The pc-letter template allows you to effortlessly write letters for personal correspondence in Typst that will have a classic feel about them yet largely follow contemporary format guidance (e.g. compatible with DIN 5008’s layout recommendations for personal correspondence).

Features

• Adjustable style: pc-letter provides numerous options to tweak fonts, font-sizes, colours etc. to your liking.
• Optional fields when you need them: The template provides optional fields for a reference number, listing enclosed documents, and carbon copy recipients.
• Context aware page numbering: No need to manually configure, pc-letter will add page numbering for you if your content flows over a single page.
• Print vs digital variants: Easily switch between variants tweaked for printing or sending out digital-only correspondence.

Usage

To use the pc-letter template, just import it, initialise it, and add your content. Here’s a minimal working example:

#import "@preview/pc-letter:0.0.1"

#let letter = pc-letter.init(
    author: (
        name: "Jane Smith",
        address: ("Tiny House", "12 Eagle Lane", "New Quay SA45 4FH"),
        phone: "015 4523 4567",
        email: "jane.smith@example.com",
    )
)

#show: letter.letter-style

#(letter.address-field)[
    Mr Reed A. Lott\
    Sunnyhill Cottage\
    St Davids\
    Haverfordwest SA62 9QB
]

Dear Reed,

I have recently come across a nice letter template for _Typst_ called
`pc-letter`. Since I know that you have a penchant for physical letters, I
thought I would use that as an excuse to send a few words your way.

#(letter.valediction)[So long,]

For a more comprehensive example see example/example.typ.

Arguments

Thhe pc-letter.init() function takes the following arguments:

• author (required): A dictionary with the fields name (str), address (array[str] of address components), phone (str, with spaces to group digits), and email (str).
• title (optional): A string that will be used as a document title (in the document metadata only, it will not appear anywhere on the letter), or none. Default: none.
• date (optional): A datetime object with the date of the letter. Defaults to the current date if not provided or set to auto.
• style (optional): A dictionary with various style options you can modify. The dictionary may have the following fields:
  • locale.lang: The two-letter language code of the language the letter is (mainly) written in. Default: "en".
  • locale.region: The two-letter region code of the letter’s locale. Default: "GB".
  • medium: One of the two options "print" or "digital". If "print" is selected, the page will be optimised for printing out, while the "digital" option makes some adjustments to make the letter appear more pleasant if it is only to be distributed digitally (e.g. via email), such as making the page background fill a slightly warm off-white.
  • text.font: The typeface that should be used for the letter. The template has mainly been designed to work well with serif fonts and expects the chosen font to support font features such as true smallcaps. By default, pc-letter will use the first available of the fonts Minion Pro, Gentium, Libertinus Serif, Vollkorn and as a last resort Times New Roman.
  • text.size.normal: The font-size to be used for normal text. Default: 11pt.
  • text.size.small: The font-size to be used for areas where it should be just slightly smaller than normal-size. Default: 10pt.
  • text.size.tiny: The smallest font-size used by the template. Default: 8pt.
  • text.fill.headline: The colour to be used for the author’s name on the letterhead. Default #800022, a deep burgundy.
  • text.fill.faded: The colour to be used for text (and some lines) that should appear slightly less prominent compared to adjacent text. Default: 80% gray.
  • alignment.headings: Whether to align headings (first and second level) flush left or centered. May be set to auto in which case the template decides based on the locale values. Default: auto.
  • alignment.valediction: One of left or right. Whether the valediction at the end of the letter should appear flush left, or indented to the middle of the page (therefore with the text placed on the right half of the page). Default: left.
  • page.fill: A background fill colour for the page(s). If set to auto the value will be determined based on the value for medium: blank for print, #faf9f0 (a light, warm off-white) for digital. Default: auto.
  • date.format: A Typst date format string (e.g. "[year]-[month pad:zero]-[day pad:zero]") or auto, in which case the template tries to pick something appropriate based on the locale setting. Default: auto.

Fields and functions

As shown in the example above, pc-letter.init() returns a dictionary of functions that can be used to add various fields to your letter and help with formatting your text.

Important: To call any of these functions, you have to enclose them in parentheses. So it should be #(letter.spaced-smallcaps)[My Text]:heavy_check_mark: rather than #letter.spaced-smallcaps[My Text]:bomb:, the latter of which will produce an error. This is currently a limitation of Typst’s module-model and might change in future.

Here’s a list of the available fields and functions, assuming you have used #let letter = pc-letter.init() to collect them in the variable letter:

• letter.spaced-smallcaps(content): Selects the font’s true smallcaps option and spaces the letters slightly apart for a more prominent effect.
• thin-space(): A weak thin-space, narrower than a normal inter-word space, such as it is used to separate blocks of numbers in phone numbers.
• en-space(): A space of length 0.5em, slightly wider than a regular inter-word space. Used where a little extra space adds more visual clarity.
• phone-number(number): Wraps the phone number as a clickable telephone-link (tel:XXXXXXXXXXX) and adjusts the inter-word spacing such that if regular spaces are used to group digits they look a little neater.
• email-address(email): Wraps the email address as a clickable email-link (mailto:someone@example.org).
• falzmarken(): Can be optionally used at the start of the document to add folding marks to the left margin of the first page (two marks where you can fold the A4 paper to fit it into a DL, C5 or C6 envelope, which may be windowed). A third mark is added at the centre of the page, which can be used to centre-fold it but is principally meant to align a hole punch such that it is centred vertically.
• address-field(recipient-address, return-address-field: auto): Used to set the recipient’s address on the first page. The recipient’s address should normally be no more than 6 lines (though it won’t be clipped if it is longer) and you should include manual line-breaks. The optional return-address-field argument can be used to overwrite the content that appears in tiny text above the recipients address, normally used to provide a return address in case the letter cannot be delivered.
• reference-field(reference, supplement: "Ref:"): Can be used to optionally add a reference at the same height as the date. This can be useful when replying to correspondence from e.g. a business or the government, where the other party has given you a reference number to quote on future correspondence. The supplement argument can be used to optionally replace the standard text “Ref:” with something of your choice.
• letter-style: Encapsulates the main layout of the letter template. Should be used with a show rule (e.g. #show: letter.letter-style – note the absence of the parentheses!) to activate the template after initialising it.
• valediction(valediction, signature: none, name: auto): Adds a properly formatted valediction (a closing formula) at the end of the letter. The valediction parameter includes the acutal valediction (e.g. (letter.valediction)[Yours faithfully,] or (letter.valediction)[Yours sincerely,]) though you may of course also chose something a little more old-fashioned like (letter.valediction)[I remain, Sir, your humble and obedient servant,]. By default this is followed by a 3em space (a space in which you can add your signature) and then the author’s name. You can use the signature parameter to insert some content, e.g. text or an image in place of the 3em space, and you can use the name parameter to use a name other than what has been set as the author’s name here - or indeed to omit it altogether by setting it to none.
• cc-field(..recipients): Add any number of names of additional recipients whom you have sent a (carbon)-copy of the letter. If these are fewer than 3, they will be set on a single line. 3 or more will be automatically set as a list.
• enclosed-field(..enclosures): Add any number of strings refering to enclosed (attached) documents. If this is a single item it will be set without a bullet, if there are more than one they will be set as a bullet list.

License

The pc-letter package is free and open-source, licensed under the MIT License. See the file LICENSE for mor information.