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Save Time with Email Templates

Do you find yourself sending out similar emails over and over? Maybe it's a message you send to new contacts after meeting them at a business networking event or trade show. Or maybe it's one you send when you receive an inquiry from a prospective customer. Whatever the nature of the message, you can save yourself a lot of time and aggravation by not sitting down and writing a brand new message every time. There are a number of ways you can do this, depending on the software you're using and your personal preference.

Save all your standard paragraphs in a Word document. Then, simply copy and paste the appropriate paragraphs into your email body. You'll not only save the time it takes to draft the message, but the time it takes to check your spelling and grammar.

Save standard messages as individual Word documents. If you're using Word 2003 or earlier, you can then click on the "E-mail" button, enter your recipient's email address, and you're done!

Save standard messages as email templates. This feature works very well in Outlook 2007, but I never did figure out how to use it in earlier versions.

Save standard messages as email signatures. Email signatures aren't restricted to a couple of lines – you can include entire messages! Just create a new messages and select the appropriate "signature."

Don't get me wrong – I'm not saying you shouldn't customize your emails. Au contraire! It's very important to personalize your message to include any details of telephone conversations or previous emails and to reflect your existing relationship with the recipient, if any. But using standard paragraphs as your starting point will shave minutes off the time it takes to compose each message, which can easily add up to several hours each week. And don't you have better things to do with your time?

If you're looking for more time-saving email tips, you still have until tomorrow to save $2.00 off the purchase of Maximizing Your Time With Outlook 2003.

posted on: 10/30/2008 8:30:00 AM by Janet Barclay
category: Business

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Discuss This Post

by Ruth Martin, MaplewoodVA on 10/30/2008 8:57:02 AM:

Great post, Janet! I love the email signature suggestion. I hadn't realized that more than a few lines could be saved this way. Definitely one I'll be adding to my bag of shortcuts.

by Janet on 10/30/2008 4:41:12 PM:

I wish I could take credit for the idea - I learned it from Paul Wagner in a seminar he offered through VAnetworking.com last year!

by Kathy Stinson on 10/31/2008 8:32:47 AM:

Like many writers, I do other work to supplement royalty income. To save time when I have to invoice for payment for a school visit or an editing job, I have an "Invoice Templates" folder in Outlook Express -- thanks to your suggestion at another time (it's very handy having a sister who's a VA!)

by Janet on 10/31/2008 11:31:15 AM:

I don't remember suggesting that to you, Kathy, but I'm glad you were listening! ;)

by Judy Gleeson (aka The Desk Doctor) on 12/2/2008 6:55:14 PM:

Janet, you missed a great function in Office 2007. It's called Quickparts and works in Word as well as Outlook. You can save chunks of document (like you explain for long signatures) and reuse easily. Try it out, it's on the Insert Tab. www.deskdoctors.com www.judygleeson.com

by Janet on 12/3/2008 8:03:07 AM:

Thank you Judy! One of the problems of learning any software as you use it, is that you don't know to look for features that you don't know are there!

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Technology As An Organizing Tool

by Janet Barclay

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Janet Barclay is a Master Virtual Assistant and the founder of Organized Assistant. Specializing in supporting entrepreneurs in the Organizing and Career Services industries, Organized Assistant provides top-notch Internet marketing services to business owners of all shapes and sizes.

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