talbotje wrote: ↑Mon Feb 28, 2022 5:12 pm
Agreed - for 99% of the time I wish to send a letter, email works just fine with no need to include an attached PDF. However, for those instances where a more formal letter on official letterhead is appropriate (and sometimes even needed), having a digital letterhead seems like the best way to do this. Just today I sent a letter to the Mayor of our town, inviting him to a special service where our Mission President will be speaking. I wanted this to be a formal invite on official letterhead because that is what I felt was proper. Just an email wouldn't convey the same level of formality.
As it is right now, my only option for sending an official letter on Church letterhead is to order 1000 copies of printed letterhead (at a cost of ~$45 plus shipping) when a simple digital download of a Word document could save all that effort, cost, shipping and time.
Section 3.8.8 of the General Handbook permits local units to use the name of the Church so long as the unit name is a prelude to the name of the Church, it's official to the church unit (it gives a sacrament meeting program as an example), and it doesn't imitate the wordmark. I read this as local units can create their own letterhead. Like was done of old. At least, that's what I've done in my callings to date, including digital letterhead for letters issued by our stake presidency. I've created it as an .svg file for the stake's letterhead font and style (which does not imitate the official wordmark in any fashion) and made a word doc template file that is all set up to make preparing a letter a breeze. I am open to anyone pointing out any problems with this approach. Because ultimately, there are reasons to have letterhead, and making the letter digital in its initial publication is far superior to printing a letter only to scan it to a PDF with the degradation of quality and the added steps. (our area presidency did this recently; though, granted, they still have letterhead with the name of the area on it.
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