Is Selective Capping in E-mails O.K.?

If you needed to send an e-mail to your friends, family or coworkers with a very important message, would it then be O.K. to cap and bold the sentence that was of the utmost importance?

Ask yourself this… If you were face-to-face with someone would you raise your voice for an entire sentence to stress its importance? Would you cap and bold if the e-mail were on company letterhead? If not, then don’t do it in e-mail. Do you think that unless you cap and bold those selected words that the recipients would not know their importance otherwise? That perception may cause you top be be perceived as being condescending.

Keep in mind when using any sort of formatting, you are indicating emphasis. And, you are leaving the level of emphasis up to the recipient’s perception of what they think you mean. Why take that risk?

I prefer to believe that the right choice of words can communicate the importance of any statement without resorting to formatting. As a matter of fact, I rarely use formatting myself and have yet to have had anyone underestimate or misinterpret the intent or gravity of my e-mails.

That said, caps and bolding can be used if done thoughtfully and sparingly. You just have to be sure to be very careful to not do so in a manner that will be perceived as patronizing, yelling, overbearing or demanding.

Another tip would be to read your e-mail out loud placing emphasis on your formatting knowing for a fact the other side will probably add more emphasis. If you are still not completely sure that you know for a fact how the other side will interpret your bolding and caps exactly as intended, then play it safe and choose your words carefully.

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