc’d cannot see each other—their emails are hidden from anyone else who received the email. Only the original sender can see who included in bcc in an email.
When you’re writing an email, you should keep it concise and to-the-point. QuillBot’s AI-powered Summarizer tool can help you simplify text and summarize key points instantly.
There is no way to see who has been bcc’d in an email. Only the person who originally sent the email will know who was bcc’d.
However, if someone who is bcc’d “replies all” to an email, it will be sent to anyone in the “To” and “Cc” fields.
If you’re sending an email to a large group of people (bcc’d or not), you want to ensure that your writing is error free. Try QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to effortlessly find and correct typos.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the correct simple past tense form of “bcc” is “bcc’d” (e.g., “Because she bcc’d me, no one else knew that I received the email.”).
The correct present participle is “bccing” (e.g., “I find that bccing is a good way to maintain privacy when sending the same email to a large number of people.”).
To save yourself from looking up the correct spelling of a word, try QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to instantly identify and correct writing errors.
In email, cc stands for “carbon copy” (or, alternatively, “courtesy copy”). It is a way to include someone in an email but indicates that they don’t need to reply.
While anyone cc’d in an email is visible to other recipients, someone who is bcc’d (blind carbon copied) is not.
When you’re sending an important email, you want to make sure there are no typos or mistakes. QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you send professional, polished emails.
The term carbon copy (or cc) is a way to attach someone to an email thread. This person is visible to all other recipients and included in “reply all” messages.
Ccing someone is a way to keep them informed, while indicating that they do not need to reply. An alternative to cc is bcc, which keeps someone’s email hidden from other recipients.
When deciding whether to cc someone, consider whether they really need to be informed—no one likes receiving an unnecessary email! You should also make sure your emails are concise. QuillBot’s paraphrasing tool can help you craft informative, to-the-point emails.
Though the exact way to cc someone varies across different email services, the general process is the same.
The cc field is usually located underneath or beside the “to” field. When drafting an email, click on the cc field and add the email address(es) of anyone you want to cc.
You can also add recipients to the “to” and “bcc” fields. Draft your email as usual, and press “Send” when you’re ready.
Have you ever noticed a typo in an email just as you send it? QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help detect and correct spelling mistakes before you press send.
“OOO” is a common abbreviation for the term “out of office.”
When you will be away from work for an extended period of time, it’s a good idea to set up an automatic reply out-of-office message. This message will be sent to anyone who tries to email you.
As with any professional communication, you’ll want to make sure your out-of-office message is free from spelling and grammar mistakes. QuillBot’s free AI Grammar Checker can help you catch and correct any mistakes when drafting any email.
An automatic reply is an email that is sent to anyone who emails you. You can set up automatic replies to occur during a specific time period, like when you’re away from work.
If you set up an automatic reply out-of-office message, remember that it will be sent to anyone who emails you. To make sure your message is error-free before it’s automatically sent to clients and colleagues, try QuillBot’s free AI Grammar Checker.
At your earliest convenience is a phrase used to end an email or other message by asking someone to do something (e.g., reply, complete some task) as soon as they can find the time to do so.
Some alternatives that express the same idea with more or less specificity are:
Our sentence rephraser can help you vary your writing and express your intended meaning.
The following template can be used as an out-of-office message when you’re sick and cannot work:
Hello,Thank you for your email. I am currently unwell and will not be responding to messages at this time. I anticipate returning to work on DATE. For urgent matters, please contact NAME (EMAIL).
Best,
YOUR NAME
Do you need to write an out-of-office email that isn’t in your native language? QuillBot’s free AI Language Translator can help!
Here are a few examples of out-of-office messages you can set up for Juneteenth (a US federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people that is observed every year on June 19).
Looking for more options for your out-of-office messages? QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can help!
A postscript is text that is added after the main body of an email or letter. Postscript is often abbreviated as “PS” or “P.S.”
Either of these abbreviations is acceptable, especially because PS is usually used in more casual communications. Just try to be consistent across your emails and letters.
Spotting issues with consistency and grammar can be tricky. You can use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to make sure your emails are polished and professional.
PPS means “post-postscript.” A postscript, or PS, is text that is added to the end of a letter. A PPS is added after the first PS.
You can continue this pattern—a PPPS would follow a PPS. However, if you find yourself with lots of postscripts, you may want to consider just writing a second letter or email.
If you’re having a hard time being concise and organizing your thoughts, tools like QuillBot’s Paraphrasing Tool are a great option to help convey your ideas clearly.
A PS, or postscript, is usually added at the end of an email or letter, after your sign-off and name. However, if you have a long email signature, you may want to include the PS before.
Hi Sam,
Just a quick reminder that your slides for Monday’s meeting are due tomorrow. Let me know if you need any extra time or support pulling them together.
Cheers,
Taylor
PS: If it’s easier to drop them in the shared folder and shoot me a quick DM, that works too!
