As per meaning: according to

According to, in line with

As per means according to: in line with something already agreed, stated or written down. “Invoices go out on the 1st, as per the contract” means the contract set the date. Dictionaries mark it formal, and it lives in business writing far more than in speech.

At someone’s say-so

As per can also mean on someone’s orders. “The fire door stays shut, as per the building manager” puts a person behind the rule. That sense carries more weight than “according to”, because it tells you who to argue with. In a memo, “as per the CEO” usually ends the conversation, which is why people write it.

As per or according to

They overlap, with one gap. According to can report a claim: “according to the forecast, it rains on Friday”. As per points at things you follow: rules, requests, agreements. So “as per the forecast” sounds like the rain was booked in advance. When you’re passing on what someone said, according to is the safer pick.

Per, the short version

Per does the same job with one word fewer: “per your request”. It turns up most in business writing. Outside business it draws complaints from usage critics, and gets used anyway. Its best-known use is per my last email, where it points at the reader’s failure to read.

Office language before the office email

The phrase did paperwork long before it did email. A county board record from 1895 manages it twice in one sentence: once for the board’s own rules, and once for specifications on file in an office. As per was the phrase of the form being followed then, and it still is.

What it points at

In email, as per points back at something: a request, a call, a policy, a previous message. “As per our call” is a neutral recap that saves repeating the call. “As per policy” closes a discussion before it opens. “As per below”, the laziest version, points at the whole thread and leaves you to find the relevant part yourself. Aimed at the reader’s own email, it points at a failure, and everyone copied in knows it.

The as per ladder

In a thread that’s going badly, the as pers climb. The first email says “as per our call”. The second says “as per my email of the 3rd”. The third attaches a document and says “as per section 4.2”. The fourth adds HR to the Cc line and says “as per policy”, and by then nobody remembers what the call was about.

How it sounds

Formal phrases put distance between writer and reader, and as per adds a paper trail to sentences that didn’t need one. “As per your request, the meeting is at 3” says the same thing as “The meeting’s at 3, as you asked”. The first version sounds like it’s going into a file, which it may be. It sits with revert and please advise at the stiff end of the plain-English jargon dictionary.

Plainer swaps

• “as you asked” for as per your request
• “following our call” for as per our call
• “under the travel policy” for as per policy
• “as agreed on Tuesday” for as per our discussion
• “here it is again” for as per my last email

Same facts, no filing cabinet. The opposite problem, a blunt thought that needs a version you can send, is what how to professionally say it is for.

As per usual, and as per on its own

As per usual means as usual. “The 9:30 started at 9:40, as per usual.” In informal speech the usual can drop off entirely: “The printer’s jammed again, as per.” That clipped version is listed as informal, and it does the work of a sigh.

When as per is fine

In a contract, a purchase order or a policy document, as per is normal and nobody blinks. Between colleagues, in email, it changes the temperature. If the sentence is going to a person rather than a filing system, use the plain words. The person can still file it afterwards, and will like you more for not making them.

An email with as per in it

Subject: RE: Desk move, 4th floor

Hi Sam, your desk is now by the window, as you asked. The monitor arm stays with the old desk as per facilities policy because facilities said so, so bring a stack of books.