Is it appropriate to use the salutation "Dear All" in a work email?

Dear all is perfectably acceptable. So is Dear Colleagues. It depends on how formal or informal you want to be, and what is normal usage in your workplace. If ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Isitappropriatetousethesalutation"DearAll"inaworkemail? AskQuestion Asked 11years,4monthsago Active 3monthsago Viewed 599ktimes 35 8 Ihaveobservedthatinmyworkplace,wheneveramailissenttomorethanoneperson(likeaninformation,meetingrequestoranoticeetc.),themailstartswiththesalutation"DearAll".This,somehow,doesn'tseemcorrecttome.Forme,asalutationshouldaddressthereaderindividually,atleastinitssingularform,asin"DearColleagues". AmIcorrectinthinkingthat? emailgreetings Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJun14'19at3:30 VaibhavGarg askedAug8'10at8:39 VaibhavGargVaibhavGarg 3,81244goldbadges2727silverbadges3939bronzebadges 5 3 Wait...peoplestillusesalutationsine-mail?Ihardlyeverseethis. – MichaelScottShappe Aug9'10at16:54 2 Iusesalutations.Normallyjusta"HeySo-and-so,"though. – kitukwfyer Aug9'10at20:34 1 Unlessyourbossobjectsto"DearAll",donothing.Inparticular,donotcorrectyourcolleaguesonsuchthings! – GEdgar Aug15'12at12:40 2 "DearAll"isfine.There'snothingwrongwithit.Itisinformal-youareaddressingpeopleasmembersofagroupofwhichyouareone. – Greybeard Sep15at10:41 Obviouslytoolate,butquestionsaboutworkplaceetiquetteprobablybelongatworkplace.stackexchange.com – StuartF Sep15at11:01 Addacomment  |  8Answers 8 Active Oldest Votes 15 Tome,Dearallconveyslaziness.Awell-thought-outmessageshouldhaveaspecificaudiencethatthemessageappliesto.Dearcoworkers,Dearminions,DearDeath-Eaters,Dearresidents,etc.isnotthatmuchmoredifficulttotype.Thensomeonereadingthemessagecanmoreeasilydiscernwhetherthemessageappliestothemornot. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug12'10at19:48 GaryGary 2,52933goldbadges1919silverbadges1919bronzebadges 2 1 Whatwouldyouwriteforcustomersonafirstemail?"Dearcustomers"? – John Aug29'16at16:11 Nonsense.Awellthoughtoutmessageshouldbesentonlytoitsintendedrecipientsandbemeantforallofthem. – StuartF Sep15at10:56 Addacomment  |  28 Unlesstheyareactuallyyourcolleagues(i.e.noneofthemareyourbosses!orclients,orthird-parties),Iwouldstickwiththeneutral: DearAll, (quitecommon)ormaybe: DearEveryone, (lesscommon) Ijustcheckedbylookinguptheemailswe(asagroup)receivefromthehierarchyabove: Theyallbeginwith'DearAll'(translatedinFrenchby'Bonjouràtousetàtoutes',sincetheequivalentof'all'isnotgender-neutralinFrench.) Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedAug8'10at9:51 answeredAug8'10at9:38 VonCVonC 14.3k55goldbadges7070silverbadges6363bronzebadges 2 Igenerallypreferaddressingallgroupsexplicitly,asin"DearSirandcolleagues"etc. – VaibhavGarg Aug9'10at6:36 ButIftheyarenotmycolleagues?InmycaseIvenevermetanyofthem.Isforajoboffer,mostofthepuopleinvolvedareadministrativestuff.WhatshouldIsay? – Millemila Mar31'17at22:05 Addacomment  |  11 Dearallisperfectablyacceptable.SoisDearColleagues.Itdependsonhowformalorinformalyouwanttobe,andwhatisnormalusageinyourworkplace.Ifindoubt,dowhatappearstobenormalpractice. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug10'10at10:29 EvanEvan 1,16611goldbadge1010silverbadges1313bronzebadges Addacomment  |  6 Ifindthatusinganon-standard,butpolitegreetinginanemailtendstobequiteeffectiveingettingpeopletoactuallyreadwhatyouarewriting.Forinstance,whenwritingtoagroupofpeople,itisquitecommon(inNewZealand)towrite: Towhomitmayconcern, or,ashasbeenmentioned: DearAll, ButItendtowritesomethingoffcartelike(assumingthatIworkedatBritishTelecom–whichIdon't): DearBTPerson, Ihavefoundthatthisunusualapproach—whichalsofeelslessimpersonal—canbemorelikelytogarneranaudience. ButwhereIcurrentlywork,wehaveatooltoaddresseveryoneindividually,wejustleaveaplaceholderwheretheirnameis,soitwillsay: DearMr.Smith,orDearKevin, WhichIthinkisprobablythebestwaytogetitdoneifitisconvenient. