I don’t know about you, but I have certainly sent an email or two that was not interpreted the way I intended. Invariably, it means that someone took offense to something you typed quite innocently.If this has happened to you, then you might want to check out ToneCheck, a new plug-in for Microsoft Outlook. ToneCheck reviews your messages before they are sent to make sure that it will not be interpreted as harsh, angry or offensive. ToneCheck is currently a beta version and therefore, free to download.Once installed, ToneCheck automatically reviews each message before sending it on. If the message exceeds your tone tolerance, a box appears that allows you to review your message. Clicking on the Tone Check shows you the sentences in your message that may be problems and gives you the option of ignoring or modifying them. If you modify them, the sentence is re-evaluated allowing you to try several variations to help ensure your writing that won’t make your reader angry or sad. You can also request that a message be reviewed prior to finishing it. The version of Outlook your are running will affect where you will see the Run ToneCheck icon. Reivew the ToneCheck FAQ page (scroll to the very bottom) for more information.ToneCheck does send your message to their server for evaluation, although it is sent encrypted. (Note: That for most of us, our actual email messages are not sent encrypted; so the transmission to ToneCheck is much more secure than your email itself will be!)
If you don’t use Outlook, you are out of luck for now. Plans are underway to support other email clients in the future.