Here’s some advice on using e-mail at work from the book “How to Survive Your First Job (or Any Job)” (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $14.95), straight from people who’ve done it:

———

“Trim your posts and bottom-post when replying to someone; don’t send an e-mail full of 10 signatures and 10 replies all out of order. That’s so annoying! And use proper grammar. This is a workplace, not an AOL chat room: u dont wanna be talkin like this LOLZ!”

— Anonymous, San Francisco; working for 8 years

———

“Always, always check your attachments before you send them. Many times I’ve sent a similarly named document by accident, or I checked the attachment and noticed something that needed to be fixed that I had missed before. And at one point in your career, perhaps often, you will send an e-mail referring to an attachment, and you will fail to attach anything. Then you will send a follow-up e-mail that says, ‘Sorry! NOW it’s attached! Need more coffee!’ That’s just the way it is.”

— J.A., Atlanta; working for 15 years

———

“A calendar is the best time management tool you will find. My favorite e-calendar is the Pocket PC version of Microsoft Outlook. Because so many individuals use Outlook for their e-mail program in the office, it makes sense to also use the calendar program that is part of Outlook. The great thing about it for Pocket PC users is that what you see on your Outlook on the computer, you see on the Pocket PC. For Palm Pilot and BlackBerry users, the Outlook calendar will translate to store your appointments, but the interface looks different.”

— Laura Leist, Seattle; working for 22 years
———

“Don’t let your fingers move faster than your brain. A supervisor sent out a message to everyone, and I fired off a quick IM to a friend that said, ‘Give me the scoop on this.’ But when I hit the reply button, I was horrified to see that it went to everyone. I tried to cover it up by sending out another message that said, ‘Sorry, I meant to send that previous message to someone else.’ It’s the type of mistake you only make once.”

— M.C., Greensboro, N.C.; working for 7 years

———

“I have a friend who, at work, opened an e-mail from his new father-in-law, thinking nothing of it. It was filled with pictures of naked women; he was mortified. Luckily, he followed procedure and contacted his manager right away to let him know. The manager later was contacted by tech support, who let him know what his employee had opened. If my friend had not called his manager immediately after viewing, he would have been fired.”

— Liz Riney, Philadelphia; working for 2 years

———

“An e-mail is too long when it resembles a letter. If it’s more than a paragraph, it’s too long. The purpose of e-mail is to give a quick notice.”

— Keith, Long Island, N.Y.; working for 12 years

———

Hundreds of Heads Books’ survival guides offer the wisdom of the masses by assembling the experiences and advice of hundreds of people who have gone through life’s biggest challenges and have insight to share.

———

© 2007, Hundreds of Heads Books, Inc.