scrlttr2 - bad format

Question

i have the following formatting problem writing a cover letter, using scrttr2`.
The main text is very long, but as you can see from the given example - there is a lot of unused space. I want the letter fit to one page; for example by reducing the space to the bottom edge.

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt,version=last,ich]{scrlttr2} %Standard: 12 DIV, BOIC 0%
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % erkennen von Umlauten %
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel} % Silbentrennung nach deutschem Standard %
\usepackage{charter} %Schriftart%
\KOMAoptions{foldmarks=off,fromrule=false} % die hässlichen Striche am Rand wegmachen %
\setkomavar{backaddress}{}  % die Unterstreichung der eigenen Adresse weglassen % 
\usepackage{blindtext}
\setkomavar{place}{Mars}        % um den Ort hinzuzufügen %
\setkomavar{fromname}{Space Cowboy}
\setkomavar{fromaddress}{Milkiway 5\\
 99999 Town}
\renewcommand*{\raggedsignature}{\raggedright} % um die Unterschrift bündig zu machen %
% so kann man den Text direkt unter die Anschrift setzen
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{\useplength{toaddrhpos}}
\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-1in} % in sind inch %
% how can i change this - ist there a more elegant way???
\makeatletter
\setlength{\@tempskipa}{-12ex}%
\@addtoplength{toaddrvpos}{\@tempskipa}
\makeatother
\makeatletter
\setlength{\@tempskipa}{-12ex}%
\@addtoplength{refvpos}{\@tempskipa}
\makeatother
\makeatletter
\setlength{\@tempskipa}{12ex}%
\@addtoplength{firstfootvpos}{\@tempskipa}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\begin{letter} {
Sausage Shop\\ 
Recruiting Management\\ 
Mr Sausage \\
Street 5 \\
99999 Town\\
}
\opening{Dear Mr Sausage,}
\blindtext
\\
\blindtext 
\\
\blindtext
\closing{Greets,\\}
\setkomavar*{enclseparator}{Anlagen}
\encl{Notenspiegel, Excelschein}
\end{letter}
\end{document}`

Answer 1

There are a few caveats in your code. First some general hints:

• do not use \\ in text. It is not a marker for a new paragraph. Just leave a single empty line in the code.

• Your comments are misleading mostly.

• you should also use \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} when using pdflatex.

• never use \setlength{evensidemargin}{} or \setlength{oddsidemargin}{}, especially in a letter they make no sense at all. letters are one-sided by default. More on this in the l2tabu: ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/info/l2tabu/german/l2tabu.pdf

• \setkomavar{backaddress}{} does not remove the underlining, it removes your address from the address window completely.

• the ugly stripes are actually the marks where you have to fold the paper to fit it into a regular envelope, might be helpful.

If you do not use a windowed envelope, you do not need the address field, and the result fits on one page if you remove it and the space it takes:

\documentclass[paper=a4,11pt,version=last]{scrlttr2}

% this tells LaTeX the source file's encoding
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
% this does way more then loading german hyphenation
% e.g. it changes names (Tabelle instead of Table etc.)
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}

\usepackage{blindtext}

\KOMAoptions{foldmarks=off, fromrule=false}

\setkomavar{place}{Mars}
\setkomavar{fromname}{Space Cowboy}
\setkomavar{fromaddress}{%
  Milkiway 5\\
  99999 Town%
}

%remove addrfield and its space
\KOMAoptions{addrfield=false}
\makeatletter
\@setplength{refvpos}{\useplength{toaddrvpos}}
\makeatletter

\begin{document}
\begin{letter}{%
  Sausage Shop\\ 
  Recruiting Management\\ 
  Mr Sausage \\
  Street 5 \\
  99999 Town\\
}
\opening{Dear Mr Sausage,}
\blindtext

\blindtext 

\blindtext
\closing{Greets}
\encl{Notenspiegel, Excelschein}
\end{letter}
\end{document}

Result:

Answer 2

You can load the DINmtext.lco to save space. See the KOMA-Script documentation, section "Letter Class Option Files" for more information.

If there is no firstfoot you can set firstfoot=false and enlargefirstpage.

Use the package geometry to change the pagelayout:

\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{hmargin=\useplength{toaddrhpos},bottom=2cm}

Code:

\documentclass[
%  ich,
  DINmtext,
  foldmarks=off,
  fromrule=off,
  backaddress=off,
  firstfoot=off,
  enlargefirstpage
]{scrlttr2} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage{charter}

\setkomavar{place}{Mars}
\setkomavar{fromname}{Space Cowboy}
\setkomavar{fromaddress}{Milkiway 5\\99999 Town}
\renewcommand*{\raggedsignature}{\raggedright}

\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{hmargin=\useplength{toaddrhpos},bottom=2cm}

\makeatletter
\@addtoplength{refvpos}{-2\baselineskip}
\makeatother

\usepackage{blindtext}
\begin{document}
\begin{letter} {
Sausage Shop\\ 
Recruiting Management\\ 
Mr Sausage \\
Street 5 \\
99999 Town\\
}
\opening{Dear Mr Sausage,}
\blindtext

\blindtext 

\blindtext
\closing{Greets,\\}
\setkomavar*{enclseparator}{Anlagen}
\encl{Notenspiegel, Excelschein}
\end{letter}
\end{document}

Answer 3

You can work with enlargefirstpage as documented, but please don't.

Sometimes, you have to accept, that some things don't fit. I don't know about Mr. Sausage, but tfl gets furious looking at this.