How do you greet multiple recipients in an e-mail?

Dear Members of the Committee, ... If I wanted to put one in a group email, I suppose I would start ... for emails to a group of people. EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Howdoyougreetmultiplerecipientsinane-mail? AskQuestion Asked 11years,9monthsago Modified 6yearsago Viewed 1.2mtimes 88 28 Howdoyougreetmultiplerecipientsinane-mail? Assumingthey'rebothmale,Ijustuse"Sirs",butitseemsabitinformal. emailgreetings Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedApr30,2012at13:09 RegDwigнt♦ 95.7k3737goldbadges304304silverbadges398398bronzebadges askedOct6,2010at2:24 JonnJonn 2,32455goldbadges2121silverbadges1717bronzebadges 7 7 Ibegininformalemailstomultiplerecipientswith"Comrades".Maybeit'saColdWarnostalgiathing:-) – AntonyQuinn Oct6,2010at9:29 Haha..Iloveusingthoseforinformalemails.thisisinaprofessionalcontextthough.I'mgonnawaitforafewmorevotes.Theanswersvaryfromoneendtoanother. – Jonn Oct6,2010at11:04 6 Howabout"Hiy'all!"or"Howdyfolks!"?;) – SteinG.Strindhaug Dec15,2010at10:28 IuseSirs/Mesdamessometimes:) – PaulAmerigoPajo May3,2011at0:58 3 Gentlemenismoreappropriatethan"Sirs". – 에이바 Feb21,2013at16:32  |  Show2morecomments 12Answers 12 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 52 Ifyoudon'tknowtherecipients'names,Ireferyoutotheotheranswers.However,ifyoudoknowtheirnames,thenIwilladdthatIwouldactuallyjustwrite: DearJohn,DearJack, Ihavebeenusingthisformulaformorethanadecade.Sofar,nobodyhascomplained.Forme,thisapproachhasquiteafewadvantages.Firstofall,itismorepersonalthansimply"Greetings"or"Hiall".Secondly,ifoneofthosepeopleisthemainrecipientandtheotherisCC,orifoneofthemhasahigherrank(say,heisthebossoftheother),Icanreflectthatinmyaddressbymentioninghimfirst.Lastly,thisformulacanbeeasilyadaptedtomanysituations.Ifsome(orall)oftherecipientsarefemaleIsimplywrite: DearJohn,DearJane, IfIneedtomakeitmoreformal,Isimplywrite: DearMr.Smith,DearMs.Black, AndIcaneasilyextendittothreeorevenfourpeople: DearMr.Smith,DearMs.Black,DearMr.Blunt, Now,whenIamaddressingmorethanfourpeople,Ioftendousesomethinglike"Greetings","Hieverybody","Dearclients","Dearcolleagues".However,eventhenIsometimessetthemostimportantrecipientapartbywriting: DearProf.Black,Dearcolleagues, or DearMr.President,DearMembersoftheCommittee, Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct6,2010at8:35 RegDwigнt♦RegDwigнt 95.7k3737goldbadges304304silverbadges398398bronzebadges 0 Addacomment  |  61 IfIamaddressingafewpeoplewhoarewellknowntome,Iwouldgenerallyuse: DearJohn,Bill,Jack, IfIamaddressingalotofpeople,orpeoplewhoarenotfamiliartome,Iwouldgowith: DearAll, Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct6,2010at11:08 louiser89louiser89 71144silverbadges33bronzebadges 5 Itendtogowiththis.OrIwilljustputthemostimportantpeopleinthe"To:"heading,theothersin"CC:"andnotaddressthematall. – VincentMcNabb Jul8,2011at22:56 3 Whatruledoyoubaseyourselfontocapitalize'All'? – VincentSels Mar27,2017at13:16 2 @VincentSelsmaybeitlookscool?xD – AsheKetchum Aug23,2018at1:22 UpVotingasIdothesame. – SubiahRNagarajan Nov8,2018at5:51 1 @VincentSelsThemythicalAllhasbeenpresentinalltechnicaldiscussionlistsfrombeforeUsenetstarted.Itwentdownhillfromthere. – AlexShpilkin Jan31,2019at18:06 Addacomment  |  30 Irarelybeginemailswithasalutation.IfIdo,itisusuallyjustthename-Ihavenevertransferredthepointless'Dear'toemails. IfIwantedtoputoneinagroupemail,IsupposeIwouldstartwithawordlike"friends",or"people",or"folks",dependingonthecontextandformality. