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How can I make a form letter in LaTeX?

It is easy to write professional-looking letters using LaTeX. Here's the basic template:

	\documentstyle[merge]{letter}
	\address{3 Ames Street\\Cambridge, MA\\02139}
	\signature{James Tetazoo}
	\begin{document}
	  \begin{merge}{myaddr}

	body of letter here..

	\closing{Sincerely,}
	  \end{merge}
	\end{document}

\address defines what will be printed as your return address; \\ is used to separate lines.

The address and opening to be used for the recipient are stored in the file "myaddr.tex" in this example; the filename is the name in the set of {}'s after the \begin{merge}, without the .tex suffix.

The format of this file is the address (in {}'s) followed by the opening (in {}'s) for each letter to be sent out. For example, to send out two letters, the first to "Jack Florey" with the opening "Dear Jack", and the second to "Zonker Harris, Walden Puddle" with the opening "Dear Zonker", you'd have the file:

	{Jack Florey\\
	3 1/2 Ames Street\\
	Cambridge, MA\\
	01239}
	{Dear Jack,}
	{Zonker Harris\\
	Walden Puddle\\
	Walden, MA\\
	02134}
	{Dear Zonker,}

Then, when you latex the main file, it will create one dvi file with all the letters in it.

Unfortunately, there is no way to vary anything but the address and the opening between each letter.

IS&T Contributions

Documentation and information provided by IS&T staff members


Last Modified:

February 25, 2009

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