Synopsis:
\documentclass{letter} \address{senders address} % return address \signature{sender name} \begin{document} \begin{letter}{recipient address} \opening{salutation} letter body \closing{closing text} \end{letter} ... \end{document}
Produce one or more letters.
Each letter is in a separate letter
environment, whose argument
recipient address often contains multiple lines separated with a
double backslash, (\\
). For example, you might have:
\begin{letter}{Ninon de l'Enclos \\ l'h\^otel Sagonne} ... \end{letter}
The start of the letter
environment resets the page number to 1,
and the footnote number to 1 also.
The sender address and sender name are common to all of the
letters, whether there is one or more, so these are best put in the
preamble. As with the recipient address, often sender address
contains multiple lines separated by a double
backslash (\\
). LaTeX will put the sender name
under the closing, after a vertical space for the traditional
hand-written signature.
Each letter
environment body begins with a required
\opening
command such as \opening{Dear Madam or Sir:}
.
The letter body text is ordinary LaTeX so it can contain
everything from enumerated lists to displayed math, except that commands
such as \chapter
that make no sense in a letter are turned off.
Each letter
environment body typically ends with a
\closing
command such as \closing{Yours,}
.
Additional material may come after the \closing
. You can say who
is receiving a copy of the letter with a command like \cc{the
Boss \\ the Boss's Boss}
. There’s a similar \encl
command for
a list of enclosures. And, you can add a postscript with \ps
.
LaTeX’s default is to indent the sender name and the closing above it
by a length of \longindentation
. By default this is
0.5\textwidth
. To make them flush left, put
\setlength{\longindentation}{0em}
in your preamble.
To set a fixed date use something like
\renewcommand{\today}{1958-Oct-12}
. If put in your preamble
then it will apply to all the letters.
This example shows only one letter
environment. The three lines
marked as optional are typically omitted.
\documentclass{letter} \address{Sender's street \\ Sender's town} \signature{Sender's name \\ Sender's title} % optional: \location{Mailbox 13} % optional: \telephone{(102) 555-0101} \begin{document} \begin{letter}{Recipient's name \\ Recipient's address} \opening{Sir:} % optional: \thispagestyle{firstpage} I am not interested in entering a business arrangement with you. \closing{Your most humble, etc.,} \end{letter} \end{document}
These commands are used with the letter
class.
\address
Synopsis:
\address{senders address}
Specify the return address, as it appears on the letter and on the
envelope. Separate multiple lines in senders address with a
double backslash, \\
.
Because it can apply to multiple letters this declaration is often put
in the preamble. However, it can go anywhere, including inside an
individual letter
environment.
This command is optional: if you do not use it then the letter is
formatted with some blank space on top, for copying onto pre-printed
letterhead paper. If you do use the \address
declaration then it
is formatted as a personal letter.
Here is an example.
\address{Stephen Maturin \\ The Grapes of the Savoy}
\cc
Synopsis:
\cc{name0 \\ ... }
Produce a list of names to which copies of the letter were sent. This
command is optional. If it appears then typically it comes after
\closing
. Put the names on different lines by separating them
with a double backslash, \\
, as in:
\cc{President \\ Vice President}
\closing
Synopsis:
\closing{text}
Produce the letter’s closing. This is optional, but usual. It appears at the end of a letter, above a handwritten signature. For example:
\closing{Regards,}
\encl
Synopsis:
\encl{first enclosed object \\ ... }
Produce a list of things included with the letter. This command is
optional; when it is used, it typically is put after \closing
.
Separate multiple lines with a double backslash, \\
.
\encl{License \\ Passport}
\location
Synopsis:
\location{text}
The text appears centered at the bottom of the page. It only
appears if the page style is firstpage
.
\makelabels
Synopsis:
\makelabels % in preamble
Optional, for a document that contains letter
environments. If
you just put \makelabels
in the preamble then at the end of the
document you will get a sheet with labels for all the recipients, one
for each letter environment, that you can copy to a sheet of peel-off
address labels.
Customize the labels by redefining the commands \startlabels
,
\mlabel
, and \returnaddress
(and perhaps \name
) in
the preamble. The command \startlabels
sets the width, height,
number of columns, etc., of the page onto which the labels are printed.
The command \mlabel{return address}{recipient
address}
produces the two labels (or one, if you choose to ignore the
return address) for each letter environment. The first argument,
return address, is the value returned by the macro
\returnaddress
. The second argument, recipient address, is
the value passed in the argument to the letter
environment. By
default \mlabel
ignores the first argument, the return
address, causing the default behavior described in the prior paragraph.
This illustrates customization. Its output includes a page with two columns having two labels each.
\documentclass{letter} \renewcommand*{\returnaddress}{Fred McGuilicuddy \\ Oshkosh, Mineola 12305} \newcommand*\originalMlabel{} \let\originalMlabel\mlabel \def\mlabel#1#2{\originalMlabel{}{#1}\originalMlabel{}{#2}} \makelabels ... \begin{document} \begin{letter}{A Einstein \\ 112 Mercer Street \\ Princeton, New Jersey, USA 08540} ... \end{letter} \begin{letter}{K G\"odel \\ 145 Linden Lane \\ Princeton, New Jersey, USA 08540} ... \end{letter} \end{document}
The first column contains the return address twice. The second column contains the address for each recipient.
The package envlab
makes formatting the labels easier, with
standard sizes already provided. The preamble lines
\usepackage[personalenvelope]{envlab}
and \makelabels
are all that you need to print envelopes.
\name
Synopsis:
\name{name}
Optional. Sender’s name, used for printing on the envelope together with the return address.
\opening
Synopsis:
\opening{salutation}
Required. Follows the \begin{letter}{...}
. The argument
salutation is mandatory. For instance:
\opening{Dear John:}
\ps
Synopsis:
\ps{text}
Add a postscript. This command is optional and usually is used after
\closing
.
\ps{P.S. After you have read this letter, burn it. Or eat it.}
\signature
Synopsis:
\signature{first line \\ ... }
The sender’s name. This command is optional, although its inclusion is usual.
The argument text appears at the end of the letter, after the closing.
LaTeX leaves some vertical space for a handwritten
signature. Separate multiple lines with a double
backslash, \\
. For example:
\signature{J Fred Muggs \\ White House}
LaTeX’s default for the vertical space from the \closing
text
down to the \signature
text is 6\medskipamount
, which is
six times \medskipamount
(where \medskipamount
is equal to
a \parskip
, which in turn is defined by default here to
0.7em).
This command is usually in the preamble, to apply to all the letters in
the document. To have it apply to one letter only, put it inside a
letter
environment and before the \closing
.
You can include a graphic in the signature as here.
\signature{\vspace{-6\medskipamount}\includegraphics{sig.png}\\ My name}
For this you must put \usepackage{graphicx}
in the preamble
(see Graphics).
\telephone
Synopsis:
\telephone{number}
The sender’s telephone number. This is typically in the preamble, where
it applies to all letters. This only appears if the firstpage
pagestyle is selected. If so, it appears on the lower right of the
page.