How to create MS Outlook letterheads and Templates

Im really bored of writing my shortname contact and the usual stuff above my signature “Please inform incase of any concerns” in all my mail communication to users. Me and Hari had an idea to send the delay mails , system downtime, production relaese, Bug release etc in a newletter kinda format. MS Outlook has some features like Signature to make this easy… But when I researched it, we can do many using this signature tool in Outlook , just like a newsletter or like a template for your mail. Please follow through the simple steps to create a mail template…..

The following steps explain how to create Microsoft Outlook letterhead templates, using MS-Outlook 2003.

Open MS-Outlook, open the menu “Tools->Options”.

Select the “Mail Format” tab, then at the bottom of the window, click on “Signatures…”.

Enter a name for your new template, then choose to start from a blank signature and click on “Next”.

If you wish to add a letterhead to your message template, then right click within the Signature text edit area, then select “Insert Image…”

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Browse to select the desired letterhead image, add an alternate text to it, modify the layout so the alignment is set to “top”, then click on “Ok”. You can use any image editor to create a simple, nice looking letterhead image.

If you wish to add a default text to each outgoing email, like a text signature or a default greeting message, then add the text below the letterhead image, on the signature text edit area. You can also add a link to your site, by selecting the text above which the link will apply, then right click and choose “Edit Hyperlink”.

When you are done, click on “Finish”.

This is how our new letterhead looks:

Email Etiquette

 Good Email Manners – here are some simple yet effective tips for using email more efficiently:

1. If you are sending an email to multiple people, put their email addresses in the BCC field and your own email address in the To: field. No one likes to share their private email address with strangers.

2. The email subject should be detailed enough to give the recipient an idea about the email content without having to open it. Single words like “Hi” or “Hello” or “Help” are a strict no-no. Think of meaningful but short titles.

3. Do not attach large attachments in your email since not everyone is on a broadband connection. If you have to send a large file over email, upload it to services like Yousendit and then pass on the link in the email.

4. If you have to email more than two documents as attachments, zip them in one file. Doing so would ensure that your friend won’t miss downloading any file.

5. Do not write an email while you are drunk or in a really bad mood. It would reflect on the style of your writing.

6. Do not request a Read Notification Receipt.

7. Always reply to emails especially the ones specifically addressed to you. The sender is still waiting to hear from you.

8. Keep you email message short and to the point. Sentences like “I hope this email finds you alive and well” look good only in letter correspondence.

9. Do not hit the Send button without doing a spell check. An email with spelling mistakes or grammatical errors indicate that you have written the message in a non-serious mood and may convey a bad impression. Always read the message before broadcasting it to the world.

10. You may want to remove your personal mobile number and the home number from the email signature if you are participating in a big mailing list. You never know the kind of people who have subscribed to that list.