What is the difference between enclosure and attachment

These distinctions aren't always necessary, especially if you worry about sending papers without a paperclip or have no envelopes on hand, but they are the traditional way business professionals distinguished between attachments and enclosures. The type of communication or correspondence you send can also determine whether you should attach additional documents or enclose them.

For example, email and other forms of electronic communication often use attachments because online services have created a system in which attaching a document or file to your correspondence makes more sense than enclosing it, as there is nothing in which to enclose files through email.

There are also many organizations that may create rules and procedures for when you should attach or enclose documents. In these situations, your employer may require you to send an attachment with a memo or to only use enclosures with specific types of letters or reports. Checking your employee handbook can help you decide whether attaching or enclosing is the proper way to send additional documents for a specific form of communication.

Many business professionals may expect certain citations depending on the content of your letter and the type of additional document, although there is little difference between the format of the citations. The basic citation for additional documents is to name the type of document and describe it. For example, you may write "Attached: Sales charts" or "Enclosed: Employee organizational list" at the end of your letter.

When sending an attachment through email or physical letters, you can typically include a sentence mentioning the attached document or write it underneath your signature line.

You can do the same for enclosures, but change the word or abbreviation for an attachment to one that signifies an enclosure.

For more casual documents that use attachments, the citation may not be necessary if you mention the document in your letter, but it's important to include a citation for most enclosed documents to ensure they don't get lost or overlooked. Despite having limitations for sending enclosed documents through email, there are some ways business professionals may enclose short copies of documents or extra information in electronic formats.

At the end of an email, you may be able to paste the text of a document or insert reports and pictures as images in the body of your email. Since the information is technically a part of the email and not attached to it, you can consider it an enclosure. This may be useful when you have important complementary information to send to a colleague but don't have a file you can easily attach to an email. However, this is most useful when you only have to send one or two very short documents.

Otherwise, try to find an acceptable file you can attach to the email or send as a physical copy. When using attachments and enclosures in business, most people understand what these terms mean when they see them in a letter. However, attachments are more well-known to people outside of the industry, so mentioning attachments when you add documents to your correspondence can be a better option for more casual business settings or topics.

For example, if you're sending an invitation for a company-wide holiday event along with an explanation of the upcoming holiday schedule, you might call the schedule an attachment rather than an enclosure even though it's separate from the invitation.

For more formal communications, like those with clients and your managers, it's better to use the terms "enclosure" and "attachment" more accurately, because business professionals can often tell the difference between these terms.

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In this case, they are cited the same way. This way, they can contact you in case something is missing. You can also just state the number of enclosed documents without actually writing out their names. Enclosures: 4 means that you have enclosed four documents. The only disadvantage to just listing the number of enclosures is that the recipient has no idea which documents to expect, just how many documents they should find with the business letter.

If you cite a document in your letter but did not include it with the letter, then let the recipient know. Although the terms enclosure and attachments are used in the same context, they are not the same. Knowing what both terms mean and how to apply them independently when writing a business letter will give your work a more competitive edge and a sense of professionalism. It is a small detail, but one that separates the experienced from inexperienced office worker.

Citing your enclosures also helps the recipient navigate your content with minimal effort. Not to mention, citing an enclosure lets a recipient know when they may be missing a document. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sign in. Log into your account. Forgot your password? Privacy Policy.