I got an email from an anonymous coward (email bounced) saying that it’s wrong to use a div in the headers. Gee, really?

Excuse my ‘tude. I appreciate it when people write in about a mistake of mine, but not when they do it anonymously and with a finger shaking attitude that says, “Wrong-o, buster!” Naturally, it puts a person on the defensive.

Once a person wrote a harsh email about a Web site where I was one of a handful of people who was cc’d on email sent from readers. I wrote a reply as if I had a smile on my face (not a smirk, mind you) and thanked the person. He immediately apologized for his tone and followed with a few pleasant words.

It’s tempting — I’ve been there and I’ve given in a few times — to write a hurtful email to someone who aggravates you. It’s an awful feeling that seems like it won’t go away until you speak your mind. Doing so never has a happy ending while a positive response can. You never know if you and that person cross paths again. Better to cross it on amicable terms.

When running into a difficult situation, my mom takes her five-year test of time. She asks, “Will it matter five years from now?” I wish it were that easy. A situation has bugged me for a while now and my nerves won’t let go. I haven’t acted on it and don’t plan to. Perhaps, writing an email or letter that you never send could help. This didn’t work for me. I just stay busy, which keeps me from thinking about it too often.

What timing. I read the following Slovakian proverb while writing this.

“Anger is the only thing to put off till tomorrow.”

Indeed.

Ilise Benun, author of Designing Websites for Every Audience, has been talking about “What does the silence mean?” in her Quick Online Marketing Tips newsletter. This is an issue I have grappled with many times especially since I rely on email as a primary means of communication rather than the phone because of my hearing loss.

You email a client, follow up, and whatnot. Paul has been dealing with this for over a year, only instead of clients, he waits to hear from recruiters and managers about a job. When is it OK to follow up again? Is it even OK especially for those related to finding a job? There is no clear etiquette.

When you don’t hear back within a certain amount of time, what happens? I’m like Ilise and start jumping to conclusions. “Too expensive?” “Doesn’t like me?” (this is more of a female response than a male response) “Did I not say it right?”

We’ve come to expect email response within a short period of time, but I don’t start convincing myself with reasons why I haven’t heard back that quick. The answer could be a simple as the person is too busy to respond. It could also mean, “No,” although I think a person deserve to hear (read) it rather than get a silence.

Ilise reports the silence is rarely about you. Let’s try to remember that. I believe this is accurate because I went through a very busy period where I didn’t respond to friends’ emails within the 24 hours typical of me. I had become my friends, who rarely reply to my emails within two or three days. But I always respond to work-related emails within 24 hours, usually much less.

If I don’t have time to give a full reply, then I drop a short note to the tune of, “Busy, will reply later.” Save a standard “busy reply” as a file, template, or shortcut to copy and paste. That is better than silence and it’s better than getting multiple follow ups from the person wondering if you ever received the email. How about we turn “quick acknowledgments” into a new etiquette? Maybe we’ll save emails and stress in the long run.

Part I covers using mail merge, Part II addresses using the email client’s template feature, and this one is about third party software. It isn’t just for creating fast email replies, but also for speeding up repetitive typing of anything. Here’s the text file of the first two parts for printing or using offline.

I use shareware program, Shortkeys and I’m very happy with it. I’ve created responses for questions I am often asked and for submissions. I also have different versions of my signature stored as sig1, sig2, etc. When I want to use one, all I have to do is type, “;sig3.” The ; is what triggers the program. Sig3 is the name of the shortcut.

You don’t have to use ; as the trigger. That is what I chose. It can be whatever you like. In fact, you don’t have to even use a trigger… but be warned! If you make shortcut called “arc” and typed “archive” or “Marc,” ShortKeys dutifully responds and prints the content for “arc.”

Turning on a prefix key tells ShortKey not to take action unless the selected prefix key is pressed, so nothing happens unless you type ;arc. Since I rarely use semi-colons followed by words, it works great. At first, I thought it should have a trigger where I can click its system tray icon once to turn it on / off (instead of right-click), but that is slower than using a prefix key.

I use a lot of shortcuts on the keyboard and often have the CTRL key pressed and then press the up arrow to go up. Instead, that would bring up the ShortKey menu. You can get around this by changing the preference.

If you have a trial version of ShortKeys, uninstall it before installing the registered version so you don’t have two directories. Also, be sure to save your shortcut file someplace safe so you can import it into ShortKeys.

Lew Lehrman has suggested a similar program that called Robotype, which I haven’t tried. He uses it for quick responses to various repeat questions, subscribes, inquiries, etc. Download it from PC Magazine, which I believe requires a subscription for downloading. I couldn’t find the program elsewhere.

