Writing today in a business environment should not be compared to such letters, but still requires a bit of finesse in order to communicate well.

Here are a few tips for good emails and memos.

Get to the point

Just like in speaking – get the message across at the beginning.  People will not read a long email or memo.  they will skim it for clues and directives to see if they need to read the whole thing.  If you fail to get your point across in the first paragraph, you may never get them to read more.

Get Organized

Don’t just rattle off an email or memo as the words come to mind.  Figure out a beginning, middle and end.  Choose the order of your written word carefully.  Help the flow of the readers thoughts carry along with the writing.

Write like you speak

Most people write a little loftier than they speak.  Don’t get too far from your typical tone. If you inject humor in your speech, then don’t be afraid to add some to your writing (if the topic allows).  Writing should flow similar to speech.  Not to formal and not to casual.  Don’t use “gonna” or “ain’t” – but keep from getting too formal.

Avoid Fluff

Don’t add information or stories that are not germane to the conversation.  Remove needless sentences that do not advance understanding.

Don’t assume they know anything

Unless it is obvious to all.  Check to see if you have fully explained yourself as if you knew nothing of the subject before.  Quickly explain terms or processes that are not common knowledge.  Remind them of things discussed before.  Give them anchors to start their thinking by referring to other memos or documents.

Remember the reader

Don’t talk down to the readers or over their heads.  Do not use too much “tech talk” if the audience will not understand it.  Focus on what the reader needs to know and present it in easy to understand terms.  Avoid jargon and acronyms.

Read it when you are done

Don’t just hit the send key or the print button.  Stop – take a break – then come back and read it again.  Make changes as needed.  If it is a memo – get someone else to read it and offer comments.  If it is a tutorial or procedure – get someone to try it out, step by step, then send it out.

Lastly – Don’t assume that they read it

If it is critical that one or two people know exactly what is in the memo or email, follow up with a conversation.

Using some of these tips might help clarify your points.  Improving your skills at writing can advance your career.

There are several key things to keep in mind when trying to get your message out.  Talk may be cheap, but the value of a good communication process can not be overstated.

Lets take a look at verbal communication

Get to the point.

Bottom Line Up Front – BLUF – I have heard it put this way.  Get to the point of the conversation.  Let people know what you are going to talk about and then add more info as you see their interest wax and wane.  This is one that annoys me a lot.  I will admit that after two or three sentences, I want to know what the purpose is for  the conversation.  Get it out there.  Peoples minds will wander when someone babbles on with more info than what is needed.

Don’t ask undefined questions.

Don’t start a conversation that causes the other person to be defensive out of the gate.  “Do you have some spare time?”  “Would you be willing to help me out?” “Are you busy at 3:00pm?”  These kinds of questions immediately put the other person on the defensive.  The usual answer will be “Why?”.  People do not want to commit to doing something or offering their time if they do not know what is involved.  Better to say “Do you have some spare time to help me with the report that is due in 2 hours?”

Ask them to repeat what you said.

This is kind of tough and can appear insulting.  When passing on instructions to others, some have given advice that includes having the person repeat the instructions you gave.  They would respond with “You told me to reformat the hard drive, reinstall the software and configure the printer.” This might work for subordinates or your kids, but not for peers and others.  I never ask them directly what I said, but ask them to confirm my summary of the conversation.    “The delivery is coming in early next week and you should see your new laptop after we prep it – so about 2 days later (just in case) – sound good?”  “The CAD Software will be installed on your machine next Tuesday – that will work for you right?”

Confirm what they said to you.

Just like the above only now you are confirming what they said.  “So you will be there at 2:00 pm with the laptop and projector – right?”  “So the next step in my plan is to seek advice from Sr. management and you suggested I call Bob – correct?”

Get commitments.

If you are seeking to get someone to assist or provide you with something, then get a commitment before you close the conversation.  Don’t just trail away hoping that they will return to you with an answer.  I usually ask for a commitment at the end.  “Then you will help me – right?”  If the conversation calls for a delay in the commitment, I try to get a deadline for the decision.  “So you will get back to me by next Monday.  Can I call you on Tuesday if I don;t hear from you?”

Avoiding some of the pitfalls of verbal conversations has many more nuances than just the very short list I have above.  Think about how you can get better and try these and others.

Ever use Unicode – I have not… but…

When entering text, you can create special characters, including the degree symbol, plus/minus tolerance symbol, and the diameter symbol, by entering the following Unicode character strings:

\U+00B0 = Degrees symbol (°)

\U+00B1 = Tolerance symbol (±)

\U+2205 = Diameter symbol

Better yet – Use %% – this is a more standard way of enter special characters

In addition to using Unicode characters for entering special characters, you can also overscore text, underscore text, or insert a special character by including control information in the text string. Use a pair of percent signs to introduce each control sequence.

You can use this control code with standard AutoCAD text fonts and Adobe PostScript fonts:

%%nnn – Draws character number nnn.

NOTE: You can use these control codes with standard AutoCAD text fonts only:

%%o – Toggles overscoring on and off.

%%u – Toggles underscoring on and off.

%%d – Draws degrees symbol (°).

%%p – Draws plus/minus tolerance symbol (±).

%%c – Draws circle diameter dimensioning symbol .

What if I want the % sign???

%%% – Draws a single percent sign (%). This is valid for the TEXT command only.

Overscoring and underscoring can be in effect at the same time. Both turn off automatically at the end of the text string.

You can use the %%nnn control sequence to display special characters using the PostScript fonts.

You can also get most of these off the MTEXT menu now.

