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Poll: Do you mute incoming email notifications when working?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Oct 2, 2016

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you mute incoming email notifications when working?".

This poll was originally submitted by Ulrike MacKay. View the poll results »



 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:38
Czech to French
+ ...
Muted in permanence Oct 2, 2016

My computer is not allowed to make any noise, at any time.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 18:38
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes Oct 2, 2016

For years now, my email has always been on mute. I hate interruptions when I’m trying to concentrate on a job and that "ping" announcing that I have an incoming email really gets on my nerves. Besides, I have two main email accounts. Usually, I check my emails at least once every hour or more often, if need be.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 19:38
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Oct 2, 2016

I don't use email alerts. When I want to check my email, I go and look at my inbox when I am good and ready.

 
Catherine De Crignis
Catherine De Crignis  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 19:38
Member (2012)
English to French
+ ...
Other Oct 2, 2016

neilmac wrote:
I don't use email alerts. When I want to check my email, I go and look at my inbox when I am good and ready.


Same here. How could I get any work done otherwise?
Alerts only make it worse when it comes to sound time management.
Of course I check my inbox at fairly regular intervals (about once an hour if I can) but I certainly don't feel obliged to reply instantly. One things that's handy is I've noticed that emails tend to behave like buses: they come in all at once!


 
Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 03:38
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Other Oct 2, 2016

I turn it on when I am expecting an important mail, say, a reply to an inquiry about a job I'm doing.
Otherwise, I turn it off very much like putting a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door knob of a hotel room.


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 19:38
English to Italian
No Oct 2, 2016

I have the email alert active all the time. It happens quite often that my clients ask for my availability for an urgent translation and if I do not reply quickly I receive a phone call, which is more disturbing and give less time to organize my schedule and decide to accept/refuse a job due to other deadlines scheduled,

 
Anastasia Kingsley Kinkusic
Anastasia Kingsley Kinkusic  Identity Verified
Member (2011)
Croatian to English
+ ...
It depends Oct 2, 2016

If the client is especially annoying - yes (i.e. "did you start yet? How's it going? Can we have an update please"?

I do have notifications on my smart phone so I check every 2- hrs or so and respond briefly and courteously.

Sometimes, too, if the job is quite demanding I shut them off to not be distracted but again check in periodically.


 
Chié_JP
Chié_JP
Japan
Local time: 03:38
Member (2013)
English to Japanese
+ ...
From this month Oct 2, 2016

Last month, several agencies sent me international translation's day celebration emails, which was just a newsletter so I decided to mute all.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 15:38
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Never Oct 2, 2016

While I'm working on a current job, new e-mail messages usually contain job proposals for the next jobs, and many of them will be given to another translator if you don't reply in a few hours. Clients and agencies aren't very patient, you know.

 
Ana Vozone
Ana Vozone  Identity Verified
Local time: 18:38
Member (2010)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
No notifications Oct 2, 2016

I check my email (very) frequently and do not like to be interrupted. I really do not wish/like to rely on technology that much, for fear of having a robotized life...

 
Luiz Barucke
Luiz Barucke  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 15:38
Spanish to Portuguese
+ ...
No Oct 2, 2016

Mario Freitas wrote:

While I'm working on a current job, new e-mail messages usually contain job proposals for the next jobs, and many of them will be given to another translator if you don't reply in a few hours. Clients and agencies aren't very patient, you know.


Exactly. Sometimes it's really annoying and it's hard to keep my concentration on what I'm doing. But it's something I need to deal with, because that's what keeps my work going on. And most of my job proposals wouldn't wait for a reply more than a few minutes.

It's paradoxical... If I don't receive job proposals I get upset, and if I get many while I'm working I also complain... What a life!


 
Alexander Kondorsky
Alexander Kondorsky  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 21:38
English to Russian
+ ...
No noise! Oct 2, 2016

EvaVer wrote:

My computer is not allowed to make any noise, at any time.


+1000!


 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 19:38
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No/yes Oct 2, 2016

I like quiet reminders of new emails in the bottom right corner of my screen,
but NO pings or any other kind of notification noises, thank you very much. Those drive me nuts.

[Edited at 2016-10-02 17:04 GMT]


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:38
English to Spanish
+ ...
Also known as: Do you enjoy working with distractions? Oct 2, 2016

I run Outlook on my computers, so I hear the new email beep every now and then. I don't work with (or keep) clients who will source the job to someone else simply because I don't reply within the hour. Those aren't clients who are interested in building a long-term business or professional relationship.

Now, my customers, or the customers I seem to attract, are the ones who appreciate a well-done job and who find a way to work with my schedule. I mean, we meet half way, we make conc
... See more
I run Outlook on my computers, so I hear the new email beep every now and then. I don't work with (or keep) clients who will source the job to someone else simply because I don't reply within the hour. Those aren't clients who are interested in building a long-term business or professional relationship.

Now, my customers, or the customers I seem to attract, are the ones who appreciate a well-done job and who find a way to work with my schedule. I mean, we meet half way, we make concessions, we work well.

Muting email notifications or not depends on your tolerance for distractions. Right now, I'm typing this comment in the relative tranquility of the student residence room I'm renting at Aveiro University (Portugal). Unlike my condo apartment in Ohio, I can hear the cars zip by, the bits of Portuguese conversation trailing off in the distance as passersby pass by my window, etc. So my level of tolerance is higher under the circumstances and an email beep is nothing to worry about.
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Poll: Do you mute incoming email notifications when working?






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