Fensterbrief - a python script for working with letters based on LaTeX and Markdown

I use LaTeX for more than a decade. Naturally it is my preferred tool suite when it comes to writing letters. Since working with LaTeX and doing office work requires a bit book keeping, I started developing a helper tool to work with LaTeX letters and corresponding templates.

I think everything started when I had to write a letter a long time ago and instead of just writing the letter directly, I implemented a CGI script that asked for metadata and then rendered everything into a PDF file using the LaTeX code as intermediate format. There are several similar scripted approaches, you can find on the Internet. Meanwhile, for me it is more natural to have LaTeX letter files on my filesystem and when I write a new letter, I may reuse an old one, especially to reuse the recipient address I manually inserted into a letter to the same recipient before. So, I keep the LaTeX letter files for a later reuse and the PDF output to have a printable copy and I have several unnecessary artifact files, which usually remain in the filesystem, too. My letters are organized in a directory structure: each directory corresponds to a business process, which stores one or more documents related to it. The files and folder have a fixed naming scheme, which includes a date in ISO date notation (YYYY-MM-DD) for letters and a YYYY-MM format for folder names to support a file name based lexicographical order.

For a long time, I manually organized these files and directories. Recently, I started automating the process and wrote a python script that implements it. The idea is to have a tool that enables me writing letters similar fast as writing e-mails, in other words in a fire and forget style. Hence, I recently added the support for Markdown and support for the lookup of postal addresses via the Google API.

The tool is called Fensterbrief and it supports these features:

• intended to be used via command line
• maintaining a folder and document structure
• support for LaTeX and Markdown based letters
• support for fax transmissions via simple-fax.de
• support for buying postage for the Deutsche Post
• lookup postal addresses via the Google API

The source code, further documentation, and usage examples are on Github.