Cover Letter Format: Layout, Spacing and File Type
To format a cover letter, put your contact details, the date and the employer's details at the top, then a greeting, short left-aligned paragraphs (three to five, depending on the source) on one page, a sign-off and your name. Use a plain 10 to 12 point font and margins near one inch. Sources differ on details, shown below.
This guide covers layout only. What to say in each paragraph is in our guide on how to write a cover letter. Every rule below names the page it comes from. Where we found no source, we say it is a convention, meaning common practice that nobody we read states as a rule.
Step 1: Build the header and contact block
By the end of this step you will have the top of the page done.
Most of the pages we read start with your own contact details. Purdue's cover letter workshop lists name, address, phone number and email, and says the date and the company's contact information follow directly after them (Purdue OWL). Boston University, Tufts and UConn say instead to reuse the header from your resume (Boston University, Tufts, UConn). The University of St. Thomas calls the resume header a personal letterhead (University of St. Thomas).
The sources disagree on the street address. Purdue's business-letter page says that without letterhead you put the sender's address at the top (Purdue OWL), and Texas A&M also puts your address at the top (Texas A&M). The resume-header pages do not say whether a street address belongs in it. Our recommendation, not a sourced rule: if your resume header has a street address, keep it; if it shows only city, phone and email, match the resume. Either way, include a phone number and an email address.
Step 2: Add the date and the employer's address
Write the date out with the month spelled, as Boston University says (Boston University). Texas A&M gives the pattern as Month, Day, Year (Texas A&M). Purdue's business-letter page says to put the date two inches from the top and the inside address one line below it, left justified (Purdue OWL). That page is about business letters in general, not cover letters.
Whether to include the employer's address is a point where the sources lean one way. Purdue's workshop, Ohio State, Boston University, Texas A&M and UConn all list the employer's details in the letter; Tufts gives no instruction (Ohio State, Boston University, UConn). Ohio State lists the recipient's name, title and company address. Boston University accepts "address or other contact information", so the full street address is optional there. UConn says to look up the company's local or headquarters address when the posting has none. For an email or an upload form with no address to copy, it is a convention to leave the block as name, title and company.
Step 3: Choose the salutation
Use a person's name when you can find one. UConn says to use a name when you can, and Texas A&M says to address the letter to the hiring manager when possible (UConn, Texas A&M).
Without a name, the sources offer these options:
| Source | Greeting it suggests |
|---|---|
| Ohio State | "Dear Hiring Manager" |
| Texas A&M | "Dear Hiring Manager" or "Dear Hiring Committee" |
| Tufts | "Dear Hiring Manager" or "Dear Human Resource Manager", or a subject line in place of a greeting |
| Boston University | "hiring manager", "hiring committee" or "selection committee" |
| Purdue OWL workshop | "Dear Hiring Professionals" |
Tufts and UConn both advise against "To Whom It May Concern", and Tufts also against "Dear Sir" and "Dear Madam". If you know the name but not the person's gender, the University of St. Thomas says to drop "Mr." or "Ms." and use the full name, as in "Dear Jo Anne Roberts" (University of St. Thomas).
Punctuation after the greeting: Purdue's business-letter page says to use a colon, never a comma (Purdue OWL). The other pages do not state a rule.
Step 4: Set paragraphs, spacing, margins and font
Length first. Purdue, Ohio State, Boston University, Tufts and Texas A&M all say one page. For how many words fit on that page, see how long a cover letter should be. On paragraphs, the sources give a range:
| Source | Paragraph count it gives |
|---|---|
| Purdue OWL quick tips | One intro, one to three for skills, one closing (three to five in all) |
| Tufts | Opening, one or two body paragraphs, closing |
| Texas A&M | Short intro, two to three body paragraphs, short closing |
| Boston University | At most three to four |
| UConn | Three to four |
Spacing is the most agreed point. Purdue's business-letter page says block format is left justified and single spaced, with a double space (a blank line) between paragraphs (Purdue OWL). Purdue's quick tips say to single-space the letter and leave a space between paragraphs, and Ohio State says to single space within paragraphs and double space between them (Purdue OWL, Ohio State). Purdue also says to align paragraphs to the left.
Margins and font are where the sources differ most:
| Source | Margins | Font |
|---|---|---|
| Purdue OWL quick tips | One inch usually; smaller, to about 0.7 inch, if equal on all sides | Not addressed |
| Purdue OWL business letter | No width given | Times New Roman 12; Arial allowed |
| Ohio State | One inch | Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri, 10 to 12 point |
| Boston University | Same as your resume | Same as your resume |
| Tufts | Not addressed | Same as your resume (example: Times New Roman 12) |
Our reading: one-inch margins and a 10 to 12 point font sit inside every range above, and Boston University and Tufts both tell you to match your resume's font. That is our reading, not a sourced rule.
