University Secretary

Managing Emails

For guidance on managing emails, either download the factsheet or select one of the options below.

  1. Introduction
  2. Sending emails
  3. Saving emails
  4. Retention periods
  5. Deleting emails
  6. Generic email accounts
  7. Personal emails
  8. Further information

1. Introduction

Emails record the University's actions and decisions, and are subject to both the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act.  It is essential that they are managed as effectively as paper and other electronic records, so that departments can operate efficiently and achieve legal compliance.

  • Check messages regularly, and prioritise them for reading and action;
  • Use Labels and Stars to manage emails requiring action;
  • Tag messages that are for information only with an appropriate Label;
  • Delete any messages that are not needed.

Messages should not be allowed to remain simply within the Inbox and Sent Items folders (even though they will be readily accessible via Google Apps Mail’s searching and filtering tools): they should also be tagged with appropriate Labels, reflecting the functions carried out by the user and his/her department. Labelling emails will make it easier to manage them: for example, by keeping all related messages together using a meaningful Label, it should take less effort to review them and make consistent retention decisions.

2. Sending emails

When writing an email, the subject should be clearly identified in the subject line and each message should ideally concern only a single topic, to make it easier (for both the sender and recipient) to select an appropriate Label with which to tag it. It is advisable to avoid mixing private information with work-related details. It can also be helpful to identify within the subject heading whether a message is ‘for action’ or simply ‘for information’.

When sending a reply the original text should be included as part of the response; this will provide context and help to reduce the number of separate messages that need to be saved. If emails become excessively long (because numerous replies are sent back and forth), the earlier part of the thread can be omitted (and saved), provided that it will still be possible to make sense of the discussion. Using ‘Conversation View’ can help to retain the context of an email chain without any unnecessary duplication of email text.

If the subject matter gradually changes during the course of long exchange, the subject heading may need to be updated to reflect this. The name, position and contact details of the sender should always be included at the end of a message in order to provide context and assist the recipient.

Outgoing messages should be given the same Label as their related incoming messages, so that the complete record of each exchange can be located easily and managed consistently. In ‘Conversation View’ Google Apps Mail will remember the Label you have applied and automatically tag future sent and received responses in that conversation with the same Label. Tagging an email with an appropriate Label before sending will help to prevent a backlog of filing from developing.

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3. Saving emails

Emails can be saved in a variety of locations, but it is advisable to keep them within Google Apps Mail, where they will be accessible and secure. 

Online mailbox (Google Apps Mail): Emails that require action or relate to outstanding issues should be saved within each user’s online mailbox. Users should regularly review their inbox messages to ensure that those relating to concluded business are labelled and archived (or, if appropriate, deleted) as soon as possible.
Within Google Apps Mail, ‘inbox’ and ‘all mail’ are the default Labels. Tagging the email with further, meaningful Labels will aid searching and generates a folder-like view of the online mailbox. The archiving button within Google Apps Mail simply removes the ‘inbox’ Label, effectively archiving the message out of your inbox and into this folder-like view. If you archive a message without applying another Label, it will still be searchable under the ‘all mail’ Label, but it is not best practice to rely solely on this safeguard.

Access when offline or off-campus: Google Apps Mail is internet based and, as such, can be accessed via any computer with an Internet connection and a variety of mobile devices. If, however, staff are regularly required to access to their mail in a location, where a connection to the Internet (via broadband, wi-fi, or dongle) is not available (e.g. those who do a lot of travelling on trains or planes), Google Apps Mail, Calendar and Contacts can be configured to work with a mail client

Shared email accounts: Setting up shared mailboxes or generic accounts for certain purposes can help to reduce the number of duplicate emails held within the same department. Alternatively, the number of multiple copies could be reduced by developing rules specifying who is responsible for saving particular emails: e.g.

  • For external messages received by one person, the recipient;
  • For external messages received by several people, the first named recipient or the person with overall responsibility for the area of work.

Further information on saving emails can be found in the Factsheet: Managing Emails

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4. Retention periods

Emails cannot be treated as a single series with a single retention period: the length of their retention must be determined by their subject matter or business purpose, as is the case with any other electronic or paper record. Using Labels to group together messages of a similar nature will make it easier to review them and make retention decisions. In addition, Google Apps Mail’s searching and filtering system can be used to sort messages in order to locate redundant information.

Factors which should help to determine whether an email needs to be retained can be found section 4 of the Factsheet: Managing Emails.)

 

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5. Deleting emails

Staff should regularly review all messages and delete those that have no continuing value. Emails that should be routinely deleted include:

  • personal emails
  • all staff emails
  • messages received from electronic distribution lists
  • trivial work-related messages, such as arrangements for meetings
  • casual discussions with colleagues that do not influence business and policy decisions
  • messages needed only for a limited time to ensure a routine action is completed
  • incomplete and draft emails that are no longer required
  • duplicate messages: e.g. messages received via ‘cc’ or ‘bc’ - the main recipient (or sender) should be responsible for their retention
  • emails that serve as cover notes (e.g. ‘I’ve attached the draft document.’) - although the attachment may need to be saved.

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6. Generic email accounts

If several staff are responsible for the same area of work, it can be helpful to use a shared (generic) email account. Sharing access will allow messages to be answered promptly when individual members of staff are away. It is, however, essential that the primary contact of the account develops procedures for managing all incoming and outgoing messages effectively.

Responsibilities of a Primary Contact:

  • To decide who should have access to the account, and to ensure that all staff who are given access understand the procedures for managing messages
  • To set up a Label structure for tagging incoming and outgoing messages;
  • To devise a system for allocating incoming messages to staff;
  • To check the account periodically to ensure there are no outstanding enquiries;
  • To check the messages have been filed appropriately;
  • To review messages periodically and delete those that are no longer required (or delegate the deletion to other staff).

Responsibilities of other staff with access:

  • To answer each enquiry that has been allocated to them;
  • To tag both the enquiry and the reply with an appropriate Label;
  • To comply with the procedures for managing the account

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7. Personal emails

All messages received or sent for private purposes should be clearly identified as personal, and a separate Label should be created for tagging them. Distinguishing between work-related and personal information will make it easier to identify emails, the content of which will not ordinarily be accessed by the University. It will also help to ensure that users with delegated access do not view them when checking mail in the absence of a member of staff.

However, staff should be aware that marking an email as ‘personal’ does not automatically preclude its release under Data Protection and/or Freedom of Information legislation where appropriate; nor does it prevent the University exercising its right to monitor email as per section 2.6 - Monitoring of the Staff Email Policy.

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8. Further information

For further information about the use of email, please see:

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