How to Send a Memo Format in Outlook

By Adrian Grahams

Updated September 15, 2017

Send professional and business emails in memo format.
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Using a memo format in Microsoft Office Outlook emails can give the email messages a more formal and professional appearance. To send an email in memo format, create the email and save it as an Outlook email template. Once you’ve added the memo template, you can use it for each Outlook email message that you want to send in memo format.

Launch Microsoft Outlook. Click the “Home” tab on the main menu ribbon. Click the “New Email” button.

Enter the recipients’ email addresses and email subject into the applicable input fields at the top of the “New Email” window.

Type “Memo” or the more formal “Memorandum” into the top of the email body text pane. Apply bold, underlined, font size and font face formatting to the text by clicking the relevant formatting button in the “Basic Text” group on the “Message” tab of the menu ribbon.

Type “Date:” followed by the date of the memo immediately under the “Memo” heading. On a separate line, type “To:” followed by the recipients' names and job titles.

Enter the subject title of the memo under the date and recipient information; for example, “Re: Revised Spending Forecast.” Type the body text for the memo under the subject title. Many business memos include a brief background and introduction and are followed by key points and a conclusion. Press “Enter” or “Return” on your computer keyboard after each paragraph to add paragraph breaks.

Click “File” followed by “Save As” in the main Outlook menu ribbon.

Select “Outlook Template” from the Save as Type list. Enter a descriptive name for the template; for example, “Memo” or “Business Memo.”

Press the “Send” button to send the original memo email from which you created the template. You can now access the memo email template from the Outlook “Developer” tab. Click “Choose Form” and select “User Templates” in the “Look In” drop-down list. Select the memo template, and then click “Open.” Edit the contents of the template and send the email in memo format.

Tips

If you can’t see the “Developer” tab on the Outlook menu, enable this option by clicking “File” followed by “Options.” Click “Customize Ribbon” in the left-hand pane. Click the check box next to “Developer” to select and enable this option. Click “OK” to add the tab to the menu ribbon.

Formal business memos usually include the date and recipients' names, but your email message automatically includes this information in the email message header. Skip Step 4 if you don't want to repeat this information in the main body of the memo.

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