Dear Team vs. Dear All
Both greetings can be professional group salutations, but they signal different recipient scope. “Team” names a group working together, while “all” addresses the full set of recipients without defining them as one team. University of Galway lists “Dear all” and role/group-specific greetings such as “Dear colleagues” for group email.
Use “Dear Team” when the recipients are genuinely one working team; use “Dear All” for a broader group when “all” accurately addresses everyone included. A more specific group label such as “Dear colleagues” can be clearer when available.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
The distinction is about audience and tone, not grammatical correctness. Workplace culture may prefer “Hello everyone,” “Hi all,” or another greeting at a different level of formality.
Further guidance
Application
If the recipients share a clearer role, prefer that label—such as “Dear colleagues” or “Dear students”—instead of using “team” as a generic substitute for any group.
Core Rule
Choose the greeting that truthfully names the recipients: “Dear Team” for one team, “Dear All” for everyone in a broader recipient group.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- Style, Structure & Features — Good Email (opens in a new tab)University of Galway · University email guidance listing professional group greetings including “Dear colleagues” and “Dear all.”
- Team — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · Lexical evidence for team as a group of people working together, supporting the recipient-scope distinction in “Dear Team.”
- Email Etiquette at Work and Home — Emily Post (opens in a new tab)The Emily Post Institute · Professional-email guidance distinguishing “Dear,” “Hello,” and “Hi” by formality and relationship.