He says, “You enter the text (a word, a phrase, a long letter) and assign it a two (or more) letter code. I use a combo that won’t ever occur in normal writing. Then anytime you enter those letters and a space, the saved text appears. Works in every software app I have, online, in emails (one code for title, one for text).”

Another program is QuickPhrase, a utility for adding favorite phrases to any Windows program. Got one you like? Add it in the comments.

We’re going to do an easy one since I was down and out over the past weekend. Part I covers using mail merge. This one is creating a simple template with no merging. The text is the same and all you have to do is add information and send it. We’ll do it for Mozilla / Thunderbird, Outlook, and Outlook Express. Mozilla and Thunderbird are exactly the same.

This method is good for small jobs of repetitive emails and responses / requests especially for newsletters like eNJ and Shavlik. I do a monthly interview column and constantly send interview requests, so I use a Mozilla template for this and it works great.

Outlook ‘Regular’

Start by creating the email complete with the Subject, greeting, body, closing, and the sig. Skip the To. If you want to cc or bcc someone on every email, enter the email address in this step.

1. Click File > Save as… > give it a name and ensure “Outlook Template(*.oft)” is selected as the type > Save.

2. Close the email window > click No when it asks if you want to save a draft.

3. To open the template, click New > Choose Form… > select User Templates in File System from drop-down > select the template > click Open.

4. Edit away and click Send.

A lot of steps to open a template, isn’t it? You can also double-click on the template file like it’s done for Outlook Express (see next one). Better yet, make a shortcut right in Outlook. A few ways to do this:

*Outlook Bar
1. Drag and drop the file into the Outlook Bar OR

2. File > New > Outlook Bar shortcut OR

3. Right-click the Outlook Bar > select Outlook Bar shortcut > change Look in to File System > the template is stored in C:Documents and Settingsuser_nameApplication DataMicrosoftTemplates [remember user_name is your name or whatever name you assigned].

4. Click on the shortcut when you want to use it.

*Folder
1. Drag and drop the file into an Outlook folder.

2. Click on it to use it.

*Shortcut on the Toolbar
1. Right-click in the blank area around the buttons > Customize > select Commands tab > Tools category > Customize command.

2. Click and drag Customize to the toolbar until you find a place to put it and there is no x indicating it is not allowed. Drop it.

3. Right-click Customize button (Keep the Customize window open) and rename the button by clicking next to Name and replacing “Customize” with your own.

4. Right-click your new button > Assign Hyperlink > Open > find your way to the template’s location: the template is stored in C:Documents and Settingsuser_nameApplication DataMicrosoftTemplates [remember user_name is your name or whatever name you assigned] > select it > click OK.

5. Close the Customize window.

6. Click on the new button whenever you want to use the template.

It’s work, but this is my favorite step for Outlook. I don’t like having the Outlook Toolbar open because it wastes space.

Mozilla / Thunderbird

Start by creating the email complete with the Subject, greeting, body, closing, and the sig. Skip the To.

1. Click File > Save as… > Template.

2. Close the email window.

3. Click on the Templates folder > double-click on the template you want.

4. Edit the email and send.

The template is still in the template folder. To send another, double-click on it again, edit it, and send.

Outlook Express

It doesn’t have a straight out template feature, so you have to get creative. Start by … you know the first step by now, but if you skipped the others: Start by creating the email complete with the Subject, greeting, body, closing, and the sig. Skip the To.

1. Click File > Save as… > give it a name and ensure “Mail(*.eml)” is selected as the type > Save.

2. Close the email window.

3. Load the template by double-clicking the template file wherever you saved it (it will be named something like “file_name.eml”).

4. Edit the email and click Send.

Not elegant, but it’s a way for Express users to use templates.

OK, I got carried away and decided to give you more than just an easy one. Happy carpal tunnel-free emailing.

As an editor for a few newsletters, I write to readers who write or complete feedback surveys. One of the newsletters gets several hundreds of responses with every issue. If that sounds overwhelming, the first issue alone got over 1000 responses! I use a few methods for handling large email jobs and use whichever depending on the mood.

The first one we’ll cover is … (ba da bing!)

Word merge

Anyone who has used Word’s merge features for letters and envelopes can do this using the same method by choose “E-mail messages” as the document type instead of the others. It works seamlessly with Outlook. Although, the help file indicates email merge works with any MAPI-compatible email program.

Information on merging Word docs with other email apps such as Eudora, Mozilla, and Pegasus is non-existent. If you know something, please comment.

