Introduction to komaletter

Usage

An easy way to start a new komaletter is to ask for the skeleton document in RStudio via New File > R Markdown > From Template > komaletter or rmarkdown::draft("myletter.Rmd", template="pdf", package="komaletter"). To turn the markown in a beautiful PDF use the Knit Button in RStudio or rmarkdown::render("myletter.Rmd").

The skeleton creates a very simple letter as a starting point for your own writing. Several formatting defaults for font, fontsize, indentation are in use. The following figure shows the complete source on the left and the rendered PDF on the right.

Letter Settings

Various aspects of the letter can be customized via the following variables in the R Markdown document metadata (aka YAML frontmatter).

Most commonly used variables.

Variable	Description
author	Writer of the letter
return-address	Address of the sender; takes a list for a multi-line address.
address	Name and address of the recipient; takes a list.
date	Custom date; if not specified, current date will be inserted.
subject	Subject line.
opening	Text for the salutation.
closing	Text for the complementary close.
signature	Typed signature or image placed below closing.
signature-before	Allows adjustment of vertical space before signature.

All variables understood by the rmarkdown pdf format may be used in addition to the komaletter variables defined in the following table to further customize your letter. These variables do not change the placement of the elements of the letter (address, letter head, text). For those aspects refer to Letter Layouts.

Further komaletter variables.

Variable	Description
lco	Letter Class Option File (cf. Letter Layouts).
lang	Language code according to BCP 47 (e.g. en or en-GB).
papersize	Size of paper eg. a4, letter.
return-phone	Phone number of sender used in letter head.
return-email	Email address of sender used in letter head.
return-url	Website of sender used in letter head.
place	Sender’s place used near date.
yourref	Addressee’s reference as part of reference line.
yourmail	Date of addressee’s referenced mail as part of reference line.
myref	Sender’s reference as part of reference line.
customer	Customer number as part of reference line.
invoice	Invoice number as part of reference line.
cc	Recipients to be carbon-copied; can take a list.
encl	List of enclosures.
ps	Text to be added at the end of the letter as a postscript.
komaoption	Specify further KOMA options; takes a list (see KOMA-Script documentation).
parskip	Defines how to mark new paragraphs, e.g. full, half, off (see KOMA-Script documentation).

Letter Layouts

The layout of letters is defined in so-called Letter Class Option files. KOMA-Script provides a number of standard styles (see following table). The package comes with a default style defined in maintainersDelight.lco. Users may as well define there own layout.

Styles can be selected via the variable lco in the YAML header of the rmarkdown document. Provide either the name of one of the standard styles listed below or the path to a self defined style without file extension. If LaTeX can not find the lco file, it uses KOMA-Script’s default: DIN. Common errors besides typos are paths with extension, underscores in paths mangeled by pandoc.

Custom lco’s may be constructed either based on one of the standard lco-files or by defining all aspects such as position of the recpients address, foldmarks etc.. For a comprehensive description refer to the KOMA-Script Guide.

Some of KOMA-Script’s standard LCOs.

Country	Standard	Window Envelope	Paper Size	lco
Germany	DIN 676	DIN lang, C4, C5	A4	DIN, DINmtext
France	NF Z 11-001	DL	A4	NF
Switzerland	SN 010 130	DIN lang, C4, C5	A4	SN, SNleft
United States		commercial #9	Letter	UScommercial9, UScommercial9DW
Japan		Chou/You 3 & 4	A4	NipponEL, …

Hints

• The default papersize of KOMA-Script class scrlttr2 is DIN A4. If you want to create an US style letter eg. using lco: UScommercial9, remember to set the papersize to letter.
• Id you plan on writing non-english letters, , make sure you have the necessary language packs, i.e texlive-lang-german.

• Since the figure environment is not defined in the classes letter and scrlltr2, pandoc has to be told not wrap the image into \begin{figure}...\end{figure}. Which can be achieved by ending the line with a backslash:

  ![Alt text](image.png)\ 

  If you just want a regular inline image, just make sure it is not the only thing in the paragraph. One way to do this is to insert a nonbreaking space after the image:

  ![This image won't be a figure](/url/of/image.png)\