Archiving Documents

Especially as you work with committees or groups, email records can be helpful in showing how a final document or proposal evolved or who argued which positions along the way. As you work with a group, you can keep all the messages from that group together and create the "history" of the group’s activity. If you’re writing a document, email records can show the drafts of the document and who commented on what parts of the document.

Such email records not only provide you with accountability but can also head off group problems. If a group member objects to one part of the final proposal, your records might show that the person raised no objection when the proposal first appeared.

If your email system doesn’t allow you to keep messages indefinitely for record keeping, then you can save email messages as text files in your word processing program.