Some of the best clues are not written to anybody. They are a line in a book that nobody expected to be read: a ship that came in with no crew, a delivery signed for by the wrong initials, an entry that stops.
An institution, a title, a reference and a date at the head; up to six columns under headings you write yourself; as many rows as the page holds; a footnote, a signature and a stamp at the foot. Clear a heading and its whole column disappears, so the same template is a two-column list or a six-column ledger.
The 1920s skin is a typewritten office register with ruled headings and an office stamp. Handwritten ledger is a ruled book with red column lines, written in ink. Eastern Bloc is a boxed form in a typewriter face, checked and stamped in violet. Database printout is a records search run off a line printer onto green-barred continuous paper, with a note in ballpoint at the foot. Crew manifest is a starship’s muster roll on vellum in an iron frame, the status column in red, blank ruled lines down to the foot, and the captain’s hand opposite the L.S. that marks the place of the seal.
A4 at 300 DPI. A single official account rather than a list belongs on an Official Form.