Here are the steps for mail merge with Word, Excel, and Outlook done in Office XP (2002):

Create a basic letter template with the standard elements found in every letter. Such as the introduction, closing, and maybe a paragraph. We’ll call this Template.doc.

Also, most surveys have first and last name in the same column rather than as two separate columns. If this is the case as it is in this example, you can split it up with this trick. Insert five blank columns after the Name column. Select the Name column > Data > Text to Columns > Delimited > Next > Untick ‘Tab’ and Tick ‘Space’ > Next > Finish > OK (to replace columns).

We enter five blank columns because some people put names like John J. R. Doe, Jr., which takes up five columns. Better safe. After it’s done, you can delete the extra columns. Give the columns the correct heading names (FirstName, LastName).

Open new Word document (yes, you could use an existing document, but I’d rather mess up a fresh one than an existing one).

Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge Wizard

In Select document type, check “E-mail messages”

Click “Next: Starting document.”

In Select starting document, check “Start from existing document.”

Select the generic letter template aka Template.doc. If this is not in the list, select “(More files…)” to find the document.

Click “Next: Select receipients.”

In Select receipients, check “Use an existing list.” In Use an existing list, select “Browse.” Browse for the Excel file with the data > click on the file > Open. Click OK > OK (you can select data like blank lines to omit from the mail merge). Note: Make sure Excel has only one tab in use (worksheet) otherwise it gets messy.

Click “Next: Write your letter.” Add the fields into the letter. In this case, we’ll use “FirstName.” Add it from the Mail Merge toolbar – it’s the icon to the left of “Insert Word Field.” To get the toolbar, click Tools > Letters and Mailings > Show Mail Merge Toolbar.

Click “Next: Preview your letter.” Follow the steps based on your needs. Here is where you can personalize each letter. OR, you can do what I do. I have Outlook set so that it won’t automatically send anything. In this case, all the emails go in the OUTBOX. I move them into DRAFTS where I personalize each one and hit send so they go back into the OUTBOX ready to go.

Click “Next: Complete the merge.” (With preview) Here you can test to make sure messages show up correctly by clicking “Editing individual letters.”

Click “Next: Complete the merge.” (Without preview and send the email). Warning – when you start this process, it sends the emails right away. It does NOT wait till you click Send. Click on “Merge to E-mail” icon (second from the right in the Mail Merge toolbar).

It’ll ask for the subject line (see notes below) and you enter the info. From the “Mail format” drop-down, select “Plain text” or “HTML.” [Note: If nothing happens... No error message... The emails don't go out... then try selecting "Plain text." Also, Outlook should be your default email app.

When using "Plain Text," you may get popups saying "A program is trying to automatically send e-mail on your behalf…" for every email sent.] You can prevent Outlook from sending the emails by going to Tools > Options > Mail Setup > Untick “Send immediately when connected.” If you can do this, then you can customize each email by going into the Outbox and editing the emails. If you can’t do this, go to the next paragraph.

If you cancel in the middle of the process, it will still send the emails you’ve done anyway even the canceled one. Cancel has no meaning in the process.

It isn’t a pretty process, but there are other options we’ll cover. I haven’t used this process since discovering a couple of others. Gotta get my rest, so it’ll be another day.

There are people dead set against HTML newsletters while others say Text-formatted newsletters are a snore. Janet Robert’s E-Zine Tips reports that HTML Tops Text in Reader Preferences, which states, “Launching an HTML newsletter, with a worthy text counterpart, is probably a safer publication model now than it was a few years ago.”

However, HTML wasn’t heavily favored and those who preferred text felt strongly about this choice.

My preference? Text. Why? Because I can read it anywhere including on a PDA. Plus, some HTML newsletters are frickin’ slow to download. However, I do get some HTML newsletters that are excellent. The HTML doesn’t distract from the content, but rather enhances it.

I agree with the conclusion — if you have the ability to offer both formats, give the readers the choice. Watch the numbers.

Spam Solutions II on WebReference Update provides resources and suggestions for getting spam under control. Yes, there have been many articles written on spam. This isn’t a long article and just gives a few quick pointers.

After expressing my frustration with Earthlink’s wireless software for OmniSky customers, I downloaded Eudora’s wireless software on advice from John since he has used it with the OmniSky / Earthlink service.

Before installing, I called Earthlink’s tech support to verify a few things. After being on hold for 15 minutes or longer (trying to be conservative here), I asked them if I could remove any components of the Earthlink software to make more room on the Palm Vx.

Unexpectedly, the technician told me that it’s better to keep it to retain the network settings. He did offer another option of downloading the Earthlink uninstaller and going to Novatel to download the software from there. However, Earthlink would not be able to assist in this process.

