Don't send that email! 5 tips for avoiding typos

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(MoneyWatch) Few things are more frustrating than an ugly typo. And fewer errors are more damning to your professional reputation. Careless mistakes in emails and memos aren't easy to avoid. It's like losing weight -- seems simple, but if everyone could turn on a switch and just do it, we'd all be thin.

The problem? Our eyes "see" what they want to see, so proofreading is only a first step. "If we read the phrase, 'Once upon a ...,' our mind tells us that the next word is "time," even if, by mistake, we type 'tine,'" notes Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. Here are 5 better ways to make mistakes the very rare exception, not the norm:

Read your words out loud
Simply reading while listening may force you to more carefully consider your writing for both flow and accuracy. "Reading aloud helps the writer in dozens of ways, including the detection of typos and other mistakes," says Clark. But do it deliberately to avoid merely seeing -- and hearing -- what you want to see. "This method is not foolproof. Writing is, by definition and practice, an act of prediction," says Clark.

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Don't stress about every email
In an ideal world, you'd never include a typo in even a casual email, instant message or text message. In reality, you might save your best, most methodic proofreading for when it counts. "Have a clear sense of the 'event' and the degree of formality. If I am sending a message to my brother Vinny about a professional wrestling match, typos are not only acceptable, but [perhaps even] desirable," notes Clark.

Use your spell-checker but don't rely on it
Your computer's spell check should only be a part of your proof-reading routine. "Have your favorite dictionary at arms-length," suggests Clark. Nobody's perfect -- not you and not even your computer. But the two of you combined with a little old school help from a dictionary or style guide should make a pretty good team.

Learn from your mistakes
Typos, as with all other type of errors, happen. Remember that feeling and let it urge you to proofread more mindfully next time it's important. "I once wrote a letter of recommendation (via e-mail) on behalf of a student seeking a scholarship. I was too lazy or too busy to proof read it. The next day I found two typos in it and began to worry that my carelessness would cost this student a prize I felt she deserved," recalls Clark.

Be as careful with digital writing as you would with print
If you're handwriting a thank you note, you naturally take more time to read it as you go, ensuring you don't waste a note card or include an embarrassing error. Do the same with your digital correspondence. "Treat anything you write in digital form -- including personal messages -- as public documents. I imagine that anything I write could turn up on the front page of the New York Post. That fear keeps me honest -- and mostly accurate," says Clark.

[heidiro]

ironically, the day after this was published, CBS Evening news ran a banner on the 6:30 PM broadcast with a very noticible typo regarding the Secret Service non scandal.. had to laugh and am curious as to the newsroom reaction...

[ResumeWriter]

@Hankthefish - exactly! I commented about that on the other article. Kind of ironic, huh?
As a professional resume writer, my best tip to avoid typos is to read your document or email backwards. Start at the last word and read each word individually until you get to the top. You won't skim over any word.

[NScheidel]

I have also used this trick, it works well.

[Chris Walker, SEC]

Create an Exclusion Dictionary in Word (it works across MS Office) to flag words as misspelled that are spelled correctly but are misspellings of more common words. Spell check would otherwise find nothing wrong with the following: 'During my tome as District Manger, I learned abut managing difficult people'.

[NScheidel]

Another great way to avoid typos in emails is to find a text reader that will read back your email to you. Of course you would do that just prior to send the email. Here's a link (http://www.naturalreaders.com/download.htm ) to the one I have been using, the voice isn't that great but it does the job. If you wanted a better sounding voice you would need to buy the non-free version. By the way this can be used to read back any text, as long as you can highlight it.

[rmatyasik]

I'm not sure why this works but I've found that resizing the e-mail window and then re-proofing will help to uncover previously unseen typos. It seems to have something to do with how much attention your brain gives to the words in the middle of line rather than the beginning or end. Proof your e-mail once then "skinny-up" the window that you're typing in so that the lines wrap at a different point and then re-proof. I garuntee you'll find something you missed.

[rmatyasik]

...obviously you won't find mis-spelled words that way... GUARANTEE

[Hankthefish]

Yes and when your professional email goes out and the link to your article actually goes to the next article, that is typically a bad sign as well. That was the case for this article. I clicked the link "Read More" and it went to the next article: Managers: Why playing politics will make you more effective.