—
Taylor Nguyen
Research & Data Strategist | Company Name
(123) 456-7890 | www.companyname.com
taylor.nguyen@company.com
If you want to double-check for grammar and spelling mistakes before you hit “send,” try QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker tool.
Some Memorial Day out-of-office message examples are:
QuillBot’s AI Chat can help you draft out-of-office messages for any circumstance.
Here are a few options for a 4th of July out-of-office message:
Looking for more out-of-office message inspiration? Try QuillBot’s AI Chat, which can generate messages appropriate for any occasion.
Knowing how to write a professional email to a professor is a critical skill for students:
Make sure your email is error-free by putting it through QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker.
To write a professional thank you email for support, follow these steps:
If you want to learn more about how to write a professional email thanking someone for their support, ask QuillBot’s AI Chat to help you.
Knowing how to write a professional email to schedule a meeting is an important skill regardless of your job title or industry.
To do so, follow these steps:
Also, make sure your email is free of spelling and grammar errors with help from QuillBot’s Grammar Checker.
The best tips for email etiquette for students are:
Following basic email etiquette helps you sound professional and respectful.
Use QuillBot’s Grammar Checker to make sure your emails are error-free and make a good impression on your readers.
Just checking in is an expression used to start an email. It is intended to be a friendly way to prompt someone to respond or perform a given action.
However, because it is so commonly used to remind someone of something they need to do, it can come across as passive-aggressive. To avoid this, it can be replaced with other expressions, such as “I’d love to get an update on …”
In more personal contexts, “just checking in” is often used when asking about someone’s well-being (e.g., “I just wanted to check in on you”). Here, it doesn’t have a passive-aggressive connotation.
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
“I hope this email finds you well” is an opening line to politely begin an email before you present the email’s purpose or make a request. Related phrases and synonyms include:
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
“Miss” is a title used for a young unmarried woman or girl (e.g, “Miss Muffet”). It is not used for a married woman. “Miss” is often considered dated, so it is preferable to use “Ms.”
“Mrs.” is a title used for a married woman.
“Ms.” is a title for woman who is married or whose marital status is unknown, for an older unmarried woman, or for situations where marital status is not emphasized. It can be used both for married and unmarried women in the same way that “Mr.” is used for unmarried and married men. Nowadays, “Ms.” is the most common way to address a woman, as it is unrelated to marital status.
“To Whom It May Concern” is a formal greeting used to address a nonspecific person or multiple readers, particularly if you do not anticipate receiving a response (e.g., when making an announcement).
“Dear” is a neutral greeting that can be used in both formal and informal contexts. “Dear” is followed by the name of the recipient and a comma (e.g., “Dear Biran,”).
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
Synonyms and alternatives to regards include:
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
Kind regards (or kindest regards) is used to end an email or other forms of correspondence. It is semiformal and suitable for professional contexts.
Kind regards is slightly less formal than “sincerely yours” and “yours truly,” but it has a slightly more formal tone than “warm regards.”
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
The correct version of this expression is “looking forward to hearing from you.” “Look forward to” is a phrasal verb that always uses the preposition “to,” not “in.”
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
“Looking forward to hear from you” is incorrect because the phrasal verb “look forward to” requires a direct object, i.e., what you’re looking forward to. The direct object must be a noun phrase, and therefore the gerund “hearing” is needed rather than the verb “hear.”
There are a number of synonyms and similar expressions to “looking forward to hearing from you,” such as:
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
The correct form of the expression is “hope you’re doing well” or “I hope you’re doing well” because “you’re” is the contraction of the object “you” and the auxiliary verb “are.”
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you use your and you’re correctly.
Technically, “hope you’re doing well” is not grammatically correct as it lacks a subject, but the expression is used regardless because the implied subject “I” is clear.
However, it is preferable to include the subject “I” in formal contexts (“I hope you’re doing well”).
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
It is generally best to adapt your greeting to the person you are addressing by using their name. If this isn’t possible, you can also use organization or department names or the person’s title.
Though it is somewhat impersonal and dated, “Dear Sir or Madam” can be used if you cannot find any information about the person you want to address.
Our sentence rephraser can help you vary your writing and express your intended meaning.
“Dear Sir or Madam” is similar to “To Whom It May Concern” in that both expressions are impersonal and do not specify the recipient using their name.
“Dear Sir or Madam” is the more appropriate choice when you are addressing a single person, whereas “To Whom It May Concern” is suitable when you are addressing a group or organization.
You can use QuillBot to automatically rephrase your sentences and ensure they express your intended meaning.
Professional emails should open with a greeting and the title and name of the recipient (e.g., “Dear Dr. Livingstone”). It is polite to also include an introductory line such as “I hope this email finds you well” before presenting the purpose of the email.
Less formal emails might include a more casual opening line, such as “I hope you are doing well.”
