Week 9

• Inter-Office Memo, Fax, & E-mail• A. Inter-Office Memo

– Format• A memo generally correspondence written from one person in

a company to another in the same company• Most companies provide business forms and restrict inter-

office memo to one subject at a time, to facilitate filing & encourage conciseness, and clarity

• A memo can also be as an informal letter to someone outside the company.

• Block format is usually used.

Week 9

• A. Inter-Office Memo – Parts

• A memo generally has five parts:– TO: Do not include an address or title, such as Mr. Or Ms.

– FROM: Instead of a signature, the sender signs his or her initials next to his or her name. You can decide whether or not to add the person’s job title, such as “Manager.”

– DATE: This is the date of the memo.

– SUBJECT: The subject line sometimes abbreviated as “SUB:”, “SUBJ:”, “RE:”, or “REF” (for “Reference”). The subject line tells what the memo is about.

– BODY: The body of a memo discusses the subject.

Week 9

• B. Fax – Format

• A fax (short for facsimile) is a type of correspondence sent electronically through phone lines. A long fax is more expensive to send than a short one.

• Most businesses have a separate telephone line for receiving and sending faxes. This is called a dedicated line.

Week 9

• B. Fax – Parts

• A fax transmission often has two parts. – Cover Sheet

» If a fax is more than one page, include a cover sheet. The cover sheet is the first page pf the fax. This page may vary from company to company, but usually includes the following sections: addressee’s name & title, sender’s name & title, sender’s fax & phone numbers, date, number of pages, subject/reference line, and message.

» It is important to include how many pages are in the fax. The recipient needs to know if all the pages were sent.

» It is also important to include phone numbers on the cover sheet. If a page is missing or the fax is unclearly transmitted, you can call and ask the sender to fax it again.

– Attachment» An attachment is the material you are sending

Week 9

• C. E-Mail – Format

• Many companies send messages both internally and externally through their computers. These messages are called electronic mail or e-mail. E-mail is a fast and inexpensive way to communicate and a less formal method of correspondence.

• In addition to sending messages, you can attach an existing file, such as a word-processed document or a spreadsheet or a picture file, to an e-mail message

Week 9

• C. E-Mail – Parts

• There are usually five parts to an e-mail message.

• The sender’s name and the date & the time are provided automatically by the computer.

• The sender types in the e-mail address of the person receiving the message, the subject, and the message.

Week 9

• C. E-Mail – Guidelines

• 1. Don’t send messages in all capital letters. Typing in all capital letters show anger or impatience.

• 2. Try to respond to e-mails immediately. Let the sender know you’ve received the message. If you don’t have time to respond completely, send a message saying when you will be able to respond.

• 3. Re-read your e-mails before you send them. Once they are sent, you can’t get them back. Be careful of your tone. The recipient may not understand that you are saying something in a humorous way, for example.

• 4. Write a short and specific description of your message in the subject line.

• 5. If your e-mail program has a spell-check feature, use it.

Week 9

• C. E-Mail – Guidelines

• 6. Your message is not private. Other people can read it, either by mistake or on purpose. Your reader could send it to other people. Be careful of what you say.

• 7. Be careful and safe about the information you share over e-mail.

• 8. Check your e-mail inbox frequently.

• 9. Remember that not everyone has the same background as you. They may not understand that Dr. Pepper is a soft drink or that Kleenex is a tissue.

• 10. Be polite and professional. Try not to send e-mails that are very long.

Week 9

– Homework Assignment» 1. Write a memo asking your secretary to draft a

condolences letter to one of your employee.

» 2. Write a fax, include a cover sheet, about sending your resume to a company.

» 3. Write an e-mail asking your secretary to draft a congratulation letter for 50th wedding anniversary of your friend.