I decided to keep the Earthlink software and install Eudora. Eudora’s files are smaller than Earthlink’s file called City / People. I didn’t even have any saved settings in the City or People and it used over 700 KB of space! When I installed Earthlink, I had no choice in whether or not I wanted the City / People feature. There were two applications on Eudora: email and Web. Eudora allowed the user to select the applications to install.

Score 1 for Eudora on size and installing options.

Trashing Emails

The OmniSky software still has the best option for deleting an email. There was a popup box that provided the options of deleting it from the Handheld, Handheld and Server, or Cancel. Eudora and Earthlink deal with it at the application level as a preference. I worked around it by creating a folder called Save. Anything I don’t want deleted off the server went in the Save folder. After I downloaded the email on the home PC, I deleted the saved emails on the PDA.

Eudora opened the next email after deleting an email. Thank goodness. Earthlink takes you back to the inbox. However, Earthlink allows you to select one or more emails, without opening them, for deleting. Neither Eudora nor OmniSky have this capability. They required tapping on the email, which opened and tapping the Delete button in the opened email.

Score 1/2 for Eudora for going to next email after deletion.

Score 1/2 for Earthlink for ability to select more than one email.

Composing Emails

Composing or replying to emails on Earthlink was the biggest pain of the whole PDA email experience. It had no bulk text selection, the tab didn’t work at all, it scrolled line by line, and it didn’t differentiate the sender’s responses from yours with > or some other character.

Eudora came with bulk text selection capabilities, tabbing capabilities, excellent and fast scrolling, and characters next to the sender’s responses. The scrolling and tabbing worked better than OmniSky’s original software. When starting a new email, the cursor started in the TO: box. When tabbing, it moved to SUBJECT: and then the body. OmniSky’s skipped over the subject while tabbing.

When replying to an email in Eudora, a popup gives you the Reply and Reply All option. I preferred OmniSky’s version, which had two buttons: Reply and Reply All. I didn’t have to hit Reply to get these two options.

Eudora has an extra step for looking up email addresses in your PDA address book. It requires tapping on the TO: to get to another TO: screen and then tapping on Lookup. Earthlink requires two steps, but without a new screen and it allows you to pick multiple addresses in one shot. OmniSky went right to the address book lookup once you hit TO:, but didn’t allow selecting multiple addresses.

Once I exited out of an email I was composing in Earthlink to do something, I came back and the email was gone. OmniSky and Eudora saved it. The former saved it in the Drafts folder and the latter in the Out (also known as Send) folder. I can’t rename the Out folder, but at least it’s there.

Score 1 for Eudora for tabbing, text selection, and responding.

Score 1/2 for Earthlink for ability to select multiple email address in one step.

Retrieving Emails

Strangely, Eudora didn’t have a button on its inbox page for sending and receiving emails. It didn’t have one for composing emails either. To check email, you open the menu or do the shortcut as shown in the menu. After it pulled in new emails, it provided an unnecessary Mail Check Results screen. It displayed the total number of new emails, how many received, and how many skipped.

It did the same thing for sending email with its Mail Send Results. It displayed the number of email Sent and Not Sent. We don’t even have this feature in PC email and it’s a waste of tapping time.

Score zip.

Mini-Web Surfing

Eudora’s Web browser didn’t come with any built in links other than its own Web site. I had to hunt down for PDA Web sites to enter into the bookmarks.

Google: www.google.com/palm
Yahoo: mobile.yahoo.com/home
CNN: wireless.cnn.com/pqa/cnn/en/index.html

Eudora’s Web browser was very plain and had nothing pre-loaded. Unlike Earthlink, which is loaded with that big City / People file. From what I could tell, it worked as fast as the original OmniSky software. I primarily used AvantGo for reading online news.

If you have the Eudora Web browser and email installed, there was no way to switch back and forth between the two applications without going to the PDA’s home screen.

Score 1/2 for Eudora

Score 0 for Earthlink

Leftovers

The Inbox interface in Eudora and Earthlink are better than OmniSky’s. However, Eudora is missing a button for Send / Receive Emails and Compose. Earthlink has the best interface since it has these icons on the bottom along with a Find icon.

Eudora can have multiple mailbox accounts just like Earthlink. Both worked fine.

Earthlink has one feature that the other two didn’t have, the ability to open attachments or forward them. Generally, I didn’t care to open attachments on the PDA, but the ability to forward them in Earthlink was great.

Overall, OmniSky is probably still the best of the three, but it’s gone. Eudora is more usable than Earthlink. Eudora’s few quirks are more tolerable than Earthlink’s usability issues.

For those keeping track, Eudora had 3 points to Earthlink’s 1 point.