# Email

URL: https://tfw.how/tool-classes/email/
Description: Email holds a topic's correspondence through one group address, with labels and filters that route messages to the topic.

Email is the [tool class](/glossary/#tool-class) for correspondence, especially with people outside the topic's chat channels.

## Role in TFW

An email thread is evidence of what was communicated, when, and to whom. It is the [source of truth](/glossary/#source-of-truth) for that, and only for that.

Email is [conversation](/glossary/#conversation). An email thread is not the task, the decision record, or the procedure. When a thread produces a result that must last, you write the result to the source of truth, link to the original thread, and reply or note where the record is. When an attachment must be kept, you save it to [document storage](/tool-classes/document-storage/).

## One topic's surface

The example topic Example Co Operations (topic code EXOP) has one email surface: a group.

- **Group address.** `exop@example.com`. The local part is the topic code in lowercase.
- **Display name.** `Example Co Operations`.
- **Members.** The topic's [participants](/glossary/#participant). The group is also the membership list for the topic's [access boundary](/glossary/#access-boundary): the shared drive, the calendar, and other surfaces can be shared with the group instead of with individuals.
- **Additional addresses.** If the topic also receives mail at another address, for example an older address from before the topic code was set, that address delivers to the same group. In TFW terms, the older address is an [alias](/glossary/#alias) of the topic. Record it in the [topic profile](/glossary/#topic-profile).
- **Label.** Each participant who handles topic mail in a personal mailbox uses a label named with the topic code, `EXOP`.
- **Intake labels (optional).** Nested labels under the topic label can track the state of a message: `EXOP/needs review`, `EXOP/needs reply`, `EXOP/waiting`, and `EXOP/routed`.
- **Filters.** A filter applies the `EXOP` label to mail sent to `exop@example.com`.
- **Maintainer.** One named [maintainer](/glossary/#maintainer) manages the group's members, settings, and addresses.

## Rules

- Each topic has one group address. Do not create a second group for a subproject.
- The address uses the topic code. The display name uses the canonical topic name.
- Share other surfaces with the group so that one membership list controls access.
- Labels support intake and routing. A label is not the destination. A message labeled `routed` has a record somewhere else, and that record links back to the thread.
- When you record a fact from email, keep the thread link, the date, and the sender, so that the record cites its source.
- Save attachments that must be kept to document storage, and link to them.
- Do not forward a thread only to create a task. Create the task and link to the thread.
- Keep private correspondence inside the group's access boundary.

## Common mistakes

- **Using an inbox as a task list.** An unread or starred message is not a tracked task. Record the task in [task management](/tool-classes/task-management/).
- **Topic mail sent to one person's address.** If the person is away or leaves, the topic loses the thread. Use the group address in public contact points.
- **Sharing surfaces person by person.** If the drive, the calendar, and the channels each have their own member list, they stop matching each other. Use the group.
- **Labels with a different name in every mailbox.** Use the topic code so that labels match across participants.
- **Treating a reply as approval.** A vague reply is not a decision. Record the decision with the name of the person who made it.

## Tools

- [Gmail](/tools/gmail/): How to set up and maintain one topic's email surface with a Google Group, Gmail labels, and Gmail filters.

Other products in this class follow the same rules.