Introduction: Properly Keying & Formatting Simplified Memorandums

By EverythingNow
About: I have been a Minecrafter for probably close to eight years. I enjoy building houses and towns. In real life, I am a proud pet parent to four rubber bands, three craft sticks, three pipe cleaners, five shells …

Sometimes, if you own an organization or company, or even just if you host a lot of events, you will probably eventually need to type a letter to lots of people at once. But it would take you a long time to type a letter to each person, one-at-a-time, so that is why I am here with a guide on making simplified memorandums. Oh, and in the pictures, don't just pay attention to the format; pay attention to the content of my sample memorandum as well. It contains some information that will also help you learn.

Supplies

A computer

A word processor

Step 1: Open Your Word Processor Program

Alright, so before we can type any kind of document, we need to open our word processor. If you are using Microsoft Word, click on "Blank document" after you open the app. If you are on WordPerfect like me, it will automatically open a blank document upon starting.

Step 2: Set Margins

Again, this will depend on if you use Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. If you use Microsoft Word, go to the Page Layout tab, then go to the Page Setup grouping and click on "Margins." Click custom margins and set them for the following:

  • Top: 2 inches
  • Bottom: 1 inch
  • Left: 1.25 inches
  • Right: 1.25 inches

If you are using WordPerfect, click File and select "Page Setup." The margins dialogue should show up, so set the margins the same as listed above.


Step 3: Turn on Paragraph Markers

After your margins are set, close the dialogue if you haven't already, and you might want to turn on paragraph markers. You don't have to turn them on, but doing so helps me a lot to get my line spacing correct. And, as always, the ways to do it differ between Microsoft Word and WordPerfect.

On Microsoft Word, go to the Home tab, and in the Paragraph grouping, click on the paragraph symbol to turn on paragraph markers.

On WordPerfect, click "View," then click "Show/Hide <paragraph symbol>."

The paragraph markers will not print with your memorandum; they are just there as guides.

Step 4: Key the Date

This step is pretty self-explanatory; just key in the current date that you are at right now. It was June 5, 2022 when I keyed this sample memorandum, but it will likely be a different date for you. To keep the memorandum formal, don't abbreviate months and don't do digits only, for example: 10/23/14 or Oct. 23, 2014 would not be very formal or business-like.

Step 5: Key the Recipient's Name

Quadruple space (press your Enter key four times) and key the name of the recipient(s) of your memorandum. If your memorandum is for one person (e.g. John Doe, Ph.D.) , go ahead and key in his or her name. If your memo is for a lot of people that could be classified as one, let's say it's for all the employees of your business, go ahead and key in what would be, in this case, All Employees.

You might be writing to only some of the staff, like for example: John Doe, Ph.D.; Carlos Dietz, CEO; and Emma Jones, Assistant. That is called a distribution list, and you would format one like this:

John Doe, Ph.D.; Carlos Dietz, CEO; Emma Jones, Assistant

Notice how you don't use "and" in the distribution list. And you also use semicolons between recipients because since you use commas between the person's name and his title, that would cause confusion.

Step 6: Key Subject Line

Double space (press the Enter key twice) and key a short subject of your memo in ALL CAPS. Do note that in a simplified memo, which is what we're keying, you don't include the word "Subject" in the subject line. You do in standard memorandums, but I'll make an Instructable about those another day.

Step 7: Start Keying Your First Paragraph

Double space again and start to key the first paragraph of your memo. Oh, and I just thought I'd let you know: we never indent paragraphs in a memo. Remember that memos are very different from letters in not only this but also in other ways.

And don't just use the sample memo that I am keying just as an example; pay attention to what I am saying in the memo. I am telling about lots of features and formatting tips of simplified memos.

Step 8: Key the Rest of Your Paragraphs

You might or might not need to key anymore paragraphs after the first. If you don't need to, skip this step and go on to Step 9. If you do, double space and key the next paragraph, and the third or even fourth if you are keying a long memo. My example memo had four paragraphs in all.

Step 9: Key the Writer's Name

After you key the body of your memo, you're almost done. Quadruple space and key the name of the writer. This might or might not be your name. If you are the secretary of an organization or company, you will not likely be keying your name. You will be keying the name of whoever came up with the contents of the memo, followed by a comma and their title (if applicable). Since I wrote this example memo, I keyed my Instructables username (JakeAS) followed by a title (Author on Instructables).

You are now ready to key the last feature of your memo. Go to the next step!

Step 10: Key Reference Initials

After the writer's name, double space and key (in lowercase) your initials.

Something you need to watch out for in this step: sometimes, your word processor will automatically capitalize the first letter of the reference initials. This is often called AutoCorrect, because the word processor thinks you accidently keyed the first letter in a sentence in lowercase. Correct that if need be, and there should be an option somewhere (I don't know exactly where) where you can turn this feature off.

Step 11: Congratulations! You Have Properly Keyed a Simplified Memorandum.

Now that you have keyed your memo, you might want to save it and/or print. You probably know how to save and print a document, but just in case you don't, allow me to explain. To save a document:

Go to File and click "Save As." Key in a name for your memo (you might want to key in the subject of your memo as the title to save it with) and click "Save." You click on the same buttons in both Microsoft Word and WordPerfect; the only difference is that WordPerfect opens a different save dialogue than Microsoft Word.

And to print:

Go to File and click "Print." Adjust your paper size from the drop-down menu if needed, and if you need to you can select a different printer from another drop-down menu (if you own multiple printers). Finally, hit "Print." Again, these steps are the same on both Microsoft Word and WordPerfect.