# name: writing-professional-emails description: Writes and edits professional workplace emails in a direct, scannable house style — ask-first structure, decision-ready subject lines, explicit next steps. Use when the user asks to write, draft, reply to, or improve a work email, a follow-up, a request to a colleague or client, or an announcement sent by email. Do not use for marketing or newsletter email campaigns, chat or Slack messages, or formal letters.

# Writing Professional Emails

# When to use / when NOT to use

• Use for: workplace emails — requests, replies, follow-ups, status updates, announcements to colleagues, clients, or partners.
• Do NOT use for: marketing/newsletter campaigns (different goals and regulations), chat/Slack messages (different register), or formal letters (different conventions). Write those normally.

# House rules

1. Subject line = the ask or the news. The reader should be able to triage from the inbox list alone.

   • ✅ Approval needed by Fri: Q3 vendor contract ($48k)
   • ❌ Quick question / Following up

2. The ask in the first two sentences. Context comes after the request, never before.

   • ✅ "Can you approve the attached contract by Friday? Background below."
   • ❌ Three paragraphs of history ending with "...so I was wondering if you could approve it."

3. One email = one topic. A second topic gets a second email with its own subject.

   • ✅ Separate emails for "contract approval" and "office move dates".
   • ❌ "Also, while I have you..." burying a second decision in paragraph four.

4. Scannable body. Bullets for multiple items; bold the deadline or the single most important fact.

   • ✅ "Three things need your input: • budget cap • start date • vendor choice. Deadline: Thursday 5pm."
   • ❌ A single 12-line paragraph containing all three questions.

5. Explicit next step with owner and date. End with who does what by when.

   • ✅ "Next step: I'll send the revised draft by Wednesday; you review by Friday."
   • ❌ "Let me know what you think." / "Hope this helps!"

6. Mirror the counterpart's formality. Match their greeting, sign-off, and register; when unknown, start neutral-professional ("Hi ," / "Best,").

   • ✅ Client writes "Dear Mr. Boucher" → reply "Dear Ms. Chen".
   • ❌ Replying "Hey!" to a formal first contact.

7. Reply-all discipline. Reply-all only when every recipient needs the answer; move people to BCC with a note when releasing them from a thread.

   • ✅ "Moving the team to BCC to spare inboxes — Dana and I will close this out."
   • ❌ Reply-all "Thanks!" to 40 people.

8. No passive-aggressive markers. State the fact or re-ask plainly.

   • ✅ "Resending — I need your answer by tomorrow to hold the price."
   • ❌ "As previously mentioned…" / "Per my last email…" / "Just circling back again…"

# Workflow

1. Identify the single goal of the email (decision, information, action) and the one reader who must act.
2. Write the subject line as the ask or the news.
3. Write the ask in sentences one/two; add only the context needed to act on it.
4. Format for scanning (bullets, bolded deadline); add the next-step line (owner + date).
5. Self-review against the eight rules above; fix any violation, then check the recipient list (To = must act, CC = informed only) before delivering.

# Edge cases

• Bad-news email → the news still goes first, stated plainly; follow with cause and remedy in that order. Never soften into ambiguity.
• Escalation email → facts and dates only, no adjectives about people; state what you need from the recipient to unblock.
• Very short reply suffices → send the short reply ("Approved — go ahead."). The rules exist for the reader's time, not for length.

# References

Extended before/after examples: see references/examples.md.