Guide
Letterhead size, margins, and bleed
A letterhead is the size of the paper you already print on. In the United States that is US Letter. In most of the world it is A4. The margins matter more than people expect, because the letter has to clear the masthead.
Updated
The two page sizes
| US Letter | A4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Page | 8.5 × 11 in | 210 × 297 mm |
| In points | 612 × 792 pt | 595.28 × 841.89 pt |
| At 300 DPI | 2550 × 3300 px | 2480 × 3508 px |
| Typical side margin | 0.75 in | about 20 mm |
| Header zone | top 1.6–2.1 in | top 40–52 mm |
| Footer zone | bottom 0.7–1.1 in | bottom 18–28 mm |
Letterhead Maker’s PDF uses those point sizes exactly. The PNG is rasterized at 300 pixels per inch, which is the figure print shops ask for when they cannot take a vector.
Header and footer zones
The header zone is where the name, logo, and tagline live. On US Letter, keep that block inside the top 1.6 to 2.1 inches. The body of the letter usually starts around 2 inches from the top of the page. The footer zone holds the address and the ways to reply, in the bottom 0.7 to 1.1 inches.
If the header is taller than that, the letter starts too low and a one-page letter becomes two. The Quiet Footer template avoids the problem by moving the identity to the bottom.
Safe margins
Keep words at least half an inch from the trim, and three quarters of an inch is more comfortable. Home and office printers often refuse the outer quarter inch. The templates keep body text inside that safer area. A placement guide in the editor shows a sample letter in gray so you can see the collision before you print.
Bleed
Bleed is color that runs past the edge of the trimmed sheet, so a print shop can cut the paper and not leave a white sliver. You do not need it for a desktop printer, because a desktop printer cannot print to the edge anyway.
A few layouts, including the side band, the corner block, and the footer bar, paint color to the edge of the digital page. On a home printer the outer sliver may not print. The words still sit inside the safe margin, so the letterhead remains readable. If you want the color to reach the edge, send the PDF to a print shop and ask for full-bleed printing on a larger sheet that they will trim.
The PDF is RGB, which office printers and most online print shops accept. For offset lithography, ask the printer to convert to CMYK. There is no separate CMYK download.
Why 300 DPI
A PNG made at screen resolution, 72 or 96 pixels per inch, looks soft when it is printed at full page. A US Letter page at 300 DPI is 2550 by 3300 pixels. That is the PNG this tool exports. Use it as a full-page picture. Do not enlarge a smaller export and hope it sharpens.
The PDF and the SVG do not depend on DPI. Type in those files stays sharp at any size because it is drawn as vectors, with the fonts embedded in the PDF and in the SVG.
Envelopes that match
A US Letter sheet folded in thirds fits a #10 envelope, 4.125 by 9.5 inches. An A4 sheet folded in thirds fits a DL envelope, 110 by 220 millimeters. The letterhead does not have to repeat on the envelope, but the name and the return address should agree with it.
Make a letterhead in either size
Questions
What size is a standard letterhead?
In the United States and Canada it is US Letter, 8.5 by 11 inches. In most other countries it is A4, 210 by 297 millimeters. Letterhead Maker exports both.
Do I need bleed?
Not for a home or office printer. Those printers cannot reach the edge of the sheet. Layouts that use a color bar to the edge still keep the words inside a safe margin, so a home print remains readable. A print shop can print the color to the edge if you ask for full bleed.