Business Letters & Memorandums Word Lesson 3 Business Letters & Memorandums

Letters Business letter--A business letter is a formal document used for correspondence with another business. A business letter should be used when communicating to people outside your company. It will mailed to another person in another company.

Acceptable Fonts The text of memos, business letters and reports should be in 10, 11 or 12 point font. Appropriate fonts include Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Cambria. Decorative or script fonts in different sizes can be used in the letterhead or logo; they should not be used for the text.

Letterhead Letterhead The letterhead contains the contact information for the sender. For an individual, it includes the name, address, phone, fax, and email. Businesses often have preprinted paper with the logo and contact information already printed at the top.

Parts of a Business Letter The six main parts of every business letter: the inside address the date the salutation the body the closing the sender’s name and title

The current date should be typed 2 or 3 lines below the letterhead. Letter Parts: Date Letterhead The current date should be typed 2 or 3 lines below the letterhead. The date should be spelled out. July 6, 2011 Abbreviations should not be used in the date.

Letter Parts: Inside Address The inside address should be entered 3-4 lines below the date. This is the name and address of the recipient. It is the same information that goes on envelope. It includes the name of the recipient and his/her title. It is single spaced. Inside Address

Letter Parts: Salutation or Greeting This line should be Dear _____. Generally use Dear Mr. Joenks: as the salutation. Do NOT use Dear Mr. Pete Joenks: Only use Dear Pete: if you are on first name basis, usually a personal friend. When you do not know the name of the recipient, you can use Dear Sir or Madam: (singular) or Ladies and Gentlemen: (plural). The colon after the salutation is optional. The salutation is typed 2 lines beneath the inside address. Salutation Or Greeting

Letter Parts: Body The paragraphs containing the content of the letter is the body. The body begins 2 lines under the salutation. The paragraphs should be blocked, not indented. The paragraphs are single spaced with a blank line between the paragraphs. You should use good grammar in the body. The paragraphs are usually fairly short, often only 2 or 3 sentences, and to the point. Body

It is typed 2 lines below the last paragraph. Letter Parts: Closing The closing is a traditional part of every business letters. It is also called the Complimentary Close. It is typed 2 lines below the last paragraph. The comma after it is optional and should be used when a colon was placed after the salutation. Common closings are Sincerely yours, Sincerely, Yours truly, Closing

Letter Parts: Signature Block The name of the sender, or author, of the letter is typed 4 lines below the closing. This leaves a blank space where the sender or author should sign the letter. Do NOT type the signature. The sender’s/author’s title is often typed on the line under his/her name. Sender’s Name

Letter Parts: Other notations These notations are only used when needed.  Typist’s initials Only used when someone other than the sender typed the memo. Enclosure Notation Only used when another item, such as a pamphlet, is placed in the envelope with the memo.  Copy Notation (not shown) Should be used only when a copy of the letter is being sent to another individual. Sender’s Name

Memorandums A memorandum is used to communicate with others within the same company or organization. 

Memorandum A memo has a heading that includes at least four lines: To From Date Subject Other heading lines can be included as needed, such as CC: when a copy is being sent to another individual. 

Memorandum A memo is usually quite short and typically is no longer than a page.   The paragraphs of a memo are single spaced with a blank line between paragraphs. The paragraphs are usually block (not indented) paragraphs. 

Closing Notations These notations are only used when needed.  Typist’s initials Only used when someone other than the sender typed the memo. Enclosure Notation Only used when another item, such as a pamphlet, is placed in the envelope with the memo.  Typist’s Initials Enclosure Notation

Styles and Themes Style—a predefined set of formatting options that have been named and saved. For example, the Heading 1 style is Cambria font, 14 point, and blue. Quick Styles—built-in styles for Word Themes—a coordinated set of fonts, styles, and colors

Indents Indents-The amount of space between the text and the margins Types of indents First-line Indent-The type of indent shown below indicated by the upper triangle at the left edge of the ruler. This is the normal type of indention for paragraphs where the first line of the paragraph is indented but the other lines begin at the margin. Hanging Indent--The type of indention shown below that is frequently used with bibliographies and references cited (first line begins at margin and all other lines are indented) Hunter, Nigel, “Einstein.” New York: Bookwright Press, 1987. - Nourse, Dr. Alan E., Universe, Earth, and Atom: The Story of Physics, New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969 Left Indent—All lines are indented only on the left. Right Indent—All lines are indented only on the right. Block Paragraph--A paragraph that is not indented at all.

Borders Borders--A border is a line or box that can be added to text or paragraphs. Box borders--A box border is a line that goes all around text or paragraphs. Page borders--A page border is a line or design that goes around the edge of the paper. Horizontal line—you can add a line above or under text or paragraphs by using a bottom or top border. They are used to separate and emphasize a section.

Helpful Features AutoComplete suggests the completed word when you key the first four or more letters. Press the ENTER key to accept. The Insert Date and Time function is used to add a date to your document. Choose the format that is correct for your document. 6/19/2011 is fine for many documents June 19, 2011 is the correct format for letters. Update Automatically should be chosen only when you want the date to change every time you open the document.

Inserting Symbols The Symbol option should be used to add characters and symbols not found on the keyboard.  © ® ™ Ñ é

Inserting Symbols Select Symbol from the Insert tab. For symbols that you use frequently, you can learn the Shortcut key.

Tabs or Tab Stops Tabs—mark the place where the insertion point will stop when you press the Tab key. Advantage – when new text is entered the alignment remains intact. Examples of tabs: Left Right Centered Decimal By default, Word places Tabs every ½ inch (.5 inch) on the ruler.

Types of Tabs Left - The most common type of tab stop where the text begins at the left side of the column Right - The type of tab stop where the text is lined up on the right Center - The type of tab that centers the text at the tab stop Decimal - The type of tab stop that keeps a column of numbers lined up with the decimal points even. Currency - The tab used for currency such as $4.50.

Leaders Leaders - The dots or dashes that fill the blank space before the tab setting. They guide the reader’s eyes from one tab to the another.

More on Tabs An easy way to clear a tab is to just drag the tab marker off of the ruler….. An easy way to change a tab is to just drag the tab marker to the new location….

Bullets – Located in the Paragraph Group Bullets are small characters that appears before an item in a list. Bullets are used for unordered lists. Bullets can be symbols, graphics, etc. Sample bullets can be symbols Sample bullets can be pictures

Numbered List – Paragraph Group Numbered Lists are good when items appear sequentially or in order. Get up. Shower and clean up. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Go to school. These can be changed to Roman numerals (I, II) or an Outlined Number List such as 1) a)

This can be a GREAT friend!!!! One quick and easy way to repeat character formatting is by using Format Painter. You should double click the Format Painter if you plan to copy the formatting to multiple locations. Use the highlight to emphasize text when working only on the screen. This does not print out. Highlight

Clearing Formatting Use the Clear Formatting command to clear manual formatting and styles

Graphics Graphics—pictures and illustrations that help illustrate the meaning of text and make the page more attractive Clipart— is a predefined graphic found in libraries of artwork of common objects that comes with Office They are already drawn or photographed and available for use in documents.

Cropping Cropping—use this to hide parts of a graphic Sizing—reducing or enlarging a graphic Scaling—The process of changing the size of a graphic to a percentage of its original size—such as 50% will make it half as large.