The Outlook interface for creating and editing your out-of-office email response is dreadful. In Outlook 2007, it constitutes a text-box four lines high, maybe 350 pixels wide for entering raw, unformatted text. Keep typing and you’ll get a vertical scrollbar.
And the interface does not allow for spell-checking.
The dreadfully constrained interface and the lack of a spell-checker make for out-of-office emails littered with typos and grammatical heathenry, an email that is sent to way more people than any other. I would estimate that over half of those I receive contain at least one error.
Today’s examples:
- I am out of the office until Friday 22nd May and will limited access my emails during this time
- I am out of the office at a and will be back at work on the 26th May 2009
Please. Copy your email into Word. Read it, check it and double-check it before turning your out of office on. Thank you.