Click on Other to get even more…

You can set Contrast and Fade with slider.

Choose to set display to monochrome.

Create and remove clipping boundaries.

Show or not show the Underlay with a toggle

Enable Snapping

Adjust XREF info

and Edit the Layer displayed.

Note:  If you turn off the display of an Underlay you need to zoom all the way out and select the Underlay Frame and then turn the display back on.

FRAME
Turns the display of frames on and off for all external references, images, and DWF, DWFx, PDF, and DGN underlays.

PDFFRAME
Determines whether the PDF underlay frame is visible.

1. Left click on the PDF graphic anywhere and you will see the dialog box below.  Is shows you that you have selected the PDF Underlay and allows you to change a few properties.

2. You can change the dialog box options by clicking onthe icon in the upper right corner

3.  You will get another dialog box that allows you to select what is displayed in the fist dialog.  Add some – like I do here for Underlay Adjust.

4. Once you save the options they will show up the next time.

If the underlay file contains layers, you can control how the layers display after attaching the file. If the file does not contain layer information, the Underlay Layers dialog box does not display any layer information.  Access this by right clicking after you have selected the Underlay.

Once you have selected the PDF Layers command you will get another dialog box allowing you to set layer visability

You can underlay the following file types:

DWF – A DWF (Design Web Format) file is a highly compressed file format that is created from a DWG file.
DWFx – DWFx, the future of DWF, is based on the XML Paper Specification (XPS) format from Microsoft.
PDF – Adobe System’s document exchange format.
DGN – Bentley System’s Microstation format. DGN support is limited to V7/V8 DGN files and 2D objects. The 2D objects are imported or attached with full (X, Y, Z) coordinate information, as was present in the original file. If the file contains 3D solids, surfaces, or other 3D objects, a warning is displayed. This content is not supported in this file.

So if you do use Underlay – what options are there?

Snap to it.

First off – OSNAPS work.  You can snap to graphic elements in an Underlay.  You cannot however use the  Measure command.  You can dimension from point to point though

Attaching an Underlay Multiple Times

You can reattach an underlay multiple times, treating them as a block. Each underlay has its own clip boundary and settings for contrast, fade, and monochrome.

Warning: You cannot bind an underlay to a drawing and you cannot edit or modify the underlay’s content.

Underlay Files in Xrefs

DWG file references (xrefs), in a drawing can include an underlay. In this situation, objects in the underlay are visible in the parent DWG file.

For example, drawing A includes a DWF underlay showing some mechanical details. You need the content of drawing A attached to your current drawing, drawing B. If you attach drawing A as an external reference to drawing B, the DWF underlay that was already attached to drawing A is also be present.

All of the property settings made to the underlay in the external reference, such as clipping boundaries, appear as they do in the parent drawing.

Password Protected Underlay Files

If a file you want to attach as an underlay is password protected, you are prompted to enter the password after you have selected the file. You cannot attach the file until you have correctly entered the password.

After an underlay is attached to a DWG file, you are prompted for the underlay file’s password each time you open the DWG file. If the DWG file is also password protected, or has several other protected drawing references attached, you may be prompted for multiple passwords.

This can get annoying…

If you change the path of an underlay to a file that requires a password, you are prompted for a password as well.

more annoying…

Note:  DWF, DWFx, and PDF file passwords are case sensitive but DWG file passwords are not. To make synchronization between DWG and DWF file passwords easier, make sure the DWF, DWFx, and PDF file passwords match the DWG file password and are entirely uppercase.

Or better yet – don’t use passwords.

You reference and place underlay files in drawing files the same as you do raster image files so they are not actually part of the drawing file. Like raster files, the underlay is linked to the drawing file through a path name. The path to the file can be changed or removed at any time. By attaching underlays this way, you can use files in your drawing without greatly increasing the drawing file size. You can only view DWF and PDF underlays in the 2D Wireframe visual style.  DGN underlays can be viewed in any visual style.

Note:  Although underlay files are reproductions of their source drawing, they are not as precise as drawing files. Underlays may show slight discrepancies in precision.

You can use OSnaps with Underlay files.

If you have created or received a PDF file to use in CAD, you can attach it to your DWG file – here is how…

1.  Open the Attach dialog box by going to the Insert Tab

2.  Select the file you want to attach by first changing the file type

Then select the file you want and hit Open.

3. It will then open the standard attach file dialog box.  You can select options as you choose.

It comes in as a PDF Underlay.

Here is the process that is included with AutoCAD 2010.

1.  Select Export to PDF under the Big Red “A”

or you can select it fro the Output Tab onthe ribbon

2.A dialog box opens and you can hit Save or select Options button

3. Several Options are presented.  First by showing you the standards.  You can add a password, overwrite precision,etc.

4. If you want to change an Option, just click on the option and a drop down will appear.  No dropdown?  then it cannot be changed.

5. You can add a plot stamp if you like also.  Some of the presets available are shown below.  Check the ones you want to add.  This is the exact same dialog box as plot stamping in the Plot command.

6. When you are happy that the PDF is all set to go – hit the Save button. When the file is created you will get a notification balloon in the lower right corner.

7. When you are done and you open the PDF you should see your completed PDF file with any data that you included.

Notes fromthe Help file:

Although transparent objects and wipeouts are displayed correctly in the PDF viewer, they may not print with the same visual fidelity when default print settings are used. If your drawing contains transparent objects, you may need to adjust some settings in Adobe Acrobat. Set Transparency Flattening to “Print as Image” or reduce the Raster/Vector Balance in Adobe Acrobat.

I have seen this happen – so be aware…