koma-scrlttr2: bottom margin is immense, how to reduce?

Question

I'm really struggling with what seems like it should be a simple layout question for KOMA scrlttr2.

I simply cannot find any way to get the bottom margin of a letter to be anything less than 2 inches. I've browsed through the KOMA documentation. I certainly understand the authors' wish for users to understand the principles of proper page layout for publication. However, a letter is not for publication. A bottom margin of 2-3 cm may be too small for publication, but it's entirely reasonable for a letter.

So I think it should be a fairly simple question, but the documentation provides pounds of theory but nothing like a simple answer.

First I tried the geometry package, but the "bottom" property had no effect. Scrlttr2 still insists on breaking the page about 2 inches above the page boundary.

Then I saw that typearea is recommended for KOMA scripts. The width parameter of \areaset clearly takes effect, but the height parameter does not.

\usepackage[headexclude,footexclude,landscape]{typearea}
\areaset{6.5in}{11in}

I'm sure there must be a way to do this. There's plenty of room on the page for the content. It's just that scrlttr2 is refusing to let me use that space.

Answer 1

By default there is space on the first page for a footer. You can turn this off with the class option firstfoot=false.

\documentclass[firstfoot=false]{scrlttr2}

\usepackage[english]{babel}
\areaset{6.5in}{11in}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\begin{letter}{addressee}

\opening{Dear XXX}
\lipsum[1-20]
\closing{Yours}
\end{letter}


\end{document}

As mentioned in comments there is additionally an enlargefirstpage option that can be used in the documentclass in addition to firstfoot=false, but I have yet to see any concrete example where this makes a difference.

A brute force way to get extra space on the first page is by writing e.g. \enlargethispage{3\baselineskip} just before the \opening command. However, this will not respect your original page boundaries and should only be used in an emergency situation.