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your desired meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
Similar expressions to “I hope you’re doing well” include:
Automatically rephrase your sentences to express your desired meaning.
“Sincerely” or “Sincerely yours” are sign-offs that are typically used when you’re ending an email to someone you’ve been in contact with before as opposed to someone you are reaching out to for the first time.
“Yours truly” was traditionally used when contacting a stranger and was usually paired with the greeting “Dear Sir or Madam.” It is not frequently used nowadays, especially in emails. Instead, a sign-off like “Regards” is more common.
QuillBot’s rewording tool can help you vary your written vocabulary.
When ending an email to a professor, take a more formal approach, especially when interacting with the person for the first time.
First, be sure to clearly indicate any actions you would like the professor to take. The purpose of your email and what you expect from the professor should be clear.
Then, there are a number of sign-offs you can use to end the email, such as:
Avoid using overly informal language like slang or “Cheers.”
Try QuillBot’s rephraser to vary your writing.
When starting an email to a professor, it is best to take a more formal approach to avoid making a poor impression. In the greeting, use “Dear” followed by a title and the professor’s last name (e.g., “Dear Professor/Dr. Willow,”).
You can follow the greeting with a number of opening lines before diving into the purpose of your message, such as:
You can also use “I’m reaching out …” if you prefer to come straight to the point.
You can adapt the tone of your emails according to the professor’s response. For example, if they greet you with “Hi/Hello” in their reply, you can adopt the same style.
However, continue to use their title (unless they explicitly give you permission to address them otherwise), and avoid using overly informal language like slang or “Cheers.”
You can automatically rewrite your sentences to express your intended meaning using QuillBot’s tools.
Mx. is a gender-neutral title that can be used for people who do not identify as male or female or do not want to have their gender specified. It is used in the same way as titles like “Ms.” or “Mr.” (e.g., “Mx. Nande”).
“Mx.” is followed by a period to match the form of other titles, but it is not an abbreviation of anything. The x is used like a statistical value to indicate that the person’s gender is unspecified.
Ms. is a title used for any adult woman (e.g., “Ms. Genji”). Unlike “Miss” or “Mrs.,” “Ms.” does not indicate a woman’s marital status and is therefore the female equivalent of the masculine title “Mr.”
“Ms.” is not an abbreviation for anything, and it does not stand for “Miss.” It is pronounced [miz], but it is always written as “Ms.”
Per is a preposition that has several meanings. Probably its most common use is almost invisible—in the abbreviation “mph (miles per hour),” where it means “each.”
It’s commonly used in newspaper reporting to mean “according to” (e.g., “The President has been kept informed, per sources close to the Oval Office”).
Per is often found in the phrase per our conversation in emails and letters (e.g., “Per our conversation yesterday, could you let me have the new draft proposal by Friday, please?”).
Per can also refer to how often something happens (e.g., “Take one tablet once per day”), or it can have the meaning of “every” (e.g., there are more cafes per square mile than in any other city”).
Per is also commonly used in the phrase per se to mean “intrinsically” or “by itself” (e.g., “The film isn’t bad per se, but it can’t compare to the book”).
As per is most commonly seen in phrases such as “As per our conversation yesterday, could you send me the new brief?”
It is sometimes seen as overly formal or officious. There are other ways of expressing the same idea (e.g., “According to the meeting minutes, we are due to finish on Wednesday”).
There are other options too (e.g., “to clarify” if you want to overcome confusion or “as discussed” to recap or summarize the agreement).
Try our sentence rephraser to vary your writing and express your intended meaning.
If an earlier email has received no response, it can be a good idea to follow up. But it is very easy to get a follow-up email wrong. The recipient doesn’t owe you anything, and they may be busy. Here are some tips to help you get it right:
If you keep your email relevant and respectful and give it a clear call to action, you have more chance of the recipient responding.
Use the QuillBot AI follow up email generator to craft a polite and effective follow-up email.
The timing of sending a follow-up email depends on context.
When it comes to cold emails, timing is only half the battle—the other half is writing a message that gets opened and answered. The QuillBot AI cold email writer helps you create personalized outreach that feels relevant, professional, and worth responding to.
In informal situations, we usually introduce ourselves with the phrase:
In formal situations, we also give our last name:
We also use the phrase I’m…, particularly if there is a reason that the person might already know who we are, e.g.:
After you’ve given your name, you can say “Pleased to meet you.”
These phrases can also be used to introduce yourself in an email.
QuillBot’s rewording tool can help expand your writing in new ways.
Earliest convenience is used as part of the common phrase at your earliest convenience. It means “the first moment when you can reasonably find time to do it.”
It’s often used to end an email in a professional setting by asking the other person to do something when they have time in their schedule.
QuillBot’s rephraser can help you vary your vocabulary to reflect your intended meaning.
AI is a powerful writing partner. Learn to use it with confidence.
Download our free AI Writing Survival Guide today!
Get the free PDF
