When writing emails, I often ended it with "thank you in advance". Even more, I used to have it in my signature for a certain time (mea culpa).
However, recently I've been told that it is not appropriate or even rude.
I checked on the Web and found some links (1), (2) that confirm this point.
There's also a discussion at ELU on this matter.
Instead of "thank you in advance", they usually suggest something like "I appreciate any help that you can provide" or "I will be grateful if you can..."
OTOH, in my native language there are two distinct types of appreciation: appreciation "after" is merely like English "thank you", but appreciation "before" can be translated something like "let the divine providence be with you" or "...give you power (to do what I'm asking)", or, simply speaking (not very accurate, though), "bless you (to do what I'm asking)".
I'm trying to combine both things, i.e. avoid using "thank you in advance" and preserve the meaning of above. Is it possible?
Answer
It might be better to just say, "Thank you." and omit "in advance." I think this implies that you are grateful that they took their time to consider your request. It would probably be a good idea to thank them again afterward, this time for whatever work they did to help you.
Unfortunately, some people (many of whom are very outspoken) will be offended by almost anything.
Usually, the best practice is to use the conventions that are generally accepted among whichever group of people you are communicating with.
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