Packages for writing Letter

Question

I am looking for packages to write letters. The packages should be able to understand the German DIN1338{a,b} letter format.

What are common packages which are still maintained?

I meant DIN 5008 Din 5008, Changes to DIN 676

[edit] See also my other post and my issues with Dinbrief

However dinbrief is quite old, and I am unable to do line numbering or AFAIR tables. That is the reason why I ask for alternatives.

Answer 1

I usally use the dinbrief document class. I don't know if it is still maintained, but the last update is from 2000. It does, however, what I need. I haven't used scrlttr2 yet so I cannot compare them.

% !TEX TS-program = xelatex
\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{dinbrief}
\usepackage[german]{babel}

\usepackage{blindtext}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\def\briefkopf{\raggedleft{Karl Putt\\ Bahnhofstr. 3\\ 01010 Irgendwo}}

\begin{document}
\subject{Benötigte Unterlagen}
\backaddress{Karl Putt, Bahnhofstr. 3, 01010 Irgendwo}
\nowindowrules
\signature{Karl Putt}
\Datum{\today}
\address{\briefkopf}

\begin{letter}{Max Mustermann \\ %
                Institut für Muster \\ %
                Parkstr. 8 \\ \\ 10115 Berlin
 }
    \opening{Sehr geehrter Herr Mustermann,}
    \blindtext[1]

    \closing{Mit freundlichen Grüßen}

\end{letter}

\end{document}

Answer 2

The KOMA-Script letter class scrlttr2 is very customizable and provides support for DIN 676/5008 out of the box (p. 195):

DIN parameter set for letters on A4-size paper, complying with German standard DIN 676; suitable for window envelopes in the sizes C4, C5, C6, and C6/5 (C6 long).

DINmtext parameter set for letters on A4-size paper, complying with DIN 676, but using an alternate layout with more text on the first page; only suitable for window envelopes in the sizes C6 and C6/5 (C6 long).

(Even though DIN 676 has been superseded by DIN 5008 in 2011, the regulations for the layout of business letters have almost kept the same, only one dimension has been relaxed a bit. Hence, the DIN 676 layout adheres to DIN 5008.)

Parameter sets are simply passed as options to the class. The following shows a minimalistic letter:

\documentclass[version=last,DIN]{scrlttr2} 
\usepackage[english]{babel} 
\begin{document} 
\begin{letter}{%
  Joana Public\\ 
  Hillside 1\\ 
  12345 Public-City%
} 
  \opening{Dear chairman,} 
  the last general meeting was about one year ago. 
  I want to remind you, that the constitution of our club advises you to make a general meeting every six month. 
  Because of this I expect the executive board to detain such a meeting immediately. 
  \closing{Expecting an invitation} 
\end{letter} 
\end{document}

In fact, the DIN settings are even loaded as a default, so it is not necessary to pass them explicitly. For further customizations, please take a look into the Manual, which is available in German and English.

Only available in German is the extended manual as a printed book, which is supposed to provide specifically more customization examples for the letter class.