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Digital Letterhead
I'd say 95% of my communication is done electronically. I occasionally send hard copies of things out, and, with those, I include a letter describing the contents, etc. But, usually, an email does the trick for me. As such, I'm looking for a place where I can order digital letterhead that I can type onto directly, convert to .pdf, and email.
Anybody use such a thing, or have a comparable solution with "paper" letterhead?
John Yoak, Irvine, California
Create your own letterhead, as many of us do, type your letter, and then in either WP or Word through one of the various means just save it as a pdf file to attach to your email.
Henry Reckler, Colorado
That's basically what I've been doing so far, but I'd like to have something that I can use digitally that will match my paper letterhead and business cards -- and I'm not a big fan of producing my own paper products.
John Yoak, Irvine, California
I'm not quite sure if this is what you are looking for, John, but I set up a letterhead document within WP with my logo, a footer (automatic numbering, page _ of _) and the correct margins, that also automatically goes to a "second sheet" format after the first page (hint: if you are using WP, use the "delay" command). The document is saved as "read only" so I can't mess up the hard work I did getting everything to work right. I then open the letterhead document, save it with a different document name, and type my document. I insert a graphic of my signature (which I scanned and re-sized) at the end of the letter. I use the "publish to pdf" function in WP to convert the letter to pdf and can then attach it to an e-mail. All of this without needing to print out a page!
Lisa Solomon, New York
At my current place of employment, we have a letterhead that is simply a Word document with a header. The header has the Firm information in a pretty font and nicely spaced -- like a letterhead would.
When we want to write a letter, we open that template (or often just an old letter since then it will have the address to the receiver in it) and type the message and print on nice bond paper.
Maybe it is not as nice as raised ink, but other than that, it looks great and is so easy.
Amy Kleinpeter
Is what you are asking about fancier letterhead than you are able to produce in WP or Word? What I created in WP is identical in spacing, font, etc., as what I used to pay for. The only difference is some subtle shading that probably would not show up in the conversion to pdf anyway.
Henry Reckler, Colorado
That sounds exactly like what I want to do ... Thanks! One (slightly off-topic) question, though: did you design your own logo, or did someone produce it for you?
John Yoak, Irvine, California
I don't understand why your electronic letterhead wouldn't match your paper letterhead/business cards . . . . For "paper" letterhead, just find out what file format the printer needs to run you a few reams of letterhead, and send him the electronic file.
Lisa Solomon, New York
This is what I do: I have a template called "Letterhead": which, uh, looks like a letterhead; I open it up, save it as "Update1" or whatever, and start typing. It also includes an envelope with my return address. I hit print, and it spits out the letter where the first sheet of paper is my standard letter head header, and all subsequent pages are standard non- header sheets; and I stick a standard envelope in the second feeder and it prints the envelope as well.
Ronald A. Jones, Florida
I have been working with an excellent graphic designer named Olivia Petersen. She designed my logo, letterhead and business cards and re-designed my wesbite; she also does all of our graphic design work for the Billable Hour Company. Her website is at www.OliviaDesign.com.
Lisa Solomon, New York
Maybe I'm missing something here and perhaps I may end up sounding like a troglodyte, but if you are going to be sending a document in pdf format anyway, why don't you simply print the document out on your letterhead and then scan the original into pdf format. The reasons why I make this suggestion are two-fold: First, you are never going to be able to exactly duplicate the same letterhead that was prepared by whomever your printer is (Stuart Cooper, by chance?). From my own personal perspective, there is also something about electronically produced letterheads in general that just doesn't look quite right to me. From your own comments, it appears that you agree as well that it is worth the bucks to pay for thermographically raised letterheads and business cards at least for the stuff that you are sending out by snail mail. It's simply more professional looking. But, as they say, YMMV, and reasonable men and women can certainly differ on whether it's worth the extra cost. Moreover, I must confess some bias on the issue since I used to be with a firm that represented one of the largest manufacturers of printing equipment in the country (Itek) so let's say I'm rather cognizant of small printing details.
Second, as someone who principally does litigation, I'm still a little wary of electronically reproduced signatures and documents from an evidentiary standpoint. Since all printers are not the same, invariably, there are certain minor differences. While statutes like the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act and the provisions of the California Evidence Code allowing the admission of "secondary evidence" in virtually all circumstances are starting to address these concerns, many states' evidentiary rules may not be so accommodating. Of course, the "danger" of ending up with non-identical duplicate originals is minimized when you send a pdf copy, but, let's just say, I'm still somewhat of a belts and suspenders kind of guy when it comes to electronic documents. Obviously, the world is changing in this regard. Indeed, many courts (particularly federal and bankruptcy courts) now mandate electronic filings, but IMHO we just quite haven't reached the point where the evidentiary rules have quite caught up to the present level of technology.
OTOH, I'm quite sure that if someone were to read these comments a hundred years from now they'd probably have a similar reaction to what I had when I read a passage in Lions in the Street discussing the introduction of telephone at one Wall Street firm. As a matter of firm policy, it required that every phone call be documented and a record sent to the other party to the conversation. It seems that the firm was concerned about the new-fangled device and felt it just couldn't be trusted.
Robert A. Merring, Costa Mesa, California
Answer: Because I hate receiving PDFs which are simple containers for graphical files. They occupy inordinate amounts of disk space (generally several megabytes) unnecessarily (a 200K document turns into a 3 megabyte graphical PDF), and do not allow one to copy the text for use elsewhere. They take ages longer to print, and occupy ten times the system resources. You might as well send a fax.
Since I hate receiving graphical PDFs, I also hate sending them. By embedding the fonts, you can send a nicely formatted letter which the recipient can work with and archive easily.
I can duplicate my letterhead exactly because I print my own. Using WordPerfect, I use very particular fonts (Bookwoman Expert, which has custom print-like numbers, and Copperplate Gothic Heavy) and altered letter and word spacing (115%), so my letterhead does indeed look professionally printed -- probably because I created it in the first place by duplicating my old thermographed letterhead as closely as possible. I am willing to bet the only way a professional could tell it from thermographed or engraved stationery would be by touch.
I agree with you about the evidentiary issues, so only send PDF letters to clients who want a nice opinion done quickly.
Michael A. Koenecke, Richardson, Texas
I create my letter first, convert to PDF, and then add my letterhead as a digital PDF stamp. Then I save the PDF file again to incorporate the digital Letterhead.
This is the same approach as having a digital signature--which I also use.
Mark Weber, Sherman, Connecticut
That sounds like a lot of steps. My digital letterhead is in WP, and now (after yesterday's research) my digital signature is in my signature block in WP. There is a macro button on my toolbar to open my letterhead, insert the date, and move me to where I begin to type. there is another macro button on my toolbar to insert either a regular signature block, or one with my signature in it if I want to send a digital letter. In that case, I just publish to pdf and I am done.
Henry R. Reckler, Greenwood Village, Colorado
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