Use of Emails 電郵的使用

Use of Emails 電郵的使用 KCTang

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​​ Note 注​​​​​​​

  • 18/3/2026: Split from "Administrative Management". Quality Alerts added.
  • 7/7/2021: Expanded 擴展. 
  • 19/1/2023: (Updated 更新

Generally 一般

  1. Follow the template for folder structure under the email Data folder to create new folder structure for new jobs.
    參照Data電郵夾下的電郵夾結構模板” template for folder structure” 的概念把所有工程的電郵夾分類及統一名稱。
  2. Do not print emails except when printed copies are required for use (particularly when drawings are to be printed for taking-off and colouring for evidence of taking-off).
    不要打印電郵，除非需要使用打印副本（特別是當需要打印圖紙以進行計量和著色以作為計量證據時）。
  3. Delete spam emails on sight, to reduce everybody’s abortive time to read (permanent clearance from the Deleted Items folder will be done by the Administrator).
    一見垃圾電郵就立刻刪除，以免人人都要花時間看(從刪除郵件夾永久刪除由管理員做)。
  4. Ignore all emails received from time to time calling for security verification regarding iTune, Apple ID, Microsoft, PayPal, HSBC, etc. since they are mostly malicious emails.
    千祈不要理會不時收到的關於iTune、 Apple ID、Microsoft、PayPal、HSBC 等等要人重新輸入認證的電郵，黑郵居多。
  5. Do not open or save attachments received from unknown persons, and do not click open links.
    不要打開或儲存來自不認識的人的附件，亦不要打開連結。

Sending emails 發送電子郵件

  1. bcc all outgoing emails back to our office.
    發出所有電郵時，密件抄送回自己公司。
  2. Check that the bcc copies are received by our office to prove that the outgoing server is working.
    檢查自己公司是否收到密件抄送副本，以證明發送伺服器正常工作。
  3. Check that there are no delivery failure message (should appear within 5 minutes) to prove that the delivery is successful.
    檢查沒有發送失敗消息（應在 5 分鐘內出現）以證明發送成功。
  4. Handle any delivery failure immediately by contacting the intended recipient for the proper address, and re-send with a remark "Re-sent due to delivery failure", cc all others on the original email to make them know.
    立即處理任何送達失敗，聯繫預期收件人以獲取正確地址，重新發送，註明“因送達失敗而重新發送”，並抄送原始電郵中的所有其他收件人以知會他們。
  5. For urgent email failed to be delivered after retry or failure to contact the intended recipient, fax the email copy to his/her company with a remark "Faxed due to email delivery failure" and the date. Email the front page back to the office.
    緊急電郵在重試後仍未能送達或未能聯繫到預期的收件人，將電郵副本傳真給他/她的公司，並註明“因電郵送達失敗而傳真”和日期。 將首頁通過電郵發回自己公司。
  6. Email source files (Word, Excel, etc.) back to our office after sending out pdf files. Mark at the beginning "Source files attached".發送 pdf 文件後，將源文件（Word、Excel 等），電郵發送回自己公司。 在開頭標記“附加的源文件”。

Correspondence not by emails 非電郵的來往文件

  1. All outgoing and incoming documents not sent by email should be emailed back to our office for the record on the same day.
    所有非通過電郵發送的來往文件應在同一天通過電郵發送回自己公司以資記錄。

Printing frequency (no longer adopted) 打印頻率（不再採用）

  1. Print all emails once every half-an-hour as far as possible.
    盡可能每半小時打印一次所有電郵。
  2. Print before lunch break all emails received before 12 am.
    午休前打印所有在上午 12 點之前收到的電郵。
  3. Print before close of a day's work all emails received before 5 pm.
    在一天的工作結束前打印下午 5 點之前收到的所有電郵。
  4. Print upon starting a day's work all emails received before that.
    在開始一天的工作時打印之前收到的所有電郵。

Persons responsible for filing emails 電郵歸檔負責人

  1. Be responsible for filing the softcopies of emails of their own projects.
  2. Assign more junior or newly joined staff members to file softcopies of emails for a team of staff members.
  3. Define filters.
  4. Clerical staff (if available):
  5. Assign a person as the final guard to remind all others to print their emails by the 12 am and 5 pm deadlines, and print all remaining emails not falling within the scope of the any particular team.
  6. The above principle still applies if a clerk is employed to do the printing.

