Format your document

Formatting text

Ellipsus supports granular text styling as well as global styling, giving you complete control over the look and feel of every part of your document, from individual words, to paragraphs, all the way up to full document styles.

You can format text using the Format panel (the T icon in the right sidebar), or (if enabled) the Desktop formatting bar at the bottom of the screen.

Just select any portion of text and open the Format panel to apply styling. (Granular styling also works in Snippets, keeping your formatting consistent.)

What you can do with the Format panel

When you open the Format panel, you’ll find tools for:

• Text:

  • Apply fonts, sizes and weights

  • Modify specific style levels (e.g. headings, captions)

  • Adjust spacing and line height

  • Add text colors and text highlights

• Styling:

  • Add emphases (bold, italic, underline, etc.)

  • Create bulleted or numbered lists

  • Indent/unindent text

  • Add quotes, dividers, page breaks, hyperlinks, code

  • Insert images

  • Apply clear formatting to remove all applied styling (e.g. bold, italics, underline, color) from selected text, returning it to the default style.

• Alignment:

  • Set your text's alignment (left, center, right, justified)

• Set and format pages:

  • Pages let you switch from a pageless view to a structured print-style layout. You can edit the settings for pages under the Layout section in the panel, and selecting the Pages view. Learn more about pages here.

Save time with shortcuts

Desktop formatting bar

If enabled, you will see a formatting bar at the bottom of your editor when working on a larger screen. (If you’re working on mobile, or if your browser width is very narrow, you won’t see this option.)

You can choose to turn the formatting bar on or off via your editor settings. Learn more about customizing your editor settings here.

Global styling

You can choose to format with granular styling by selecting the text you want to format, or global styling. With global styling, you can choose whether a formatting change should apply document-wide.

To change a style everywhere in your document:

• Select the text (e.g., Heading 2) you want to update

• Apply your formatting changes (font, size, spacing, color, etc.)

• Open the Style menu, choose Update (Heading 2) to match style

All paragraphs using that style will immediately update to match the formatting you just applied.

Document appearance and spacing

Ellipsus' spacing settings work like the ones you’ll find in other writing tools. In most cases, the number and type of breaks used in imported documents, copy/pasted text, or exports should cleanly transfer to and from other tools.

There are two main settings that control your document's spacing:

• Line height controls the amount of space between lines within the same paragraph.

• Paragraph spacing controls the amount of space between one paragraph and the next.

If you want your document to appear single-spaced or double-spaced, adjust the line height setting:

• Single-spaced text uses a smaller line height

• Double-spaced text uses a larger line height