Why the standard exists at all
The standard ensures that the address sits exactly within the window of a DIN-long envelope, that sorting machines can read the address, and that letters lose nothing when filed. Anyone who follows it comes across as professional — and avoids having the postal service manually rework the item.
Form A or Form B?
The two forms differ only in the height of the letterhead. Form A suits short sender details, while Form B suits letterheads with a larger logo.
| Element | Form A | Form B |
|---|---|---|
| Letterhead height | 27 mm | 45 mm |
| Start of address field (from top) | 27 mm | 45 mm |
| Start of subject line | approx. 98.4 mm | approx. 116.4 mm |
The key measurements at a glance
- Left margin: 24.1 mm — space for hole-punching.
- Right margin: at least 8.1 mm, though 20 mm is common in practice.
- Address field: 85 mm wide, 40 mm high, with no blank line between the return-address note and the recipient's address.
- Fold marks: at 87 mm and 192 mm from the top edge of the page.
- Punch mark: at 148.5 mm, i.e. halfway down the page.
- Font size: 10 to 12 point, consistent throughout the letter.
Order of elements
- Letterhead with sender details
- Return-address note (single line, small) above the recipient's address
- Recipient's address: name, street, postcode and town
- Information block, or place and date, right-aligned
- Subject line — bold, without the word "Subject", no full stop at the end
- Salutation, followed by a blank line
- Body text, paragraphs separated by blank lines
- Closing phrase, three blank lines for the signature, name printed in full
- Note of enclosures
Writing the date correctly
Two forms are permitted: the numeric form 2026-08-06 following ISO 8601, and the alphanumeric form 6 August 2026. If a place precedes it, a comma follows: "Berlin, 6 August 2026". The short form 06.08.26 should be avoided in business correspondence.
Common mistakes
- A blank line between the postcode line and the street in the address field
- Writing "Subject:" before the subject line
- Separating postcode and town with a comma instead of a space
- Too narrow a right margin, causing text to be cut off when printed
- An address that has shifted and is no longer fully readable through the window envelope
A template without the millimetre-measuring
Anyone who doesn't want to wrestle with margins and tab stops themselves can use a template that already knows the measurements. The briefsende.de editor generates the DIN 5008 layout automatically: you type the text and address, and the preview shows the finished A4 sheet including page breaks. From page 2 onwards, the header is dropped so the body text can use the full text area.