Memo generator — the four-line masthead, filled in
TO, FROM, DATE, SUBJECT, then what you have to say. Those four lines are the whole reason a memo is a memo, and they are why it has no address block, no “Dear …” and no signed close. Fill them in here and get a clean A4 memo you can print, circulate or pin up.
- TO · FROM · DATE · SUBJECT, and nothing it does not need
- Names on the TO line stay on your device
These four lines are what make a memo a memo. They stand in for the address block, the salutation and the signed close of a letter — which is why there are no fields for any of those here.
Some organisations have the writer initial the printed copy beside the FROM line instead of signing at the end. Turn this on if yours is one of them; it prints a short rule and nothing else.
What you are writing here, names on the TO and c.c. lines included, is held in local storage on this computer so that closing the tab costs you nothing. Nothing on this page talks to a back end, so none of it travels. Pressing “Start a blank memo” erases what is held there.
MEMORANDUM
- TO
- FROM
- DATE
- SUBJECT
Writing the memo
- 1
Fill in the four lines
TO can be a person, a job title or a group — “All warehouse supervisors” is a perfectly good TO line. FROM is you. DATE and SUBJECT complete the block. A c.c. line and a reference number are offered as well and are simply not printed when you leave them empty.
- 2
Say the point in the first sentence
A memo does not warm up. The reader already knows who you are and where they work, so the opening line is for the decision, the change or the request — not for context. Background belongs underneath it, where the people who need it will find it and everyone else can skip it.
- 3
Add headed sections only if it needs them
A one-page memo rarely does. When one runs longer — a policy change with several parts, say — the section rows give it headings that someone can skim, and they move up and down with the same controls every list on this site uses.
- 4
Put the ask in the action box
If you want someone to do something, it goes in the boxed “Action requested” line beneath the body, naming who and by when. Buried in the third paragraph it gets missed, and a memo whose request gets missed has failed at the only job it had. Leave the box empty when the memo really is for information only.
- 5
Print it or save it as PDF
The memo paginates itself onto A4 with proper margins and numbers its own pages, so a two-page memo does not arrive as three sheets with a stray line on the last. Use your browser’s “Save as PDF” to keep or email a copy.
Frequently asked questions
What actually makes a memo different from a letter?
Where it is going. A letter leaves the organisation, so it needs the reader’s postal address, an opening greeting and a signed close — all the machinery of addressing a stranger. A memo circulates inside, where the distribution itself is the context. The masthead does the work all of that machinery would have done: TO names the reader, FROM names the writer, and nothing between them needs introducing.
Why is there no “Dear …” and no “Yours sincerely”?
Because the masthead already said who it is to and who it is from, and repeating that as a greeting and a signature is the single most common thing people get wrong when they write their first memo. This tool deliberately offers no field for either. Adding them “just in case” would teach the wrong shape quietly, to everyone who used it.
Do I sign a memo?
Conventionally, no — not the way you sign a letter. Some organisations do have the writer put their initials beside the FROM line on the printed copy, which is what the “leave a space to initial” switch prints: a short rule and nothing else. Many organisations do not do this at all. Turn it on if yours does, leave it off if it does not, and if you genuinely need a signature block at the foot of the page, what you are writing is a letter.
What should go on the SUBJECT line?
Enough for someone to find it in a year. “Safety” is a filing category, not a subject. “Forklift licence checks from 1 September” tells the reader what changed and when, which means it also tells the person searching the shared drive next March. If your subject line is one abstract noun, it is not finished.
Can a memo go to a whole group rather than one person?
Yes, and most do. Put the group on the TO line as you would say it out loud — “All site supervisors”, “Finance team” — and use the distribution list at the bottom for where the copies physically go: a notice board, a file, a department. Those are two different questions and this form keeps them apart.
What is the difference between c.c. and the distribution list?
c.c. names people who should see the memo but are not being asked to act on it — it sits in the masthead because it is part of who the memo is addressed to. The distribution list is about copies rather than people, and it prints small at the very bottom. A memo pinned on a wall has a distribution list and often no c.c. line at all.
How long should a memo be?
Short enough that nobody puts it aside to read later. One page is the working target, and the page count in the footer here is a hint you should take seriously — a three-page memo is usually a report with a memo stapled to the front, and would be better sent as exactly that.
Should this be a memo or should it be minutes?
A memo says what is going to happen; minutes record what already did. If you are announcing a decision, write a memo. If instead you are setting down who attended a meeting, what came up, and the task each person left with, that is a record with a different shape — attendance, items, resolutions, and a table of owners against dates — and the meeting minutes tool on this site exists for exactly that.
Is what I type here sent anywhere?
No. Nothing on this page talks to a back end; the memo is put together by your own browser out of what you type. The draft, names on the TO and c.c. lines included, is held in local storage on this computer so that closing the tab costs you nothing. Pressing “Start a blank memo” erases what is held there.