Working with text formatting and styles

Proposify uses a structured approach to text formatting that combines the familiarity of traditional word processing with the consistency and power of professional design systems. This means you get the flexibility to format individual text selections while maintaining overall document coherence through default styles.

The Two-Layer Approach:

• Default Styles: Document-wide formatting rules that ensure consistency
• Local Formatting: Specific formatting applied to selected text that overrides defaults when needed

This system ensures your documents look professional while giving you the flexibility to emphasize specific content when needed.

The WYSIWYG Formatting Toolbar

When you click into any text block, the formatting toolbar appears above your content, giving you immediate access to all the text formatting options you need. This context-sensitive toolbar means formatting tools are always exactly where you expect them.

Text Style Selection The first dropdown in the toolbar lets you choose from predefined text styles:

• Normal Text: Your standard paragraph text
• Heading 1-4: Various levels of headings for creating content hierarchy
• Table Elements: Specialized formatting for pricing tables (Header, Body, Footer, Subtotal)

Font and Size Controls

• Font Family: Choose from your account's available fonts
• Font Size: Select from preset sizes or enter custom values

Text Formatting Options The familiar formatting buttons give you quick access to:

• Bold (B): Emphasize important words or phrases
• Italic (I): Add emphasis or indicate specialized terms
• Underline (U): Highlight critical information (use sparingly for best visual impact)
• Text Color: Change text color to match your brand or highlight specific content
• Background Highlight: Add background color to make text stand out

Advanced Formatting Tools

• Link Creation: Turn text into clickable links
• Special Characters: Access symbols and special formatting
• AI Writing Assistant: Get help with content creation and editing

Working with Default Styles

Default styles are the foundation of your document's visual consistency. When you set up default styles properly, every heading, paragraph, and text element automatically follows your established design rules.

Accessing Default Style Settings

1. Select any text with the style you want to modify
2. In the text style dropdown, click Edit Default Style
3. The right sidebar opens with comprehensive style controls

Available Style Controls

Typography Settings:

• Font Selection: Choose from your account's installed fonts
• Font Size: Set the default size for this style level
• Font Color: Establish consistent color usage across your document

Text Appearance:

• Text Style: Apply bold, italic, or underline as part of the default
• Line Spacing: Control the space between lines for optimal readability
• Text Alignment: Set default alignment (left, center, right, justified)

Why Default Styles Matter When you update a default style, every instance of that style throughout your document automatically updates. This means you can completely change the look of all your headings, for example, with just a few clicks. It's like having a professional designer ensuring consistency across your entire document.

Pro Tip: Set up your default styles early in the document creation process. This saves time and ensures visual consistency from the start.

Overriding Default Styles

Sometimes you need specific text to stand out or follow different formatting rules than your defaults. Proposify makes this easy while keeping track of your customizations.

How to Override Defaults:

1. Select the specific text you want to modify
2. Apply formatting changes using the toolbar controls
3. Notice the asterisk (*) that appears next to the style name—this indicates the text has custom formatting

What the Asterisk Means When you see an asterisk next to a style name, it tells you that this particular text has been modified from the default style settings. This visual indicator helps you keep track of where you've made custom changes, which is especially helpful when reviewing or editing documents.

When to Override vs. When to Create New Styles

• Override: For one-off emphasis or unique formatting needs
• New Style: When you find yourself applying the same custom formatting repeatedly

Managing Overrides If you want to remove custom formatting and return to the default style:

1. Select the text with custom formatting
2. Reapply the same style from the dropdown menu
3. The custom formatting is removed, and the text returns to default settings

Font Management and Customization

Your font choices communicate your brand personality before readers even start reading your content. Proposify gives you access to an extensive font library while keeping your document loading fast and efficient.

Understanding Font Performance Proposify includes 799 fonts from the Google Fonts library, but loading all fonts would slow down the editor. Instead, you selectively enable only the fonts you actually use, keeping your editing experience fast and responsive.

Adding New Fonts to Your Account

1. Navigate to Settings > Fonts
2. Use the Search Font Library to find specific fonts
3. Browse available fonts with live preview text
4. Toggle fonts ON to add them to your account's font dropdown
5. Use Show Installed Fonts to view only your currently enabled fonts

Font Selection Strategy Consider these factors when choosing fonts:

Brand Alignment: Choose fonts that reflect your company's personality—modern sans-serifs for tech companies, elegant serifs for professional services, or creative fonts for design agencies.