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct6,2010at10:13 ColinFineColinFine 74.9k11goldbadge9090silverbadges193193bronzebadges 11 12 Idon'tcarewhatgotaccepted,thisistherightanswer.Emailisnotawrittenletter.The(automaticallygenerated)headerismeanttotaketheplaceofmostofthatformalstuffyou'dmanuallyputatthetopofawrittenletter.IfIseeasalutationonone,myspamfiltersgoonhighalert. – T.E.D. Apr30,2012at13:19 2 Ican'tagreewiththismore.Dearisbecomingoutdatedandshouldreallyonlybeusedinwrittenletters.IwouldbetakenabackandabitputoffifIreceivedalegitimatee-mailwith"Dear"asthesalutation. – 에이바 Feb21,2013at16:34 8 @T.E.D.Butisn'tusing"Dear"asignofcourtesy?Athrowbacktotimeswhenletterswerewrittenonpaperandpostedbyhand. – Mari-LouA Sep1,2013at23:05 6 @T.E.D.That'sabitharsh:( – Mari-LouA Sep2,2013at4:38 13 Ithinkitshouldbenotedthatinsomecircles(notablyacademiccircles),"Dear"isstillverymuchexpected. – NicoBurns Feb24,2014at16:59  |  Show6morecomments 21 It'skindofacarryoverfrommymedievalisthobby,butIreallylikeusing Greetings, oreven Greetings! foremailstoagroupofpeople.It'salsoreallyhandyforaddressingasinglepersonwhenyou'reunsureofthatperson'sgenderand/ortitle. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct6,2010at3:23 MarthaªMarthaª 32.2k1212goldbadges102102silverbadges155155bronzebadges 1 Thisworksverywellifoneormoreoftherecipientaddressesdoesnotbelongtoasingleperson – Agos Oct8,2014at13:46 Addacomment  |  15 Ifyouareworkingtogetheronaproject,thenIratherlike Dearteam Thiscanbeappropriateeveniftherecipientsincludepeoplefrombothyourcompanyandtheclient.It'sasubtlereminderthatyouareallworkingtowardsacommongoal. Moregenerally,I'djustuse Dearall, orjust All, Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct6,2010at9:00 francoisfrancois 62311goldbadge88silverbadges1010bronzebadges 4 1 Sinceyouarereferringtoaspecificteam,oraspecificsetofpeople(impliedbytheToandCclists),Iwouldcapitalize'DearTeam'and'DearAll'. – JonathanLeffler May3,2011at1:53 2 @JonathanIseenoreasontocapitaliseteamorall. – Hugo Sep11,2011at16:49 "Team"isalwayssmarmy.Bettertojustsay"PeopleIdon'tactuallyrespectorcareabout."orjustsay'all' – uchuugaka Nov5,2014at2:35 Ilike'Dearteam'butwoulduse'Dearteammembers'myself. – NMI Oct18,2017at16:02 Addacomment  |  9 "Sirs"isjustcompletelywrong.Ifyouareaddressingmorethanoneman,itwouldbe"Gentlemen". Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMay2,2011at20:03 KevinKevin 7,74733goldbadges2727silverbadges4848bronzebadges 1 -1"Sirs"or"DearSirs"wasthetraditionalpoliteformofaddresswhenwritingtoacompanyratherthantoanindividualnamedperson.Idon'tseewhyitcannotcontinuetoservethatpurpose,evenine-mails,whenwritingtoacompanyororganisationingeneral. – TrevorD Jan14,2020at23:26 Addacomment  |  5 Ihavebeenusing,"Hellotoall".Itseemstoworkwellforbothmaleandfemalerecipientsandisformalenoughtouseinabusinesssetting. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredApr3,2012at20:17 MarieMarie 5111silverbadge11bronzebadge 1 Itstrikesmeasgrosslyinformal(altho'thatmayvarybetweencultures&countries-I'mwritingfromtheUK). – TrevorD Jan14,2020at23:28 Addacomment  |  5 Emailisstillsufficientlyyoungthatformalconventionshavenotemerged. IfinditusefultoimaginemyselfinthemindoftherecipientandaskwhatinformationIneedtogivetheminthegreeting. Iftheemailisreallytobesentwithequalprioritytoanumberofrecipientsandtheyregardthemselvesaspartofagroup(fellowdevelopersforexample),thenIwoulduse DearAll, If,actually,theemailisamailshottoanumberofindividualswhodon'tknoweachother,thenitsanindividualemail. DearSir, orpossibly DearSir(orMadam), Here,IprefertousetheconventionthatSirisneuter. Andlastly,ifanemailisreallytoasingleindividual,butwithafewmoreindividualscopiedin(suchasaquestiontoanindividualdeveloper,butwhereIwanttheemailtrailtobevisibletothegroup),thenIwoulduse DearBob(Alice,Charlie,Dilbert) ThelastoneisnotaconventionIhaveseenelsewhere,butIfinditworksforme. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedMay11,2015at10:24 cin 11511silverbadge77bronzebadges answeredOct6,2010at2:35 SalmSalm 5122bronzebadges Addacomment  |  3 Ifitisaformalletter,thenyoucanuse'DearSirs'butifitisinformal,simply'Hi'isfine.'Hi'addresseseitheronepersonormany,thesameas'you'referstoonepersonormany.Iwouldnoteveruse'Gentlemen',butIamfromAustraliawhereourEnglishismoreinformal. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredMay14,2015at22:15 IreneHoganIreneHogan 4633bronzebadges Addacomment  |  2 Iusuallyjustusethewords HiAll, Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug5,2015at2:25 EliEli 1,2371010silverbadges1111bronzebadges 3 1 Locatethecommaafter"HI,"andusealower-caseletterfor"all."ItshouldbeHi,all~ – Ann Jul19,2017at13:45 @Ann,Wedon'tdothatwhenwritingemailseventhoughit'sgrammaticallycorrect. – DxTx Nov19,2020at4:59 Idon'tknowwho"we"refersto,but"HiAll"isnevercorrectontwocounts.Intheeyesofthepeoplewhoknowbetter,writingthismustnecessarilyreflectnegativelyonyou. – Ann Nov20,2020at7:19 Addacomment  |  1 Youcanalsousegentstorefertomanyrecipients. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedMay30,2012at4:49 user11550 answeredMay2,2011at19:19 RaulRomeroRaulRomero 2111bronzebadge 1 1 I'mnotsosurethatthisshouldbeusedinaformale-mail,but+1becauseitsoundsclassy. – 에이바 Feb21,2013at16:36 Addacomment  |  1 Iagreewithlouiser89andIwilladdthat-eventhoughmanypeopleorperhapsmostpeopledon'tthinkthat"Dear"isappropriateonemails-Iwillcontinuetouse"Dear"or,inmylanguage,"Caro(Cara)".Itisnotonlybecausewehavealwaysuseditinlettersandincommercialcorrespondence;itisnotjusttraditions."Dear"isaniceword,itisgentleandpolite.Itisnotawordthatcouldeveroffendanybody.Anditiscertainlynotformal,unlessyouconsiderformalthepeopleyouloveorthatyouconsideryourfriends,orthepeopleyoulike.Sowhynotuseitalsoinemails?Howcansomethingnicebecomeformaloroldfashionedor,worse,stronglydisliked?Ofcourseweshouldneverconsideritobligatory,butwhybeagainstit? DearFriends,don'tbetooangrywithme:Englishisnotmylanguage,butitisavery"dear"languagetomeformanyreasons. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredAug14,2015at8:51 alsaalsa 34011silverbadge66bronzebadges Addacomment  |  Highlyactivequestion.Earn10reputation(notcountingtheassociationbonus)inordertoanswerthisquestion.Thereputationrequirementhelpsprotectthisquestionfromspamandnon-answeractivity. Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedemailgreetingsoraskyourownquestion. FeaturedonMeta AnnouncingtheStacksEditorBetarelease! 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