When e-mail first came into general use about twenty years ago, there was a lot of talk about the arrival of the paperless office.However, it seems that e-mail has yet to revolutionize office   communication.According to communications analyst Richard Metcalf, some offices have actually    seen an increase in paper as a result of e-mail."Information in the form of e-mal messages now floods our computer screens.These messages can be sent so quickly that memos  tend to be distributed in the hundreds.For those secretaries whose bosses ask them to print out all their e-mails and leave them in their in-trays, this means using up a great deal of paper every month," Metcalf says. Metcalf has found that because some e-mails get lost in cyberspace, important documents are     increasingly likely to be asked by clients and colleagues to send all important documents both by e-mail and by fax or "snail mail" - through the post.This highlights a further potential problem with e-mail in today's offices - it is taking up time rather than saving it."With e-mail, communication is much easier, but there is also more room for misunderstandings," says psychologist Dr David Lewis.Generally, much less care is taken with e-mails than with letters or faxes and the sender will probably print the document and reread it before putting it in an envelope or sending it by fax. More worrying is still the increasing misuse of e mail for sending "flame-mail" - abusive or inappropriate e-mail messages, Recent research in several companies suggests that aggressive  communications like this are on the increase.E-mail has become the perfect medium for expressing  workplace dissatisfaction because it is so instant. E-mail can also be a problem in other ways.Staffs all too often make the mistake of thinking that the contents fan e-mail, like things said over the phone, are private and not permanent.But it is not only possible for an employer to read all your e-mails, it is also perfectly legal.E-mail messages can be traced back to their origin for a period of at least two years, so you might want to rethink e-mailing your dissatisfaction about your too to your friends.The advice is to keep personal e-mails out of the office.      It goes without saying that e-mail exists to make Jife easier, and if used correctly, it is an invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes.But perhaps, for the time being, the fact that in the business world 70 percent offal documents are still in paper form is not such a bad thing after all. Why has the promise of the paperless office not come true in many offices?
People write more memos than they used to. Staff leave messages lying around their offices. Many managers prefer to read their messages on paper. Many secretaries keep paper copies of their bosses' e-mails.