Writing Style

Choose how Cleft formats notes, set standing rules, and create custom note styles

Writing Style controls how Cleft turns a rough recording into a readable note. Choose a style before you record, keep a standing rule Cleft follows every time, or create your own reusable styles with Cleft Plus.

Everyone can use the built-in styles. Cleft Plus adds Your Rules, up to two custom styles, and Copy Format.

iOS / iPadOS

Your Rules and Output Styles on iPhone

1. Open Writing Style

   Tap Settings → Writing Style.

2. Choose your default style

   Pick Structured, Structured Prose, Clean Transcript, or one of your custom styles.

3. Add a rule (Plus)

   Add a standing instruction in Your Rules, part of Cleft Plus. Changes save automatically.

macOS

Writing Style settings on Mac

1. Open Writing Style

   Go to Settings → Writing Style or press ⌘..

2. Choose your default style

   Pick Structured, Structured Prose, Clean Transcript, or one of your custom styles.

3. Add a rule (Plus)

   Add a standing instruction in Your Rules, part of Cleft Plus. Changes save automatically.

Built-in Styles

Style	Best for
Structured	Clean summaries with headings, bullets, and action items
Structured Prose	Flowing prose without bullet-heavy formatting
Clean Transcript	Keeping your words close to the original transcript

The style selector on the recording screen and the default in Settings use the same saved list. Pick a style before recording to shape that note, or regenerate a note later with a different style.

Pick an output style before recording

Your Rules

Use Your Rules for one standing instruction that applies across your styles.

Examples:

No adverbs.

Keep decisions and follow-ups at the top.

Preserve my questions exactly as spoken.

Your Rules is part of Cleft Plus. Plus and trial users get up to 500 characters for a standing instruction, enough for a specific house style. On Free, use the examples above as a starting point, then upgrade to Plus to have Cleft apply your own rule every time.

Custom Styles

Cleft Plus lets you create up to two custom styles. Each style has a name and its own instructions, so you can switch between formats without rewriting the same prompt.

Good custom style examples:

Name: Launch Brief
Instructions: Summarize the idea, audience, blockers, and next action. Keep it concise.

Name: Code Review
Instructions: Pull out risks, decisions, test notes, and follow-up questions. Avoid fluff.

With Cleft Plus, you can reorder built-in and custom styles together. That order follows you across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and CarPlay.

Copy Format

Writing Style also controls how copied notes behave:

• Plain text. Best for email, messages, and apps that do not need Markdown.
• Markdown. Best for Obsidian, GitHub, docs, and other Markdown-first workflows.
• Cleft Signature. Add or remove the Cleft signature from copied notes.

Tips

• Put universal preferences in Your Rules.
• Put format-specific instructions in a custom style.
• Keep style instructions concrete: “Group decisions and follow-ups first” works better than “make it useful”.
• Use Clean Transcript when exact wording matters more than summary quality.

Need more ideas? Check out Style Inspirations in the Cookbook, or browse the Custom Instructions recipe archive for a larger set of examples.