To me, to write ‘Here is…’ is the equivalent of ‘Looky here at this puppy…’.
Still use ‘Attached, please find’.
Me too. Why I think “Please find enclosed” any more literally true I don’t know, but that’s what I use! :smack:
When I see “Attached please find…” I know that the person is brain dead.
I used that phrase just this morning.
If the attachment failed, I will find out.
I am quite confident that my brain is alive and thriving, and I use it. A formal correspondence is supposed to be formal. How else can I convey my detached demeanor?
Yes, and I have no idea why. It’s an email, the recipient can see it’s attached. So why not just say, “hey Sue, here are the release notes for 6.3”?
Because we’re mentally lazy.
And my 10th grade English teacher didn’t put that on her “phrases to NEVER USE IN MY CLASSROOM” list. I still don’t use those; she might find me!
Being formal doesn’t mean being a slave to an outdated convention.
Every time I read a work email that reads “attached please find”, my snap judgement is that either the sender is a stickler for rules because they think rules trump common sensical improvisation, or because they want to look extra smart and professional. The latter might not strike you as bad, but I rather see an email that is little too informal than one that contains unnecessary affectations.
There’s nothing informal about an email that reads:
“Greetings, Mr./Ms./Dr. So&S. We have reviewed and evaluated your proposal, and believe it is ready for clearance. Our appraisal (see attachment) details our findings. Please contact us if you have questions.”
I don’t have any set usage to indicate an attachment accompanies an e-mail. I’ll use a variety of different phrases according to how familiar the recipient is. I always make some mention somehow though that there is an attachment. Then the recipient writes back and says something like “what attachment?” and I remember to actually attach the document to my reply.
I don’t see it as “outdated,” but as a charming idiom that perfectly conveys what I wish to communicate. I’d put it in the same class as your usage of the term “details.”
I am anything but a rule-follower, and I purposely dumb down most of my emails to avoid confusion. Sounding “smart” is the least of my worries.
If you are uncharmed, so sad.
I do the same with courts, clients, and most lawyers. With a handful of lawyers, I’ll sometimes go less formal for routine matters.
If you forget to attach the document or there’s some sort of overzealous virus scanner mishap that removes the attachment, are you sure you’ve written enough to alert Sue that the release notes were supposed to be attached to that email?
Hey Sue,
Let me know if you find any errors in the 6.3 release notes.
Regards
GrumpyBunny
Sue spends 15 minutes checking through her emails thinking you must have already sent them to her.
“Attached, please find” is my preferred phrase. I like to make specific reference to the document being attached so that it is clear it should be in that email, and it just feels like polite phrasing.
The difference, though, is that I can conceive of plenty other words that say the same thing that “details” does, while still being sufficiently formal. Words like “explains”, “describes”, and “outlines”, just to name a few. I don’t imbue the word with so much significance and seriousness that I default to it like a script.
Your previous post made it sound like there can’t possibly be another way to communicate the same thing as APF without betraying an “undetached demeanor”. All I’m pointing out is that this an incorrect misconception that is consistent with a type of boilerplate communication style.
Yes, among other variations. It’s not old fashioned to be precise and polite.
And now I will hurl myself off a cliff for the crime of “incorrect misconception”.
Every communication does not have to ooze originality from each sentence. Boilerplate has its place, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with defaulting to a script when appropriate. These conventions were created for a reason. Yes, they change, but I don’t think the ship has sailed on this one quite yet.
Had you just used the correct script, this could have been avoided.
Well, Sue isn’t really that bright…:rolleyes:
Joking aside – that’s probably why I still use “attached please find” or at least “attached is/are” or “here is/are”. Something to indicate that the notes are with this particular email. (If the release notes are on a share drive, I’d provide a link.)
Also to the point of rogue virus scanners and forgetfulness – If I forget to attach the document or it doesn’t go through, I will receive an email from Sue and from everyone else on the distribution list. And all of the emails will cc everybody else, saying “You forgot the attachment!” :smack:
This is why I make a habit of using some phrasing that includes “attached” or “attachment,” though not necessarily with “please find” in the phrase. My work email uses Gmail and I’m really good at composing an email and then forgetting to attach the dang document. If I mention it in the body of the email, Gmail will ask before letting it go if I mean to attach something. I almost always do.
I disagree - it may be obvious at the time of receipt, but there should be some kind of a record so that when the document is filed later, there is a clear reference to what was originally with the letter. If there is no “enclosed please find” statement, there should be an annotation somewhere on the page that lists enclosures.
And then, be sure to acknowledge that you received the whatever,
using the phrase "I am in receipt of . . . "