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Applying Styles

You can use Vellum’s Styles to quickly change the look of your entire book, or just adjust certain aspects.

The Styles Pane

To access the Styles Pane, click the Styles icon in the Contents / Styles selector shown in the toolbar:

Choosing a Style

In Styles, you can choose from dozens of built-in style options:

Browsing Styles

To browse Styles, scroll up and down in the middle pane. Selecting a Style will apply it instantly to your entire book.

Style Categories

To help you choose your Style, use Style Categories on the left. Select a Category like Serif to narrow down your choices, or select All Styles to see every option available.

Categories of Styles, including Popular, Serif, Sans Serif, and Script

Configuring Styles

Each Style has been configured for features like drop caps, ornamental breaks, and more. If you want to change these options, click the Configure button in the upper-right:

Button used to configure a Style

In Configure mode, you’ll be able to choose from Style Features like Heading, First Paragraph, and Paragraph After Break:

By default, Vellum will only show the Style Features used in your book. You can change this display using the popup at the bottom of the list:

Popup showing options for Features in Book or All Features

When you’re done configuring a Style, press the back button shown to the left of the Style name.

Note: A style that has been changed from its default configuration will be noted with an asterisk next to its name in the Styles Browser.

Style Features

Vellum allows you to configure the following style features:

Heading
The title of each chapter
Heading Background
The backdrop behind the beginning of each chapter
First Paragraph
The very first paragraph in each chapter
Paragraph After Break
Paragraphs that begin a new scene
Header and Footer
Content at the top and bottom of each page in print
Body
Options that affect the main content your book

These style features control how specific Text Features appear in your book:

Ornamental Break
An image that appears between scenes
Block Quotation
Format for quotations used in chapters
Verse
The appearance of lyrics or poetry used in your book
Text Conversation
Options for styling text messages sent between characters
Written Note
Font choices for the Written Notes included in your book
Photograph
Border options for Inline Images set to Photograph
Portrait
Shape options for Inline Images set to Portrait
Caption
The appearance of Inline Image captions

Accessible Styles

Vellum includes a selection of accessible styles, with formatting that supports a diverse range of reading abilities:

Listing of categories, including Popular, Serif, Sans Serif. Accessible is selected.

More information can be found in Accessible Styles.

Saved Styles

Once you’ve configured your Style, you can save your configuration for use in other books.

With your configured Style selected, click the menu button in the upper right corner and choose Save Style: Accessing the Save Style command from the Style menu

After providing a name for your Style, you’ll find it in the Saved Styles category:

List of Style Categories, including Saved Styles

See the Saved Styles help page for more details.

Troubleshooting

I don’t see any drop caps in my book

The First Paragraph and Paragraph After Break styles only apply to the bodymatter of your book. If you don’t see your selected style, try converting your element into a Chapter (or Prologue or Epilogue).