How to Create a Template for Business Letters
Instead of creating a new business letter from scratch every time you need to send one out, you can make your own template and customize it to be used with your business letterhead. Create a template that not only conforms to these standards but can be used by everyone in your business to save time and maintain consistency. Most word processing programs offer the ability to create your own templates.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Launch Microsoft Word and open a blank document. If you are using business letterhead to print on, adjust the margins to accommodate the letterhead style. Otherwise, use the default margins.
To adjust the margins for your letterhead in the 2007 version of Word go to the "Page Layout" tab and then click on "Margins." At the bottom of the drop-down menu, select "Custom Margins" then adjust to your needs. In an earlier version of Word (1997-2003), go to the "File" menu then select "Document Setup" to adjust margins.
-
2
Choose a font. Traditionally, business letters use a serif font such as Times New Roman. Recently, there has been a trend in using sans-serif font. If your business or brand has a specific font established in the brand guidelines, use that font. If your brand has not established a font style yet, stick with professional-looking serif and sans-serif fonts such as Times New Roman, Helvetica, Tahoma, Garamond or Arial. Do not use a font downloaded off the Internet.
In the "Paragraph" tab set the after spacing to around 9 points. This will ensure that your paragraphs have enough space between them.
-
-
3
Set up the heading for your business letter. First, add the return address of the sender as well as his name, title and business. If this letter will always go out by the same person add her specific information here. Otherwise, use generics such as [employee name] and [employee title]. Each item goes on a separate line. Either use shift+enter to advance to the next line or highlight all the information and go back into the "paragraphs" tab and set the before and after space to zero.
Advance twice using the "Enter" button, then add a line for the date. Advance twice again to enter in the recipient's information. Follow the same format as you did above for the sender's information. Line one will be the recipient's name. Again use the generic set up such as [Mr./Ms. recipient's first and last name]. Following the name, add the recipient's title and employer. The address comes after. A proper set up will look like the following:
[Mr./Ms. Recipient's Name]
[Recipient's Title]
[Recipient's Employer]
[Recipient's Address]
[Recipient's Address] -
4
Move on to the salutation, body and closing of the letter. Hit "Enter" once after the recipient's information and add the salutation in the format of: Dear Mr./Ms. [Recipient's Name]; Hit "Enter" again.
-
5
Begin the body of the letter. If you will be using the same text on every letter, enter in the entire letter as you want it written. Otherwise, add a [paragraph 1], followed by hitting "Enter," then a [paragraph 2], "Enter," and continue until you have enough paragraphs.
-
6
Add your closing by hitting the "Enter" button twice and type a closing line. The most common closing used in business letters is "Sincerely." After your closing, hit "Enter" twice to leave enough space for a signature. Following the blank space for the signature, add the following three lines: sender's name, sender's title and sender's business name.
-
7
Go to "Save As" from the "File" drop-down menu. When the "Save As" box opens, go to the "Save As Type" drop-down menu and select "Word Template."
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Make sure you save the file type as a "Word Template"
Apple's Pages program can also be used to create business letters in a similar manner to Microsoft Word.
Adobe InDesign can also be used to create more visually appealing business letters but you will need to have prior program knowledge in order to use the software effectively.
