You’ve likely dealt with the hassle of a “reply-all” email thread, where one user unnecessarily replies to everyone CC’d on an email, which can include hundreds—or even thousands—of recipients. This often causes a chain reaction of replies where the number of emails quickly gets out of hand, clogging the inboxes of everyone involved. In some cases, the traffic generated from these chains is so significant that servers can overload.

Microsoft has just enabled a feature on Microsoft 365 (Office 365) to make sure these email storms don’t happen in the future, BGR reports.

The Reply All Storm Protection will use these conditions to detect a reply storm: “10 reply-alls to over 5,000 recipients within 60 minutes.” Once a storm is detected, replies will be blocked for four hours, offering a message to anyone attempting to reply.

The message reads: “Your reply to the email conversation wasn’t sent. The conversation is too busy with too many people.” The message also includes instructions on how to fix the issue.

“While the feature is active on your Outlook account, you won’t start noticing it until the next massive reply-all storm hits. Microsoft says the function is already working internally,” says BGR’s Chris Smith.

In the future, the conditions to detect a storm may change.

“Over time, as we gather usage telemetry and customer feedback, we expect to tweak, fine-tune, and enhance the Reply All Storm Protection feature to make it even more valuable to a broader range of Office 365 customers,” says a blog post from the Microsoft Exchange Team.

Read Fiction to Become a Better Marketer

Reading Fiction Can Make You a Better Content Creator – https://t.co/MLI3GtQSf7 pic.twitter.com/vgkIJzpvRb

— Content Marketing Institute (@CMIContent) May 11, 2020

Want to be a better content creator? Read. Literary fiction can boost your empathy, says Content Marketing Institute’s Carina Rampelt.

“Fiction has the power to transport. You inhabit a character’s mind, experiencing firsthand their joys and sorrows. As avid readers know, it’s a deeply empathetic exercise,” she says. “For marketers, the ability to imaginatively empathize with customers is a huge creative and competitive advantage.”

Other Links of Note

Two-factor, simplified. Google has updated its Authenticator two-factor authentication app with the ability to transfer all of its data to a new phone. Mashable has the story.

Want to strengthen your emotional fitness? Try these mental exercises, says Raul Villacis on Entrepreneur.

Looking for encryption software? ZDNet identifies its top encryption solutions for 2020.

(higyou/iStock/Getty Images Plus)