Letterhead Templates are used to create the header and footer templates for a district's documents, including report cards, transcripts, and letters that pertain to attendance, discipline, grades, billing, school trips, etc.
For customers with the Purchased Communication Translation add-on: Letterhead Templates automatically translate into the student's language, as specified in the default language field. This automation applies unless the template has already been manually translated, in which case the original translation will be preserved, ensuring that customized content remains intact.
Creating letters, transcripts, report cards, and similar documents is a two-step process in Focus. First, the letterhead template is built inLetterhead Templates. This template includes the information in the header and footer, as well as the general layout options like page orientation and paper size. Next, the body of a document is written in Print Letters Send Email.
Once a letterhead template is built and saved in Focus, it can be applied to any letter before it is printed or emailed.A letterhead template is not necessary to create the body of a document, but the template must be created first to use it in a letter or email. If a letterhead template isn't selected, the content in the Print Letters Send Email editor will default to size 8 x 11 and portrait orientation settings.
Both of these features can be built, previewed, saved and updated directly in Focus, and the edit boxes include a number of easy tools to fully format every document.
1. In the Setup menu, click Letterhead Templates.
2. Displayed on the Letterhead Templates screen are all existing letterhead templates located on the left side of the screen. From here, click the Title of any template to open, review, and edit.
3. Click + Add a Letterhead Template at the bottom of this list to create a new Letterhead Template.
4. Enter a Title for the template and press the Enter key.
5. To make this template school-specific, select the school(s) from the School pull-down. The pull-down defaults to All Schools.
6. If needed, you can select a different Language from the pull-down. The Langauge defaults to English [EN].
7. From the Default for pull-down select a program to make this template the default selection for a specific letter type. When this default is set, the template will appear by default as the template selection on the programs screen.
8. If your district has enabled transcript printing by students, parents and/or teachers, a Letterhead Template must first be set up and a assigned from the Default for Teachers, Parents & Students pull-down.
Once the template is assigned, you must select default settings and save them via Grades > Transcripts in order to determine what data displays on parent and/or student transcripts printed via Student/Parent Portal > Grades. Note: The selected letterhead template applies to teachers as well if your district allows teachers to print transcripts.
Permission for students and parents to print transcripts can be enabled via Users > Profiles: Print Transcripts.
9. Select the programs this letter template should be made Available For from the provided pull-down.
Select Communication from the Available For pull-down to make the letterhead template available for user in Communication.
10. Select the profiles who should have access to the letterhead template from the Available to Profiles pull-down. If the Available to Profile pull-down is left blank or set to null, the template will be available to all profiles. This setting impacts any screens that use letterhead templates to print as well as the Print icon located in the footer.
11. Select the Page Orientation and Paper Size from the corresponding pull-downs.
Page Orientation Options:
- Auto: Automatically adjusts the page orientation based on content layout.
- Portrait: The page is taller than it is wide (vertical layout).
- Landscape: The page is wider than it is tall (horizontal layout).
Paper Size Options:
- Default: Uses the system's default paper size setting.
- Letter: Standard US letter size (8.5in x 11in).
- Legal: Standard US legal size (8.5in x 14in).
- A4: Standard international paper size (8.27in x 11.69in).
- ID Card: Compact paper size for identification cards (2.17in x 3.40in).
12. Select whether to Include Hard Page Break between Students and Select Font Size from the provided pull-downs.
13. Use the text editors to create and edit Letterhead Templates. There are two editors: the Header and the Footer. The open word processing box is equipped with a full formatting palette; note that hovering your mouse over any tool in the formatting palette will display a short description of what that tool will do. See Word Processing Tools for detailed information.
14. Use the Side editor to format the side of the page. The open word processing box is equipped with a full formatting palette; note that hovering your mouse over any tool in the formatting palette will display a short description of what that tool will do. See Word Processing Tools for detailed information.
a. Select the None, Right, or Left radio button to set the alignment of the content entered in the Side text editor.
b. Enter the Width percentage in the provided text box to determine how much horizontal space the side letterhead occupies on the page.
c. Select the Stretch to Top of Page check box to extend the side letterhead so that it aligns with the very top of the page, regardless of the height percentage entered.
