Dear Wolfgang, Thank you very much. This is very helpful. One note is that to center the footer required \setupletterframe[foot][align=middle] (NOT \setupletterlayer. Per http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Letter#Setup) A couple more questions. (1) is there a more efficient way to indent only the content of the letter: \setupindenting[yes,small] \setuplettersection[opening][indenting=no] \setuplettersection[subject][indenting=no] \setuplettersection[closing][indenting=no] \setuplettersection[signature][indenting=no] (2) The following did not properly left-justify the date (the date was towards the left but was not perfectly aligned with the other left-justified text): \setupletterlayer[reference][alternative=e] Thank you again. Best, Michael On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 4:08 PM, Wolfgang Schuster < schuster.wolfgang@gmail.com> wrote:

Am 15.07.2013 um 18:34 schrieb Michael Ash :

Dear all,

(This is a repeat post. I apologize if that's rude, but I would appreciate some assistance with the letter module or a pointer to documentation. Thanks.)

I am using the letter module that came with context. A sample of a basic letter is below; I have put in "dummy" for the logo and the signature, but these are working fine when I include the files.

I have several questions:

1. to center the footer.

You can use the align key but you have to use a valid value, e.g. middle.

\setupletterlayer[foot][align=middle]

1. to lower the footer (closer to the bottom of the page)

You can control the distance between the margins and the footer block with the x and y keys for \setupletterlayer.

\setupletterlayer[foot][y=10pt]

1. to delete the word "Date" above the date.

There is no key for \setupletterstyle etc. to disable/enable the label but you can clear the label text.

\setuplettertext[en][date=]

1. to put the date *above *the recipient address (and how in general do I adjust the vertical space here).

Move the layer up with the \setupletterlayer command.

\setupletterlayer[reference][y=4cm]

1. to left-justify the date.

When you want only the date in the reference line without the label use alternative “e” (you don’t even have to clear the label because it isn’t used).

\setupletterlayer[reference][alternative=e]

\setupletter[reference=\currentdate]

1. to control the foldmarks (for US-letter-size paper, omit, etc.)

You can disable the marks with \setupletteroptions[marking=no], the position can be changed with \setupletterlayer[topmark][y=7cm] and \setupletterlayer[topmark][y=14cm].

I have consulted http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Letter but there are many things I don't understand. What is the meaning of "alternative=example";

With the alternative key you select one of the predefined or used defined styles for the reference, footer etc. blocks.

what is the option "preset=" in \setuplayer[foot] ?

When you want to change the origin for a layer from the top left margin to the bottom left you have to change the value of the location and corner keys. As there are few often used combination for the four corners Hans predefined the with the \definelayerpreset command. These predefined setups can be loaded with the preset key which saves some typing. Below is a short example where I set first the arguments myself and later use the predefined setups.

\definelayer[test][width=\textwidth,height=\textheight]

\starttext

\setlayer[test][corner={left,top},location={right,bottom}]{LT 1}

\setlayer[test][corner={right,top},location={left,bottom}]{RT 1}

\setlayer[test][corner={left,bottom},location={right,top}]{LB 1}

\setlayer[test][corner={right,bottom},location={left,top}]{RB 1}

\flushlayer[test]

\setlayer[test][preset=lefttop]{LT 2}

\setlayer[test][preset=righttop]{RT 2}

\setlayer[test][preset=leftbottom]{LB 2}

\setlayer[test][preset=rightbottom]{RB 2}

\flushlayer[test]

\stoptext

Also is there a better way to manage color? I \definecolor, \startcolor, \stopcolor, but maybe there is a better way to indicate that certain sections of the letter should be in a color. Thanks.

All block elements provide color and style keys which can be used to set the font and color for them, e.g. \setupletterlayer[foot][color=blue,style=sans].

Wolfgang

-- Michael Ash, Chair, Department of Economics Professor of Economics and Public Policy University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA 01003 Email mash@econs.umass.edu Tel +1-413-545-2590 Twitter https://twitter.com/michaelaoash