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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.
Cleft Writing Style settings on iPhone showing Your Rules and the Output Styles list.
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.

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Built-in Styles

StyleBest for
StructuredClean summaries with headings, bullets, and action items
Structured ProseFlowing prose without bullet-heavy formatting
Clean TranscriptKeeping 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.
Cleft recording screen on iPhone with an output style selector above the recording controls.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.