Text Formatting

Overview

The Draft Editor supports a full range of text formatting options. Everything you'd expect from a modern word processor is here — bold, italic, headings, lists, alignment, colors, and more.

All formatting is accessible from the toolbar, and most formatting options have keyboard shortcuts for fast application. Formatting is preserved when you export your work to DOCX or PDF.

Inline Formatting

Inline formatting applies to selected text within a paragraph:

Select text first, then apply the formatting. Or toggle the formatting on, type, and toggle it off. Both approaches work.

Headings

The editor supports four heading levels:

Place your cursor on a line and press the heading shortcut to convert it. Press the same shortcut again (or Ctrl+Alt+0) to revert to a normal paragraph.

Lists

Two types of lists are available:

• Ordered lists (Ctrl+Shift+7) — numbered lists. Good for sequences, outlines, and step-by-step planning within your draft.
• Unordered lists (Ctrl+Shift+8) — bullet lists. Good for brainstorming, character notes, and any non-sequential items.

Press Tab to indent a list item (create a nested sub-list) and Shift+Tab to outdent. Press Enter twice on an empty list item to exit the list and return to normal paragraph mode.

Blockquotes

Blockquotes (Ctrl+Shift+B) indent text with a visual bar on the left side. In fiction writing, they're commonly used for:

• Letters, notes, and documents within the story
• Epigraphs at the start of a chapter
• Extended quotations or excerpts
• Inner monologue passages that need visual distinction

Text Alignment

Control how text aligns within the editor:

• Left — the default. Standard prose alignment.
• Center — for chapter titles, section headers, and poetry.
• Right — for dates, signatures, and special formatting.
• Justify — even left and right margins. Mimics printed book formatting.

Alignment is set from the toolbar. Place your cursor in a paragraph and choose the alignment you want. It applies to the entire paragraph.

Text Color & Highlighting

You can change the text color and add background highlighting to selected text. These are available from the toolbar's color controls.

Common uses in creative writing:

• Color-coding different character POVs in a multi-POV draft
• Highlighting passages that need revision or fact-checking
• Marking placeholder text that needs to be replaced later

Font Family

The editor lets you change the font family for selected text. This is useful for distinguishing different types of content within a draft — for example, using a monospace font for in-world computer screens or technical documents.

Font selection is available from the toolbar's font dropdown. The available fonts render in the editor and are preserved for your visual reference, though final export fonts may vary depending on the export format.

The Formatting Toolbar

The formatting toolbar sits at the top of the editor and provides quick access to all formatting options. It's organized left-to-right with:

• Text style buttons (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough)
• Heading level dropdown
• List buttons (ordered, unordered)
• Blockquote button
• Alignment buttons
• Color and highlight pickers
• Font family dropdown

The formatting toolbar — all formatting tools at a glance

Keyboard Shortcuts

Most formatting options have keyboard shortcuts for fast application. Here's a quick reference:

On Mac, replace Ctrl with Cmd. For the complete shortcut reference, see Keyboard Shortcuts.

Formatting in Exports

All core formatting is preserved when you export your work:

• DOCX export — bold, italic, underline, headings, lists, blockquotes, and alignment are all preserved with proper Word formatting.
• PDF export — formatting renders visually as it appears in the editor.

Text colors and background highlights are treated as editor-only visual aids and are not included in exports. For more on exporting, see Exporting Your Work.

Tips

• Less is more in fiction. Most published novels use only italic and chapter headings. Don't over-format your prose — let the words do the work.
• Use formatting for workflow. Colors and highlights are great for personal organization even if they don't appear in exports. Mark passages that need revision, flag dialogue you want to revisit, or color-code POV characters.
• Structure with headings. Even if your final manuscript doesn't use visible headings, adding them in the editor helps the AI understand your document structure and produce better generations.
• Paste from other apps. When you paste formatted text from Word, Google Docs, or other editors, Genesis Writer preserves the formatting. If you want to paste without formatting, use Ctrl+Shift+V.