Business letters: Attention line

On this page

• When to use an attention line
• How to format the attention line
• Where to place the attention line
• Additional information

When to use an attention line

When a letter is addressed to an organization instead of to an individual, an attention line may be used to indicate the appropriate individual or department to handle the letter.

An attention line is optional. In fact, it’s often better simply to place the name of the relevant individual or department at the beginning of the inside address.

At the same time, addressing a letter to a company does have one advantage: it ensures that the letter will be processed even if the person indicated in the attention line is unavailable.

How to format the attention line

The attention line begins with the word Attention, followed by a colon. After the colon, provide the courtesy title and full name of the individual who should deal with the letter:

Alternatively, you may put a position title or a department name after the colon:

The attention line may be in a mix of capital and lower case letters or entirely in capitals. You may also put the attention line in bold font.

Where to place the attention line

Begin the attention line at the left margin, on the second line below the inside address:

Additional information

• Correspondence and addresses – Guidelines and resources