Word Chapter 3—Creating a Business Letter with a Letterhead and Table Digital Literacy Word Chapter 3—Creating a Business Letter with a Letterhead and Table

Business Documents Business documents can include letters, memos, newsletters, proposals, and resumes An effective business document clearly and concisely conveys its message and has a professional, organized appearance.

Business Letters Contents of business letters include requests, inquiries, confirmations, acknowledgements, recommendations, notifications, responses, invitations, offers, referrals, complaints, and more. Business letters include a custom letterhead, as well as essential business letter components: date line, inside address, salutation, body, complimentary close, and signature block.

Letterhead A letterhead is the section of a letter that identifies an organization or individual (known as professional preprinted paper) Use text, graphics, formats, and colors that reflect the organization or individual Include the organization’s or individual’s name, postal mailing address, and telephone number(s) Can include e-mail address and Web address Can include the company’s logo

Business Letters continued Letter should be well-written, properly formatted, logically organized, and use visuals when appropriate. Content should contain proper grammar, correct grammar, correct spelling, logically constructed sentences, flowing paragraphs, and sound ideas. Try to keep to one page and Proofread! Compose an effective business letter Include all essential letter elements, properly spaced and sized Use proper spacing and formats for the contents of the letter below the letterhead Determine which letter style to use

Business Letters continued According to the state department format guidelines, a block style letter should be used. In the Block letter style, all components of the letter begin flush with the left margin The date line, which consists of the month, day, and year, is positioned two to six lines below the letterhead The inside address is quadruple-spaced after the date line Includes the addressee’s courtesy title (Mr., Ms., Dr., etc.) plus full name, job title, business affiliation, and full geographical address The salutation begins a double space (or two lines) below the inside address If you do not know the recipient’s name, avoid using the salutation “To whom it my concern”. Instead use the recipient’s title, such as Dear Personnel Director. According to the state dept. format guidelines, use open punctuation (meaning do not use a comma or colon after the salutation)

Business Letters continued The body of the letter, the message begins two lines below the salutation. Within the message, the paragraphs are single-spaced with double-spacing between paragraphs. Two lines below the last line of the message, the complimentary close is displayed. Capitalize only the first word in a complimentary close. Type the signature block at least four blank lines below the complimentary close, allowing room for the author to sign his or her name.

Envelopes According to the State Format Guide, Envelopes should be set up in OCR (Optical Character Recognition) style Use All Capital Letters and No Punctuation Use All Recommended Abbreviations To print on an envelope, first click the Envelopes button on the Mailings tab in the Create group to create an envelope, type the delivery address in the Delivery address box, and then click the Print button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box. To print a mailing label, click the Create Labels button in the Create group on the Mailings tab, type the delivery address in the Delivery address box, and then click the Print button in the Envelopes and Labels dialog box.

Table Elements & Other Word Components To move from the first cell in the table to the next cell, press the tab key. To move from the second cell in the table back to the previous cell, press the SHIFT + TAB keys. The table move handle allows you to select the entire table. If you click at the left edge of a cell, you are selecting the cell. With a pointing arrow to the left of the cell (outside of the table) will select the entire row. Word, by default, places a tab stop at every .5” (1/2 inch) mark on the ruler.

Chapter Vocabulary Words adjustment handle (WD 144) border (WD 160) building block (WD 171) cell (WD 176) clear formatting (WD 161) clip art (WD 148) Clip Organizer (WD 148) column boundary (WD 181) complimentary close (WD 167) date line (WD 167) dimension (WD 176) drawing object (WD 142) em dash (WD 162) end-of-cell mark (WD 177) end-of-row mark (WD 177) floating object (WD 147) Grow and Shrink font buttons (WD 146) inline object (WD 147) inside address (WD 167) letterhead (WD 140) message (WD 167) nonbreaking hyphen (WD 175) nonbreaking space (WD 175) rotate handle (WD 144) row boundary (WD 181) salutation (WD 167) signature block (WD 167) tab character (WD 168) tab stop (WD 168) table (WD 176) table resize handle (WD 181) template (WD 165) Know the sequence of steps to creating a building block (WD 172) Identify parts (WD 144)