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Cover Letter Format: How to Structure a Cover Letter in 2026
The correct cover letter format for 2026 — margins, spacing, font, and a section-by-section structure — with a free copy-paste template you can fill in. No sign-up required.
What is the correct format for a cover letter?
A cover letter follows a standard business-letter format: a contact header, the date, a greeting to the hiring manager, three or four short paragraphs, and a sign-off with your name. Keep it to one page, single-spaced and left-aligned, with a blank line between paragraphs and one-inch margins. The format exists to make the letter easy to skim in under a minute.
Hiring managers read dozens of letters at a sitting, so a clean, predictable structure does half the work before they read a word. Get the layout right and your evidence lands; get it wrong and a strong candidate can look careless. This guide gives you the exact structure, a copy-paste skeleton you can fill in, and the spacing, font, and length rules that make the letter look professional on any screen.
Here is the full format at a glance, top to bottom:
| Part | What goes here | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Contact header | Your name and contact details, matched to your resume | 2–3 lines |
| Date | The day you send the letter, month spelled out | 1 line |
| Inside address | Hiring manager and company (skip for email) | 2–3 lines |
| Greeting | “Dear Mr./Ms. [Last name],” | 1 line |
| Opening | The role and your strongest reason for fitting it | 2–3 sentences |
| Body | One or two paragraphs of specific evidence | 3–6 sentences |
| Closing | Restated interest and a request for the interview | 1–2 sentences |
| Sign-off | “Sincerely,” plus your name | 1 line |
Cover letter format template (copy and paste)
Start from this skeleton and replace each bracketed part with your own details. Match the font and header to your resume so the two documents read as one application rather than two unrelated files.
[Your Name]
[City, State] · [Email] · [Phone] · [LinkedIn]
[Date]
[Hiring Manager Name]
[Company Name]
[Company City, State]
Dear [Mr./Ms. Last Name],
Opening. Name the role and your single strongest reason for fitting it.
Body. One or two short paragraphs of specific, quantified evidence that matches the job’s priorities.
Closing. Restate your interest and ask for the interview.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Prefer a designed layout to a blank skeleton? Start from a formatted cover letter template, or see how each part reads for a real job in our library of cover letter examples.
Cover letter format, section by section
Every part of the letter has one job. Here is what goes in each section and exactly how to format it.
1. Contact header
Put your name on the first line, then your city and state, email, phone, and LinkedIn URL on the line below. A full street address is optional in 2026 — employers rarely mail candidates, and dropping it saves space. The key rule: make this header identical to your resume header, same font and same details, so the application looks like one coordinated document.
2. Date
Leave a blank line after the header and write the date you send the letter on its own line. Spell the month out in full — “March 3, 2026,” not “3/3/26” — which is the standard for US business letters and reads cleanly if the letter is ever printed.
3. Inside address (employer details)
For a formal, uploaded letter, add the hiring manager’s name, the company name, and the company’s city and state a line below the date. If you are applying through an email body and do not have these details, you can skip this block entirely and go straight to the greeting.
4. Greeting (salutation)
Open with “Dear Mr./Ms. [Last name],” using a real name wherever you can find one on the company site or LinkedIn. When you truly cannot, “Dear Hiring Team,” or “Dear [Department] Team,” is a clean fallback. Avoid “To Whom It May Concern,” which reads as dated and impersonal, and never guess a courtesy title if you are unsure — use the person’s full name instead.
5. Opening paragraph
Name the role and lead with your single strongest, most specific reason for fitting it — a result, a scale, or a directly relevant win. Skip “I am writing to express my interest,” which tells the reader nothing they cannot already see. Two or three sentences is plenty; the job of the opening is to earn the second paragraph.
6. Body paragraph(s)
Use one or two short paragraphs of proof, not a summary of your whole career. Pick the achievements that map directly to the job’s priorities and make each one concrete: what the situation was, what you did, and what changed as a result. Where a number exists, use it. Mirror the exact skills and tools the posting names so the letter reads as tailored.
7. Closing paragraph
End with one or two sentences that restate your interest, connect it to something specific about the company, and ask for a conversation. Keep it confident rather than apologetic — “I’d welcome the chance to talk through how I can help” beats “I hope you will consider me.” This is also where you can point to your attached resume.
8. Sign-off
Finish with a professional closing such as “Sincerely,” or “Best regards,” followed by your full name. If you are sending a printed or scanned letter, leave a few lines of space for a handwritten signature between the two. In an email or PDF, your typed name is enough.
How to format a cover letter
Follow these six steps to set up and format a cover letter from a blank page.
- Set up the page. Open a blank document, set one-inch margins on all sides, and choose a clean, professional font such as Calibri, Arial, or Georgia at 10.5–12pt. Use single spacing, left-align everything, and turn off paragraph indents so the letter reads as one clean column.
- Build your contact header. Add your name, then your city and state, email, phone, and LinkedIn on the line below. A full street address is optional. Match this header to your resume exactly so the two documents look like one application.
- Add the date, inside address, and greeting. Leave a blank line, write the date, then add the hiring manager and company for a formal letter. Follow with “Dear Mr./Ms. [Last name],” using a real name where you can, or “Dear Hiring Team,” if you cannot.
- Write three or four short paragraphs. Open by naming the role and your strongest reason for fitting it, add one or two body paragraphs of specific, quantified evidence, and keep a blank line between each paragraph with no indents.
- Close and sign off. End with a short closing that restates your interest and asks for an interview, then add “Sincerely,” or “Best regards,” and type your full name below it.
