Everybody keeps selecting 'Reply all' when replying

[Renfield-123]

When anyone in our school sends an email to all staff such as 'Does anyone want any........whatever' staff have a habit of selecting or not unselecting 'Reply all' when replying. This means that I continually get replies from people saying 'Yes I'd like some' etc.

Is there a way from preventing getting further replies to a particular email to prevent this?

It can be really annoying when 30+ staff 'reply all' to an email sent by someone else.

 

Thanks

[TechMonkey]

Restrict all staff emails to management only?

[mavhc]

Yes, I require bcc for large group emails in exchange rules

 

if to (list of groups) or cc (list of groups) reply: you fool, don't you know humans can't computer! use bcc

[Sylv3r]

I am talking a good few years ago now, but I am sure we used a Powershell command to set the default to Reply.

 

https://www.msoutlook.info/question/set-reply-as-default-instead-of-reply-all-owa-2016

 

It may not have been this one, but here's one from a quick google.

[MatthewL]

Restrict who can send to all ataff lists, also teach the use of BCC.

[steveg]

Just fire anyone that does it. No warnings.

[jthompson]

Just fire anyone that does it. No warnings.

 

I do feel that this is entirely the right approach.

 

In support of this, perhaps a mail flow rule that when an unwanted reply-all is detected, the message content is simply replaced with "I am a dork. I have now been fired. Good bye.". Their account can then be immediately deleted?

[Renfield-123]

The issue is not preventing the original email from being sent to all staff it's the replies going to all staff.

I've had a look at using Powershell to implement it so will progress with that.

 

Thanks all.

[psydii]

Just fire anyone that does it. No warnings.

 

HR told me this might lead to unfair dismissal claims.

 

 

So at induction I now advise the new staff that The Head Teacher Disapproves of unnecessary all staff emails and that sending them might be considered a “career limiting move”

[Andrew_C]

We suffer too. Usually from a Matron, and usually from Outlook for phones. Default is reply all, and not obvious to the layperson that it is doing it.

[dapaulio]

We had this same frustration from a schools colleagues and I can’t claim any credit for this but one of my IT colleagues created a mail flow rule that matched the criteria when sending to all staff it sends it as bcc instead of to.

Then the recipient can only reply to sender.

In my head I can imagine how to implement but if you struggle let me know and I will go find the rule

Edited March 30, 2024 by dapaulio

[Edu-IT]

We had this same frustration from a schools colleagues and I can’t claim any credit for this but one of my IT colleagues created a mail flow rule that matched the criteria when sending to all staff it sends it as bcc instead of to.

Then the recipient can only reply to sender.

In my head I can imagine how to implement but if you struggle let me know and I will go find the rule

I wouldn’t mind knowing the rule please?

[Tefters]

People are idiots and email etiquette is lost on the masses.

 

FYI or Urgent as a starter in an email subject usually gets stupid responses even though I'm trying to do the reader a favour.

 

I get people ask me what bcc is for and when to use it but then again I also get people asking me about spam email to which I respond "what do you do with that weekly dodgy take-away flyer that comes through your door". This then usually involves banter such as "isn't that what the junk email filter is for" with another response of "do people posting leaflets ever read the no unsolicited mail stickers on doors".

 

Locking of computers, turning off of projectors/TV's, not filling up the printer paper trays and/or toner after spanking them, using a bog brush after decimating the work toilet, refilling the sugar in the staff room from kitchen 2 rooms away....

 

God I sound old... But unfortunately idiots are idiots and we are in a time where we can't call them that without causing mental health issues/distress. Just let them have at it and wait for it to piss off management.

[mavhc]

3 rules of humans: 1. everybody else is an idiot. 2. you can't change that. 3. but you can profit from it

[dapaulio]

I wouldn’t mind knowing the rule please?

 

Ok more complicated than I anticipated and only was a viable option due to not having a the distribution group in the first place. I can understand why which I will mention further down. But he setup an all staff journal user that staff emailed then there was a mail flow rule that when bcc real distribution group when it met the criteria. He said it wasn’t straight forward as he originally anticipated and commented adding lots of security around it eg only internal could email the accounts and adding an anti spam rule to the account. He can’t remember but commented he got the idea from ms site which I think was this

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/228446/setup-transport-rule-to-distribution-group

 

Coming back to having a new distribution group. As it’s a new account effectively acting as a distribution group anyone who had previously email all staff would get a caching issue and therefor a DRN. Simply removing from the user cache fixed this but that became a tenuous process.

So it was easier to create new allstaff alias completely different and retrained staff to email the new alias

 

I hope this helps some and he said it was a long time ago and he hope it still works but would never do it again. He joked if he knew what he knew now and how long he spent making an it solution for a non ict problem he would have told them to jog on and stop being so stupid [emoji23]

[robintech]

Microsoft are partly to blame by disabling Reply for Group Emails and only allowing Reply All.