Printing (when necessary)

  1. Print the newly received pages of the emails only, i.e., excluding linked pages of past emails which have been received before.
  2. Print on one-sided recycled paper. (One-sided printout will be easier for reading and future scanning for archiving.)
  3. Print on double-sided paper only when required by the surveyor responsible.
  4. Print the one with track-changes if both Word or Excel and pdf files are received.

Not to print

  1. ​​​​​​​Delete spam emails.
  2. Delete promotional emails not relevant to our industry, profession or business.
  3. Do not delete nor print promotional emails relevant to our industry, profession or business. File them under their relevant folders, if available, otherwise under "Sales Promotion".
  4. Permanent deletion from the Trash folders should only be made by the director.
  5. Do not print documents which are too thick, say more than 30 pages. Ask the surveyor responsible to see whether the thick documents should be printed.

Emailed copies of faxes

  1. Treat emailed copies of faxes similarly.
  2. Convert emailed copies of faxes to proper emails by forwarding each email with attached fax back to the office but stating a proper subject title and inserting an image of the first page in the email beforehand.

Documents sent through links

  1. Do not download from links sent by unknown senders for unknown purposes. Check with the senders if in doubt.
  2. Download ALL documents received through genuine links and and email them back to our office for the record.
  3. Email ALL documents sent out through links back to our office for the record.
  4. Split them into several emails if the file size is too large.

Emails attached to emails

  1. Save emails attached to an email received on to the computer desktop and move them back to the email folder. They will appear at the positions of their original email dates. This would enable reading the story in a chronological order, and easy tracing later.
  2. Print such emails like other emails.

Handling of printed emails

  1. When there are more than one attachment, identify whether they belong to one submission or several submissions each bearing its own serial number or date (e.g., letters, site memos, proposed variations, instructions, variation quotations, payments, minutes, regular reports, etc.).
  2. Separate between different submissions by staples or clips.
  3. Arrange different submissions according to the dates stated on them (not the dates received).
  4. Within the same submission, arrange the attachments in logical sequence, usually covering letter or site memo at the front and drawings at the back. Descriptive documents are usually in the middle. Summaries may be put before or after the details depending on the authors. Follow the specific contents page or the list of items stated in the email. Do not follow the order of the attachments to the email because they have no logical sequence.
  5. Fold thin A3 attachment (say, not exceeding 5 pages) forward from right to left along the centre line into A4 size, and then fold the top flap from left to right along the centre line into half A4 size. 
  6. Fold thick A3 attachment backward from right to left keeping the edge clear from the left punch holes.
  7. Stamp the date received on the top right hand corner of each separate submission received (but no need for different parts of the same submission which are not supposed to be taken out for use separately).
  8. Stamp the date received on the top right hand corner on each programme and on the bottom right hand corner on each drawing because they may be filed or taken out for use separately.
  9. Mark near the date chop the relevant instruction numbers.
  10. Stamp neatly and clearly at a blank space.
  11. Do not stamp on submissions emailed by our office unless they are returned with emails received.
  12. Write on the emails simple reference numbers and dates of those separate submissions which are filed not immediately after the relevant emails to enable future tracing.
  13. Initial neatly on the bottom left corners of the emails after arranging the emails and attachments.
  14. File the emails directly in the appropriate email sub-folders of the relevant projects.
  15. If the emails are printed by somebody other than the relevant team members, file the emails under the "00Printed" email folder for subsequent filing by the relevant team members. 
  16. Distribute the printed emails once every half-an-hour to the relevant project team members for reading.
  17. Circulate within the relevant team starting from the director to the assistant. If any person is absent, pass on to the next one present.
  18. Read and initial on the top right hand corners of the emails and the first pages of separate submissions.
  19. Take immediate actions as required by the emails.
  20. File the emails in the relevant hardcopy folder after all team members have read and initialled and when no further immediate action is required.
  21. File different submissions according to their dates even though those dates may be sometime in the past so that they can tell the complete story when the files are read sequentially sometime later. The date received stamp can help to trace that emails sending them though the submission and the email may be filed separately.​​​​​​

​​ Filing of letters and emails 信件和電郵的歸檔

(Section added 添加, 7/7/2021)

