Did you receive an email with the initials PFA?
In most likelihood, the person who sent the email attached a file to it.
In other words, PFA is short for “Please Find Attached”.
Many people like to use acronyms such as PFA, ASAP, EOM, FYI, OOO, etc., in the email text. Because it takes less time to write down the first initial of every word than to spell out each word.
To tell differently, it supports fast email composition.
But in professional communication, only use them when the receiver is qualified to understand their meanings. As a rule of thumb, you can write down the entire meaning of the acronym when you use it for the first time and then add the acronym in parentheses.
Common PFA mistake in emails
Term – PFA Attached
Example – “Further to our telephonic conversation held today, PFA attached my updated resume.”
The example above is a common mistake seen in email texts. Do not use the word ‘attached’ after PFA because the last initial ‘A’ in ‘PFA’ means attached.
You would not want to sound like “Please Find Attached attached”. 🙂
PFE vs. PFA
Some people like to use PFE to mean Please Find Enclosed.
Technically, PFE is not justified because the word ‘enclosed'(v) means to surround or close off on all sides, as in the case of an envelope. You can enclose a physical copy of your job description. You can not enclose something in email since it is a medium of digital communication.
Example and uses of PFA in email
PFA my updated resume and cover letter for your reference.
Perhaps a better way to reframe this is to write “Please find my updated resume (name of the file) and cover letter (name of the file) attached for your reference. To email multiple files, the use of ‘Please find the attached documents” is apt, assuming that the receiver knows which documents you are referring to.
Also, the use of the word ‘find’ in ‘Please find attached’ is debated too.
Because you are going to see, not find something in the email.
If you have received an email with PFA written in it but it does not have a file attached, it is likely that the sender has forgotten to attach it. In this case, you can ask the sender to send the email all over again, now with the attachment included.
Outside email, the acronym PFA may also mean Pacific Film Archive, Performing and Fine Arts, Professional Footballers Association, People For Animals, Physical Fitness Assessment, Property Finance Agency, and others. Here is a result from Abbreviations.com
We hope this answers your question – What does PFA mean? Thanks for reading!