Home
>
Writing
>
6 Tricks To Squeeze Your Letters Onto One Page

6 Tricks To Squeeze Your Letters Onto One Page

Anyone who has read any of my articles on the subject of letter writing or resume writing will know how important I believe it is to minimize the number of pages, preferably limiting them to one page whenever possible.

And, we all know how tacky it looks when we put the finishing touches on a letter and it overflows onto the second page by one or two lines. Very unprofessional!

So, there are a number of handy little tricks that I've used over the years that can help "squeeze" a letter or other document onto one page without it being noticed by the average reader. These tricks can be applied using any standard word processing software program.

I'm not sure whether a purist at a secretarial school would approve of some of my methods since they may deviate from certain technical standards, but I have used them hundreds of times and nobody has ever been the wiser. The main point being that I was able to keep a letter on one page when the first version overflowed by a few lines onto a second page.

Below are my "page compression tips", listed in the order in which I suggest you apply them:

1. Adjust Side Margins First

Move both the left and right margins out about 1/4 in. closer to the edge of the page.

2. Top and Bottom Margins Next

Move the top and bottom margins out about 1/4 in. closer to the edge of the page.

3. Eliminate The Overflows

Edit out the one or two word "overflows". What I mean here is this: After the letter is drafted take a good look at each paragraph. See if there are any that have an ending sentence that "overflows" onto an additional line for the sake of one word. If so, make a minor edit or two in the paragraph that shortens it a little so that the last word or two will not overflow onto the following line. Using this method, you can often gain two or three extra lines in a one-page letter.

4. Play With Your Spacing

Adjust the line spacing on the page. You can gain considerable space on a page by adjusting the line spacing of the text. For example, if the default line spacing is set to "single" at 12 points try setting it to "exactly" at 12 points if your font size is 12. If that doesn't do it, try "exactly" at "11 pts". Often you have to experiment a bit with this one to get the look just right.

5. Reduce The Font Size

As a last resort, try reducing the size of the font by 1 point size, say from 12 to 11 points.

6. Edit One More Time

If it still doesn't "fit", there's one final thing you can try if you're the author of the letter. Go back and edit it one more time. Look for redundant thoughts and phrases, or those that can be combined into one sentence rather than two. Is every word and phrase absolutely essential to your message? You'll be amazed at the space savings that this process can result in.

As I stated earlier, try the above methods in sequence, one-at-a-time, checking each time to see if your latest change has done the trick for you.

What happens if it still won't fit?

Now, if you've used all of the above tricks and you still can't get the letter to fit onto one page, it's time to admit that you've got a real two-pager. In which case, you should then think about "reversing" some of the compression tricks that you applied when you tried to "squeeze" the letter, and then concentrate on making a balanced looking second page.

There's nothing worse looking than a letter with a one or two sentence second page! So in this case, you may want to actually "stretch" the letter out a bit.

Often, at this stage I actually increase the line spacing and reduce the margins slightly so that there will be a decent sized overflow onto the second page.

For example, try reversing steps 1, 2 and 4 above. So instead of decreasing the top, bottom and side margins on page one, try increasing them by 1/4 in. all around. Then increase the point size and see if that helps. Ideally, try to get the page to break cleanly at a paragraph break, for a nice tidy page-to-page transition.

Again, I have used these little "compression" tricks thousands of times, and nobody has ever pulled out their ruler and chastised me for inaccuracy.

The important thing is to end up with a professional "looking" letter.

In fact, if you do a very detailed check of the real-life templates included in any one of my Writing Toolkits you would find that I have used one or more of the above tricks on many of them. But, I'm not telling which ones!

Click the link below my name to see a full list of all of those Writing Kits.

? 2005 by Shaun Fawcett

Shaun Fawcett, is webmaster of the popular writing help site WritingHelp-Central.com. He is also the author of several best selling "writing toolkit" eBooks. All of his eBooks and his internationally acclaimed f-r-e-e course, "Tips and Tricks For Writing Success" are available at his writing tools site: http://www.writinghelptools.com

weekly home cleaning Highland Park ..

In The News:

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

A new phishing scam targets family photos with fake "Cloud Storage Full" alerts. Criminals steal credit card information through fake sites. Learn protection tips.

South Korean scientists create ultra-thin fabric muscles that turn clothes into robotic assistants, lifting 33 pounds while weighing under half an ounce.

Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport for $126M to launch an LA air taxi network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, featuring AI-powered eVTOL operations and next-gen aviation tech.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Fake AI apps disguised as "ChatGPT" and "DALL·E" are flooding app stores with dangerous malware that steals data and monitors users without detection.

Fake buyers demand specific vehicle reports from unknown sites to steal credit card information from car sellers, but warning signs can help identify these scams before paying.

Android users can now manage apps across multiple devices more easily with Google Play Store's updated remote uninstall button in the latest update.

NASA's Perseverance rover discovers shiny metallic rock on Mars that could be a meteorite from an ancient asteroid, containing high levels of iron and nickel.