Document Formatting

Document Formatting Personal Business Letters and Common documents

Purpose of Document Formatting • In this Unit, we will learn how to format personal business letters, business letters, and memos • Regardless of your future occupation, knowing how to communicate effectively with businesses is essential • To communicate effectively, there are rules that must be followed on how your documents should look • During this presentation, pay careful attention to spacing between document parts (that includes any margin changes)

What is a Personal Business Letter? • A letter written from a person to a company • Can be used for any purpose that requires written communication from an individual to a company • Such as: • To accompany returned goods • Complaint letter • Thank you letter • Résumé cover letter

Personal Business Letter Parts • Inside Address: name and address of the business to whom you are writing • Date Line: current date written out as month, day, and complete year • Salutation: letter’s greeting – you use the same name you used in the Inside Address – using Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss • Body: message or ‘meat’ of the letter • Complimentary Closing: letter’s goodbye – using phrases such as Yours truly and Sincerelyyours • Signature: writer's handwritten signature • Writer’s Identification: writer’s typed name and address

Personal Business Letter Order and Spacing • 2” Top margin • Inside Address and then Date – QS (press Enter 4 times) • Salutation – DS (press Enter 2 times) • Body – SS the text within the paragraph and DS between the paragraphs • Complimentary Closing – QS • Writer’s ID (name and address)

Personal Business Letter Styles and Punctuation • There are two types of letter styles that are acceptable in business: • Block style – all lines in the letter begin at the left margin (no tabbing or indenting) • Modified block style – date line, complimentary closing and writer’s identification begin at midpoint • Semi-modified block style - date line, complimentary closing and writer’s identification begin at midpoint and all body paragraphs are indented (or tabbed over) ½” • There are two types of letter punctuation that are acceptable in business: • Mixed punctuation – there will be a colon (:) after the salutation and a comma (,) after the complimentary closing • Open punctuation – there will be NO punctuation after the salutation or complimentary closing

What is a Business Letter? • Represents a company not an individual • Usually prepared on company letterhead • Company letterhead is official company stationery that often contains a logo along with the name, address, phone and fax number • Follow this link to look at sample letterheads

What are the differences between a Personal Business and Business Letter? • Writer’s company name and address should appear in the letterhead, so there is no need to type it again at the bottom of the letter • Writer’s business title is usually keyed under the name • Reference initials are added a DS (press Enter 2 times) after the Writer’s ID – • These initials are of the person who types the letter • Used to easily locate who typed the letter • Enclosure or Attachment notations are added a DS below the Reference Initials • This is a special section that is only added if something else is either physically attached to the letter or accompanying the letter in the same envelope

What is a Memo? • Used to communicate information quickly throughout a business or organization • Memo parts: • TO: - to whom the memo is written • FROM: - who the memo is from • DATE: - current date of memo • SUBJECT: - precise, short point of memo

Memo Spacing • 2” top margin • Each of the four headings are DS (double spaced) and keyed in all caps followed by a colon (:) • After the colon, the Tab key is pressed to line up the text that follows • Be sure to check under Document Examples in Unit 7

Report • There are many different acceptable ways to format a report • Formatting depends upon the type and reason for report • Examples are: • Academic report • Technical report

Academic Report Formatting • Use default margins (don’t change margins) • Change line spacing to double (entire document DS) • Four headings at the top left margin • Student’s name • Teacher’s name • Class or Subject • Date • After the Date heading, key the title of the report using initial caps (capitalizing the first letter of important words) then press Enter to begin keying report • Indent the first sentence in each paragraph by pressing the Tab key

Summary • In this Unit, you have learned how to format: • Personal Business Letters • Business Letters • Memos • Academic Report

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Document Formatting