- Save and send as a PDF. Proofread once, then export as a PDF so the layout holds on any device. Attach it if there is an upload field, or paste the letter into the email body — dropping the address block — if you are applying by email.
What spacing, margins, and font should a cover letter use?
Use a single-spaced body with one blank line between paragraphs, one-inch margins on all sides, and left alignment with no indents. Pick a clean, professional font at 10.5–12pt — the same font as your resume — and keep the color black on white. Save as a PDF so the layout holds on any device.
| Element | Standard setting | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Spacing | Single-spaced, one blank line between paragraphs | Double spacing or indented paragraphs |
| Margins | 1 inch all sides (0.75 inch if tight) | Margins under 0.5 inch to cram in text |
| Font | Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, or Garamond | Script, display, or decorative fonts |
| Font size | 10.5–12pt, matching your resume | 9pt to fit more, or 14pt to fill space |
| Alignment | Left-aligned | Centered or justified text |
| File type | PDF (or the format the posting requests) | A .docx that reflows, or a scanned image |
How long should a cover letter be?
A cover letter should fit on a single page — roughly 250 to 400 words in three or four short paragraphs. Recruiters skim, so a tight, specific letter outperforms a long one every time. If it runs past one page, cut background detail and keep only the evidence that matches the job. When you need it even shorter, our short cover letter examples show how to make the same case in half the space.
Should you send your cover letter as an email or an attachment?
Follow the application. If it has an upload field, attach a PDF and keep the email itself short. If you are applying by email with no upload, put the letter directly in the email body, drop the physical address block, and start with the greeting. Either way, the paragraphs and their order stay the same.
| Uploaded / attached letter | Letter in the email body | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Full business letter with header and date | Skip the address block; open with the greeting |
| File | PDF named clearly, e.g. Jane-Doe-Cover-Letter.pdf | Plain text in the body, no attachment needed |
| Subject line | Matches the portal’s requirements | “Application: [Role] — [Your Name]” |
| Length | One page | Slightly shorter reads better on screen |
Tip. When you attach a PDF, still write two or three warm sentences in the email body — never send a blank email with only a file. Name the role, say your resume and cover letter are attached, and thank the reader. A bare attachment reads as careless.
Common cover letter format mistakes
- Running past one page, or cramming with tiny margins and 9pt font to make it fit.
- Using a different font or header than your resume, so they look like two unrelated documents.
- Centering the text or indenting every paragraph instead of clean left alignment.
- Sending a .docx that reformats on the employer’s device instead of a locked-in PDF.
- Opening with “To Whom It May Concern” when a quick search would surface a name.
- Leaving another company’s name in the letter after copy-pasting from a previous application.
Once your format is right, focus on the content and steer clear of the wider cover letter mistakes that undermine an otherwise strong letter. Browse cover letter examples by job title to see each part in context, start from a ready-made cover letter template, keep it tight with short cover letter examples, or let the cover letter generator draft a formatted, tailored letter from your resume and the job posting.
Fresume builds the whole application in one place: a free ATS resume checker that scores your resume against a pasted job description, 50+ ATS-friendly resume templates, the cover letter generator above, a Chrome extension that autofills applications on LinkedIn, Indeed, Workday, and Greenhouse (plus generic forms), and voice-based AI interview practice in 16 languages. The core tools are free, and Premium is $17.49/month. Whichever way you write the letter, get the format right first — it is the frame everything else hangs on. Format is only the frame, though; for the words that fill it, follow our guide on how to write a cover letter. Format is only the frame, though; for the words that fill it, follow our guide on how to write a cover letter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
01What is the correct format for a cover letter?
A cover letter uses a standard business-letter format: your contact header, the date, a greeting to the hiring manager, three or four short paragraphs (opening, one or two body paragraphs, and a closing), and a sign-off with your name. Keep it to one page, single-spaced, left-aligned, with a blank line between paragraphs and one-inch margins.
02How should a cover letter be spaced and formatted?
Use a single-spaced body with one blank line between paragraphs, one-inch margins, and left alignment with no indents. Pick a clean, professional font at 10.5 to 12pt — the same font as your resume — and keep the whole letter to one page. Save and send it as a PDF so the layout holds on any device.
03What font and size should a cover letter use?
Use a professional, readable font such as Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, or Garamond at 10.5 to 12 points. Match it to your resume so the two documents look like one application. Avoid decorative or script fonts, keep the text black on a white background, and never shrink below 10.5pt just to fit more on the page.
04How long should a cover letter be?
A cover letter should fit on a single page — roughly 250 to 400 words in three or four short paragraphs. Recruiters skim, so a tight, specific letter beats a long one. If it runs past one page, cut background detail and keep only the evidence that matches the job you are applying for.
05Should a cover letter be an email or an attachment?
Follow the application. If it has an upload field, attach a PDF and keep the email body short. If you are applying by email with no upload, put the letter directly in the email body, drop the physical address block, and start with the greeting. Either way, the structure of the letter stays the same.
06Do you put your address on a cover letter?
A full street address is optional now. Include your city and state, email, and phone in the header — employers rarely need a mailing address, and leaving it off saves space. Keep the date and the employer’s contact details if you are sending a formal, uploaded letter rather than a plain email.
07Should you send a cover letter as a PDF or a Word document?
Send a PDF unless the posting asks for Word. A PDF locks your layout so margins, spacing, and font look the same on any device, while a .docx can reflow on the employer’s computer. If the application specifies a Word file, follow that instruction, and never upload a scanned image or a shared link.
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