Adding text immediately after the subject, and before the `\opening` of an scrlttr2 letter?

Question

This is perhaps the companion question to Adding text immediately after the main text of a scrlttr2 letter.

I have a use case where I want to make a comment on a letter before actually starting the salutation (e.g. Dear...). I'd like it to look like a normal paragraph, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't have an indentation.

In this case, it's a short comment on the letter's addressee.

So, this naturally comes after the subject, and before the \opening. Does scrlttr2 provide any support for this? I could not find anything.

I tried adding some text after \begin{letter} and before \opening, but it just ended up in the middle of the address. I also looked through the KOMA-Script documentation, but did not find anything relevant.

MWE follows:

\RequirePackage{iftex}
\RequireLuaTeX
\documentclass[12pt]{scrlttr2}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Scale=0.93]{TeX Gyre Schola}
\begin{document}
\setkomavar{fromname}{Harry Potter}
\setkomavar{fromaddress}{The Cupboard under the Stairs\\ 4 Privet Drive\\ Little Whinging, Surrey}
\setkomavar{firsthead}{%                                                                                                        
    {\fontspec{TeX Gyre Chorus}                                                                                                 
      \usekomavar{fromname}\\                                                                                                   
      \usekomavar{fromaddress}\\                                                                                                
    }                                                                                                                           
  }%                                                                                                                            
\def\today{3rd December, 1999}
\begin{letter}{Ronald Weasley\\The Burrow\\
    Ottery St Catchpole, Devon,\\
    West Country, England}
(I am sending this letter via regular mail, not owl.)% Comment to be placed between subject and opening.
\opening{Dear Ron,}
  Looking forward to my visit!
  \closing{Yours,}
\end{letter}
\end{document}

On the linked question you got -1 from Henri Menke because you had 3k reputation and didn't provide an MWE - now it's my turn to downvote, four years and 4k reputation later. — Marijn, Nov 29 '21 at 15:09
I solved this issue by adding after \opening this code: \llap{\begin{picture}(0,0) \put(0,147){ \emph{My comment}} \end{picture}} — Keks Dose, Nov 30 '21 at 09:32
If you want the comment below the subject: \setkomavar{subject}{Subject\par\normalfont\normalsize\normalcolor Comment}. This works even if you use option subject=titled. — esdd, Nov 30 '21 at 10:23
@KeksDose Thank you for the suggestion. But it seems better if the comment is integrated into the letter format in some way. But do leave an answer if you wish. — Faheem Mitha, Dec 03 '21 at 18:50
Hi @esdd. I tried your suggestion. It would be nice if there was a custom field for such a purpose, but I can understand if there is not. The problem with adding it to the Subject is that there is then no space between the Subject and the comment. I tried adding space, but I guess it didn't work because it's in a box? In any case, feel free to write an answer. — Faheem Mitha, Dec 03 '21 at 20:23

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 04 '21 at 16:12

If you want the comment below the subject:

\setkomavar{subject}{Subject\par\normalfont\normalsize\normalcolor Comment}

This works even if you use option `subject=titled*.

Example:

\documentclass[
  12pt,% default with scrlttr2
  %subject=titled
]{scrlttr2}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Scale=0.93]{TeX Gyre Schola}
\begin{document}
\setkomavar{fromname}{Harry Potter}
\setkomavar{fromaddress}{The Cupboard under the Stairs\\ 4 Privet Drive\\ Little Whinging, Surrey}
\setkomavar{firsthead}{%
  {\fontspec{TeX Gyre Chorus}
    \usekomavar{fromname}\\
    \usekomavar{fromaddress}
  }
}
\setkomavar{date}{3rd December, 1999}% do not redefine \today
\begin{letter}{Ronald Weasley\\The Burrow\\
  Ottery St Catchpole, Devon,\\
  West Country, England}
\setkomavar{subject}{
  A long, long, long, long, long, long letter subject that spans over more than one line
  \par\bigskip
  \normalfont\normalsize\normalcolor
  (I am sending this letter via regular mail, not owl.)% Comment to be placed between subject and opening.
}
\opening{Dear Ron,}
  Looking forward to my visit!
  \closing{Yours,}
\end{letter}
\end{document}

Result:

or with enabled option subject=titled:

Looks good, thank you. Can you elaborate on why \bigskip works here, and \vspace and variants like \\[ ] don't? — Faheem Mitha, Dec 04 '21 at 18:36
You can replace \bigskip by \vspace{...}.
It is also possible to replace \par\bigskip} by \\[...]. Then, in case of option subject=titled, the comment is intented like the subject text. But it is of course not possible to use \par\\[...]. — esdd, Dec 04 '21 at 19:04

Adding text immediately after the subject, and before the `\opening` of an scrlttr2 letter?

1 Answers1