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug9'10at0:49 VincentMcNabbVincentMcNabb 8,89033goldbadges3838silverbadges3838bronzebadges 1 "Towhomitmayconcern"hasitsuses(it'scommonifyou'rewritingsomethinglikealetterofrecommendationordoctor'snote,whichyouaregivingtosomeonewhowillthenshowittoathirdparty),butinadirectmessagesuggeststhatyouhaven'tbotheredtofindoutwhoyoushouldbewritingto.Atleastpretendit'srelevant. – StuartF Sep15at10:58 Addacomment  |  2 Nowadaysoftenonly"All:"isused-notverynicebutthat'sthewayitis. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug8'10at12:50 vonjdvonjd 3,52599goldbadges3737silverbadges4444bronzebadges Addacomment  |  2 Salutationsarenotforbeauty;theyareatooltoalterreader'smodeofunderstanding,oftentomakethemessagemoreconvincing. Ifyouaresuggestingsomethingformal,talkingfrompositionofrightsorpower,youmaywanttousemoreformal"DearColleagues"tomaketheargumentstronger. Ifyouaremakingaproposal,andwanttodownplayitasin"hey,it'sanidea,abasisforfurtherthinkingandpleasejudgeitassuch",asimple'All,'woulddoabetterjob. Inallcases,basicnetiquetterequiresthatmeaninglesstextshouldbeavoidedwhenaddressingalargegroupofpeople.It'seasiertowritethantoread,sooneshouldinvestinbrevity. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedAug13'10at7:06 answeredAug12'10at22:04 PavelRadzivilovskyPavelRadzivilovsky 2,94333goldbadges1717silverbadges1818bronzebadges 0 Addacomment  |  -1 Allisnotaaddressingmode,whenwetalktosomebodywecanusealltodenoteagroupofpeoplebutwhilewritinganemailitsurelydoesn’tmakeanysense. DearAllissurelynotcorrectEnglishtostartwiththeemail,ratheryoucouldusedearcolleaguesataworkplace. Ipresonallyfindwritingdearallveryinformalandhencealwaysusedearcolleagues. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedOct1'15at11:19 Wrzlprmft 4,07211goldbadge2424silverbadges4444bronzebadges answeredAug15'12at4:12 ManavMathueManavMathue 711bronzebadge 1 You'dneversay"Helloall"?Orwrite"DearallatNumberXX"? – StuartF Sep15at11:00 Addacomment  |  -1 OnecanaddressitasDearSirsasitsconsideredasgenderneutralandisperfectlyfine. Iuseitwhenihavetoaddressmanypeopleinemailwhichmayincludeemployeesormixofemployeeorvendors(male/female). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/17/equality-womens-rights-gender-law Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedSep21at7:38 answeredSep15at7:39 LearningLearning 12911silverbadge99bronzebadges 2 CitationforDearSirsbeinggenderneutral?Mostguidestodayprefer"SirsandMadams"orsomethingevenmoregender-neutral. – StuartF Sep15at10:59 @StuartF,youwherequicktogivedownvote,myreferenceisbasedonTheGuardian.comnewspaper.NotsurewhoisrightyouareTheGuardian?.canyoushareyourguides – Learning Sep21at7:40 Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedemailgreetingsoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta Congratulationstothe59sitesthatjustleftBeta ProvidingaJavaScriptAPIforuserscripts NewresponsiveActivitypage Linked 8 Usageof'DearAll' 2 Whatisthenameofthislineinaletter.e.gwehavesubjectetc? 1 WhatstyleshouldIuseine-mailsalutationstosuperiors,colleagues,orjuniors? 5 Formalsalutationtoagroup 4 Statusof'DearBoth'asasalutation 3 Capitalizationof"A"in"DearAll" 6 Shouldanotebeaddressedwith"Hiall"or"HiAll"? 0 Is"Hialls"usedinEnglish? Related 11 Appropriatetostartbusinessemailorletterwithjust"Dear,"? 2 Isitappropriatetouse"You'rewelcome,"followedbymynameinclosinganemail? 0 Isasalutationnecessaryinanemailtoanunknownperson? 1 Wordforemailthatrendersacrossalldevices? HotNetworkQuestions Whatistheoriginoftheidiom"Putonaclinic"? WhywastheCosmicMicrowaveBackground(CMB)releasedatablackbodytemperatureof3000Kratherthan30,000K? HowcanIshortenanewchaintoaspecificlengthifnotalllinksareeithermasterlinksorhavearemovablepin? 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