  1. Create a separate folder section for each preliminary cost estimate, proposed instruction, confirmation of verbal instruction, formal instruction, other item to appear in the final account (e.g., group of provisional quantities, provisional sum), financial report, payment valuation, etc.
  2. Name the email folders or label the hardcopy folder flysheets by their serial numbers.
  3. If an email covers more than one folder section, email it back to the office with a note added to the subject so as to distinguish. Do not just make copies because identical copies will be deleted if a "remove duplicate" check is done.
  4. File requests for estimates and estimates under the proposed instruction folders. Move them to the formal instruction folders after the issuance of the formal instructions.
  5. Move confirmations of verbal instructions to the formal instruction folders after the issuance of the formal instructions.
  6. Change the folder or label names to reflect or track the move.
  7. File quotations and assessment related to a formal instruction under the same folder section, i.e., all matters related from cost estimate until agreement are to be filed together to tell the complete story.
  8. Spilt into more folders if an instruction covers more than one variation or final account item.
  9. Update the financial report descriptions and amounts to match whenever a new or revised quotation or assessment is received or issued.
  10. File communications with each tenderer separately. This is important for tracking the development, preparing the letter of award/intent, and contract binding.
  11. In principle, all incoming and outgoing documents in the email folders and hard copy folders should mirror each other, except for working documents not sent out.
  12. Bind tender documents as a book, not to be filed.

Quality Alerts

(Section added, 18/3/2026)

Email size limits

  1. Limit the total outgoing email attachment size to 7 MB because:
    • Common email size limits (including attachments)
      • Gmail (Personal): 25 MB
      • Gmail (Google Workspace): Up to 50 MB, or 70 MB for some enterprise plans
      • Outlook.com/Hotmail: 20-25 MB
      • Outlook/Office 365 (Business): 35 MB (configurable up to 150 MB)
      • Yahoo/AOL Mail: 25 MB
      • General/ISP Email: 10 MB - 20 MB
    • Recipients' email servers may have a lower limit.
    • Due to encoding, files may grow by about 30%–40% when converted to email attachments.
    • (Our company email size limit is 200 MB.)
  2. Compress the attachments to zip or rar formats to reduce size, but some organisations do not accept rar attachments. 
  3. Set to output as zip format when using WinRaR.
  4. Use WinRaR to split compressed file into volumes (parts) to stay within the desired compressed file size limit.
  5. Remind users to download all volumes in order to access all the files within different volumes.
  6. Do not need to compress PDF files to zip or rar formats because the size reduction is small.
  7. Use PDF editing tools to reduce the PDF file size which can be more than a half.
  8. Check that the resolution after reduction is still satisfactory.

Cloud link storage

  1. Avoid using cloud links even though it is common to send cloud links for downloading large files.because:
    • The files stored on the cloud may be changed before or after they are downloaded.
    • The files actually downloaded by different users at different times may be different. 
    • There is no evidence to prove that the files downloaded and used are the same as those originally provided for downloading.
  2. Send files as email attachments as far as possible.
  3. Limit to use cloud link storage to really big files.
  4. Email back the downloaded files for record.
  5. Emails themselves serve as records of the times of delivery of the attachments with actual contents.

Email non-delivery

  1. bcc outgoing email back as a quick check to ensure successful delivery.
  2. Set the outgoing email server to report email non-delivery within 5 minutes so that immediate action can be taken.
  3. Inform the recipient in case of non-delivery, and agree alternative means of delivery.
  4. Re-send the email as appropriate if the email address is correct or after the full email box has spare space. Mark the email as "Re-sent due to non-delivery". Note "Re-sent", not "resent".
  5. In case of a change of email address, copy to other recipients as well when re-sending to keep them informed of the updated address, so that they will not reply to the previous email containing the outdated email address. Send only with all attachments to the updated email address, and send and copy to others again but without attachments in case the attachments are too large.
  6. Fax the undelivered email marked with "Faxed due to email non-delivery" to the recipient, if the recipient cannot be contacted.
  7. Mark the recipient email address as "(left)" if he or she no longer works there.

Folder management

  1. Use the email folders as a file managment system.
  2. Set up different folders for different jobs, different sub-folders for different topics, and sub-sub-folder for each estimate, instruction, payment, etc.

Documents exchanged not by emails

  1. Scan to PDF and email back all documents sent or received in hardcopies or faxes to ensure that the emails represents the complete file storage.

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