Step 5: Finish with the sign-off
Ohio State and Texas A&M give "Sincerely," and UConn and Ohio State add "Best regards" as an alternative, each followed by your typed name (Ohio State, Texas A&M, UConn). Signature space differs. Purdue's quick tips say to leave at least three spaces between the close and the typed name and sign in ink, and its business-letter page says four lines (Purdue OWL, Purdue OWL). Ohio State says to leave space for a handwritten signature if you submit a hard copy (Ohio State). For an upload or email, it is a convention to type your name and skip the gap. The content of the last paragraph is covered in our checklist of what to include in a cover letter.
Step 6: Pick the file type and file name
Ohio State says to save and upload the letter as a PDF "to preserve formatting" (Ohio State). Tufts says you usually upload or attach it, with PDF preferred (Tufts). Texas A&M links a .docx template and does not require a file type (Texas A&M). If the posting names a format, use that format.
For the file name, the one page we read that addresses it, Tufts, says to label attachments with your name. No page we read gives a full pattern, so a name such as "Firstname-Lastname-Cover-Letter.pdf" is a convention of ours. Spaces and symbols in a name can cause trouble in some systems, but we found no source on that, so treat it as Unknown.
Handling of files inside application systems is a separate question. Our other site covers it in its guide to resume format for ATS. We make no claim here about what any application system requires.
Step 7: Decide between email body, attachment and upload box
The sources disagree. Tufts says you can attach the letter, or type it into the email body and attach your resume (Tufts). Texas A&M says not to send the letter as the email body and to attach it, unless email correspondence was requested (Texas A&M). Ohio State says to include a cover letter whenever the posting lets you upload one (Ohio State).
The tie-breaker is the posting. If it says how to send the letter, do that. If it does not, our recommendation is to attach a PDF and keep the email itself to two or three lines. Tufts says an emailed application should carry your name and the position in the subject line. For a form with a single upload box, a convention is to combine letter and resume only if the form asks for one file.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using a different header from your resume. Boston University, Tufts and UConn all say to match it.
- "To Whom It May Concern" as a greeting. Tufts and UConn advise against it. Search for a name first.
- Letting the letter run past one page. Five of the sources we read say one page.
- Ignoring the posting. A stated format, file type or sending method overrides every rule here.
- Copying a template's address block with a placeholder left in. This one is our caution, not a sourced rule: read the top of the page once before sending.
An example layout
This skeleton is an example we wrote, with placeholder text. It follows the block format described above. Replace everything in brackets, and drop any line your application does not need.
[Your Full Name]
[City, State ZIP] [Phone] [Email]
[Month Day, Year]
[Recipient Name]
[Recipient Job Title]
[Company Name]
[Company city, State ZIP]
Dear [Recipient Name]:
[Opening paragraph: the role and why you are writing.]
[Body paragraph 1.]
[Body paragraph 2, optional.]
[Closing paragraph: thanks and next step.]
Sincerely,
[Your Full Name]
Every line starts at the left margin, the text is single spaced, and each block is separated by one blank line.
Sources
All pages were read on 2026-11-12. None shows a publication date unless noted; "undated" means none was visible.
- Purdue OWL, "The Basic Business Letter" (undated): https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/professional_technical_writing/basic_business_letters/index.html
- Purdue OWL, "Quick Formatting Tips for Cover Letters" (undated): https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/job_search_writing/job_search_letters/cover_letters_1_quick_tips/quick_formatting_tips.html
- Purdue OWL, "Cover Letter Workshop - Formatting and Organization" (undated): https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/job_search_writing/job_search_letters/cover_letters_workshop/formatting_and_organization.html
- University of St. Thomas Career Development Center, "Formatting Your Cover Letter" (undated): https://career.stthomas.edu/resources/formatting-your-cover-letter/
- Ohio State University, "Cover Letter : Career Resource Guide" (undated): https://careerguide.osu.edu/cover-letter
- Boston University Center for Career Development, "Cover Letters" (undated): https://careers.bu.edu/resources/cover-letters/
- Tufts University Career Center, "Cover Letters" (undated): https://careers.tufts.edu/channels/cover-letters/
- Texas A&M University Career Center, "Cover Letters" (undated): https://careercenter.tamu.edu/current-students/resume-documents/cover-letters/
- UConn Center for Career Development, "Formatting Your Cover Letter" (URL dated 2023-01-09): https://career.uconn.edu/blog/2023/01/09/formatting-your-cover-letter/
- Our other site, "Resume format for ATS": https://atsresumeguide.com/resume-format-for-ats/
Not read: the U.S. Department of Labor's CareerOneStop page returned an access error to our reader, so nothing here is attributed to it. Whether any of these formatting choices changes how many interviews you get is Unknown.
Disclosure
coverletterdesk.com is published by the makers of AIHawk, a job application tool. The About page gives details.
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