Franking letters

Release, frank, into the envelope

Until now the letter workflow ended when the PDF was released — postage was a separate step outside the platform. LEGALinhouse now offers franking at the moment you release a letter: you choose the dispatch type, the platform buys the matching Deutsche Post Internetmarke through the Deutsche Post interface and places it on the letter. No switching to a franking program, no adhesive stamp, no separate postage software.

Dispatch types — from standard letter to return receipt

The dispatch type determines the stamp and the amount. For a standard letter the stamp is printed onto the letter, into the address field: it shows through the envelope window together with the address, and nothing has to be stuck on by hand.

For registered mail and return receipt — the post where proof matters, for instance in deadline matters — a cover sheet with a scannable tracking barcode is produced instead.

Automatic outgoing-mail entry with tracking number

Every franking automatically creates an outgoing-mail entry: status "ready to send", with a tracking number, linked to the matter. Only once the letter has actually gone out do you set it to "sent" — the platform does not do that by itself.

If you would rather not frank at release time, simply release the letter and buy the stamp later via the Stamps page or "buy postage" in the outgoing mail.

Your own Portokasse

Billing runs directly through your organisation's own Portokasse (postage account) at Deutsche Post — no detour, no intermediary, no markup. The amount is debited there at the moment of purchase.

Setup happens once under Legal department → Administration → Stamps: your organisation stores its Portokasse credentials and authorises the business application once inside the Portokasse. That is also where you set the default franking mode and your own cover-sheet note. Credentials are stored encrypted; every organisation settles through its own Portokasse.

Recipients with a bulk-recipient postcode

A detail that has cost real money: when the stamp is printed directly onto the letter it also forms the address field, so Deutsche Post validates every address field. Recipients with a bulk-recipient postcode have no street, and dispatch failed with an unspecific error after the order had already been created.

The address is now validated before the purchase. If something is missing or too long, the message names the field concerned and points to the cover sheet as a route that works — it transmits no address data to Deutsche Post and is therefore particularly suited to recipients without a street.

In RECEPTIONinhouse too — replying to a letter

Franking is not limited to letters from the legal department. Anyone replying to an incoming letter in CEAVEO® RECEPTIONinhouse franks the reply the same way — with one difference that matters there: the weight and dispatch-type hint counts the enclosures in. A reply from RECEPTION can carry named enclosures from a reusable enclosure library (brochure, price list, flyer). A letter with three enclosures is no longer a standard letter — the hint accounts for that before you buy the stamp, instead of surprising you at the scales.

An outgoing-mail entry with a tracking number is created there as well. Alternatively you send the same reply with its enclosures by e-mail — letter as PDF, enclosures attached.

What it is not

• No markup, no intermediary — the stamp comes directly from Deutsche Post and is paid from your own Portokasse.
• No replacement for the mailroom — you still have to put the letter in the envelope and take it to the post. The platform franks and documents; it does not physically dispatch.
• No automatic dispatch — the outgoing-mail entry stays "ready to send" until you set it to "sent".
• Domestic only — franking applies to recipients in Germany (domestic tariff).

How the letter that gets franked here is produced is described on the Correspondence page.