Attn Abbreviation and Formatting
“Attn” is a standard written abbreviation for “attention” in business correspondence. It is useful when a letter, envelope, shared inbox, or routed message needs to identify the intended recipient; its exact capitalization and punctuation can follow the document’s house style.
“Attn” means “attention.” Use it when correspondence needs to be routed to a particular person—for example, “Attn: Priya Sharma.” In ordinary direct email, the recipient fields may already make an attention line unnecessary.
Key details
Important caveats
Format Boundary
A colon after “Attn” is common in practical addressing, but capitalization and punctuation should follow the organization or style system being used rather than being presented as one universal form.
Further guidance
Meaning
Cambridge records “attn” as the written abbreviation for “attention” in business correspondence.
Placement
Use an attention line where the addressing format needs to identify who should receive or read the correspondence; ordinary person-to-person email often already identifies the recipient in the To field.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- ATTN — Cambridge Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · definition of attn as the written abbreviation for attention in business correspondence
- Attention — Cambridge Dictionary (Business English) (opens in a new tab)Cambridge University Press · business-English use of “for the attention of” and attn on correspondence