Proofread an email in this order: facts first (names, dates, times, amounts, links, and the attachment you said you attached), then the ask (is it obvious what you want and by when), then the tone (read it back as the person receiving it), then the filler (cut the padding), and typos last. That order matters because a typo embarrasses you for a second, but a wrong date or a missing attachment costs you the whole exchange.
Why facts beat typos
Most people proofread for spelling because it is the mistake they were marked down for at school. But nobody reschedules a meeting over a typo. They reschedule it over “Thursday the 12th” when the 12th is a Friday, an invoice that says $1,200 instead of $2,100, a name spelled the way their colleague spells it, or the classic: “see attached” with nothing attached. Check every hard fact against its source before you check anything else. If the email references an attachment, attach it now, before you read another word, so it cannot slip your mind again.
Can the recipient repeat your ask in one sentence?
This is the single best test of whether an email is finished. If the person reading it could not say “they want me to do X by Y” in one sentence, the email is not done, no matter how polished the prose is. Vague asks like “let me know your thoughts” get vague replies, or none. If you want a decision, a date, or a document, name it, and say when you need it.
Read it as the recipient
Tone problems are invisible from the writer’s side. Read the email once as the person receiving it: does it sound colder, blunter, or more demanding than you meant? If it is a reply, match the register of the email you got. Answering a two-line casual note with three formal paragraphs reads as strange; answering a formal request with “yep sorted” reads as careless. Mirror them.
Cut the filler
Padding does not make an email polite; it makes it longer. Cut “I hope this email finds you well,” “just circling back,” “I just wanted to reach out,” and any closer you would never say out loud. What is left is usually the email you meant to send. Only now, with the facts, ask, tone, and filler handled, do a final pass for typos.
Common mistakes
- Proofreading only for typos and missing the wrong date, the wrong amount, or the attachment that is not attached.
- Rewriting the whole email into a register that is not yours. A polished email that does not sound like you reads as odd to anyone who knows you.
- Adding apologies, promises, or next steps in the edit that were not in the draft. Tightening is not the same as committing yourself to more.
- Treating the proofread as one more anxious reread. Five passes for vibes catch less than one pass with an order: facts, ask, tone, filler, typos.