Readability: Ensure your chosen fonts are highly readable at different sizes, especially for body text that clients will be reading on various devices.

Font Pairing: If you use multiple fonts, ensure they complement each other. A common approach is pairing a distinctive font for headings with a highly readable font for body text.

Performance: While all Google Fonts are optimized for web use, limiting yourself to 2-3 fonts per document keeps loading times fast.

Creating Visual Hierarchy

Effective text formatting creates a visual hierarchy that guides readers through your document logically. Here's how to use Proposify's formatting tools to create documents that are both beautiful and functional.

Establishing Content Levels

Heading 1: Use for major section titles (Service Overview, Pricing, Next Steps) Heading 2: Use for subsections within major areas Heading 3: Use for detailed breakdowns or bullet point categories Normal Text: Your standard paragraph content

Using Color Strategically

• Brand Colors: Use your brand colors for headings and important elements
• Accent Colors: Choose one accent color for calls-to-action or key highlights
• Text Colors: Ensure sufficient contrast for readability—especially important for accessibility

Spacing and Alignment

• Line Spacing: Increase line spacing for easier reading, especially in longer text blocks
• Alignment: Use consistent alignment patterns—typically left-aligned for body text, with centered or right-aligned text used sparingly for specific design effects

Advanced Formatting Techniques

Link Formatting When adding links to your text:

• Make link text descriptive ("View our case study" rather than "click here")
• Consider whether links should open in new windows (especially for external sites)
• Use consistent link styling throughout your document

Table Text Formatting Pricing tables have specialized text styles designed for optimal presentation:

• Table Header: Bold, larger text for column headers
• Table Body: Standard text for most table content
• Table Footer: Often used for totals or summary information
• Table Subtotal: Specialized formatting for intermediate calculations

Special Characters and Symbols Use the special characters tool to add:

• Currency symbols for international pricing
• Mathematical symbols for technical specifications
• Trademark and copyright symbols
• Arrows and bullets for visual emphasis

Formatting Best Practices

Consistency is Key

• Use the same heading styles for similar content throughout your document
• Maintain consistent spacing between sections
• Apply formatting rules uniformly (if one product name is bold, make them all bold)

Mobile Readability Remember that many clients will view your documents on mobile devices:

• Avoid very small font sizes
• Ensure sufficient color contrast
• Test your formatting in preview mode's mobile view

Accessibility Considerations

• Use sufficient color contrast between text and background
• Don't rely solely on color to convey information
• Ensure your heading hierarchy makes sense for screen readers

Performance Tips

• Limit the number of different fonts in a single document
• Use font sizes that render well at different screen resolutions
• Test document loading speed, especially with custom fonts

Troubleshooting Common Formatting Issues

Inconsistent Formatting Across Sections If formatting looks different in various parts of your document:

• Check if custom overrides (marked with *) are affecting consistency
• Verify that the same default styles are being used
• Consider creating new default styles for recurring custom formatting

Font Not Appearing in Dropdown If a font you've enabled isn't showing up:

• Refresh your browser tab
• Check if the font was actually toggled ON in your font settings
• Verify you're looking in the correct font dropdown in the formatting toolbar

Formatting Changes Not Applying If formatting changes don't seem to take effect:

• Ensure you've selected the text you want to modify
• Check if you're trying to override a default style vs. modify the default itself
• Try refreshing the page and reapplying the formatting

Getting the Most from Text Formatting

Text formatting in Proposify is designed to grow with your needs. Start with the basics—good font choices, clear heading hierarchy, and consistent color usage—then explore more advanced features as you become comfortable with the system.

Remember that the best formatting is often invisible to readers; it simply makes your content easier to read and understand. When clients can focus on your message instead of struggling with poor formatting, you're much more likely to win their business.

The combination of powerful default styles and flexible overrides means you can create documents that maintain brand consistency while adapting to specific client needs. Take advantage of this flexibility to create documents that truly represent your best work.

Need Additional Help? If you're looking to dive deeper into specific aspects of document creation, check out our related guides on Adding and Managing Sections and Introduction to the Proposify Editor. Our support team is also available through the in-app chat for personalized assistance with any formatting challenges.