General correspondence consists of letters sent to Edward Heath primarily by members of the public and occasionally representatives of local Conservative associations and other organisations, with replies drafted by Heath's Private Office on his behalf. The files often contain exchanges between the Private Office and the Conservative Research Department.

Heath received correspondence on a wide range of issues so unless the majority of the correspondence of any file is devoted to a single issue, the subject matter has not been listed.

The original alphabetical/chronological order in which the correspondence was filed by the Private Office has been maintained, and files are in most cases arranged in reverse chronological order.