15. When finished, click Save.
To create a new Letterhead Template based on an existing template, or to test changes for an existing template, copy the Source Code into a new Letterhead Template by following the steps explained in this section. Note: You do not have to be familiar with HTML to perform this task.
1. In the Setup menu, click Letterhead Templates.
2. Displayed on the Letterhead Templates screen are all existing letterhead templates located on the left side of the screen. From here, click the Title of any template to open and duplicate.
3. Click Source in the tool bar to view the HTML Source Code of the template.
4. Select all of the Source Code and copy it. This can be done using Ctrl-A and Ctrl-C keys for PCs or Command-A and Command-C keys for Macs. You can also right click the mouse for additional options and select Copy, as shown in the image below.
5. Now create a new Letterhead Template following steps described in Creating and Editing Letterhead Templates.
6.Click the Source button on the text editor of the new template, and paste the copied Source Code into the new template. Use the Ctrl-P keys for PCs or Command-P keys for Macs. You can also right click your mouse for additional options and select Paste, as shown in the image below.
7. Click the Source button again to view the copied template.
8. Click Save.
1. In the Setup menu, click Letterhead Templates.
2. Displayed on the Letterhead Templates screen are all existing letterhead templates located on the left side of the screen. From here, click the Title of any template to open, review, and edit.
3. Make all the necessary edits by clicking the fields and entering new text or changing the selection.
4. Click Save to apply changes.
5. Click the delete button (black minus sign) to delete a letterhead template.
a. In the Confirm Delete section, click Delete.
Bold: Applies bold formatting to selected text.
Italic: Applies italic formatting to selected text.
Underline: Underlines selected text.
Strikethrough: Draws a line through selected text.
Subscript: Displays selected text below the baseline, commonly used in formulas (e.g., H₂O).
Superscript: Displays selected text above the baseline, commonly used for exponents (e.g., x²).
Font Family: Changes the font style of selected text.
Text Alignment: Aligns text left, center, or right.
Bulleted List: Creates or removes a bulleted list.
Numbered List: Creates or removes a numbered list.
Font Color: Changes the color of selected text.
Font Background Color: Changes the background color behind selected text.
Highlight: Highlights selected text for emphasis.
Insert Field: Inserts system fields (e.g., demographic or enrollment data) that populate dynamically.
Insert Table: Inserts a table and allows configuration of rows, columns, and formatting.
Horizontal Line: Inserts a horizontal divider line.
Link: Adds or removes hyperlinks, including URLs, email links, or uploaded documents.
Special Characters: Inserts special characters into the text.
Upload Image from Computer: Inserts an image by uploading it from your device.
Insert Media: Embeds media such as images or other supported content.
Page Break: Inserts a page break for printing purposes.
Source: Opens the HTML/CSS source editor for direct code editing.
Import HTML: Allows HTML content to be added into the editor.
Find and Replace: Searches for specific text and replaces it within the document.
Undo: Reverses the most recent action.
Redo: Reapplies the last undone action.
You can insert fields of data, as needed. For example, if your district is utilizing admin Report Card Comments and you'd like to add/insert those comments to the Report Cards letterhead templates, click Insert A Field, select the correct category, then select the report card comments field.
1. Create the report card comments student field via Students > Student Fields.
2. Insert the field into the report card letterhead template.
3. Enter comments via Student Info > Admin Notes > Report Card Admin Comments. Note: This is an example, your district may use a different category and field name.
The Last, First M inserted field's format is determined by:
- Your selection in My Preferences > Student Listing > Student Name Format, or
- If your user control is disabled, the default setting in System Preferences > Default User Preferences > Student Listing > Student Name Format.