Writing style
Styles and voice, explained simply
A style is how you want the writing to sound. You pick it before a tool runs. It does not change your source text by itself.
Free styles
Usual, Clear, Professional, Friendly, Direct, and Casual. Usual leaves the tool's normal voice alone.
Premium styles and voices
The other styles, and voices saved from your samples, are on the same Premium plan as the rest of the product. Choosing a locked style opens the upgrade screen and does not generate text.
A style is an instruction, not a rewrite by itself
On WritingTools, a writing style is a short instruction added to the request before a tool runs. It tells the model how the result should sound. It does not edit the source text on its own, and it does not replace the tool’s job. A paraphraser with Professional still paraphrases. An essay draft with Clear still follows the essay shape. Usual is the empty instruction: the tool’s normal voice is left alone.
You pick the style on the strip that sits on every writing tool and in the editor. The same choice is sent with rewrites, drafts, and Ask AI. If you never touch the strip, you are on Usual.
The six styles that stay free
These six are available without Premium. The one-line description is the same help text the strip shows.
- Usual leaves the tool’s normal writing alone. Pick another style when you want a specific sound.
- Clear uses short, plain sentences. Choose it when the draft is hard to follow.
- Professional is formal and precise. It fits work email, a report, or a school paper.
- Friendly is warm and conversational, closer to talking to someone you know.
- Direct gets to the point, with fewer extra words and fewer long sentences.
- Casual is relaxed everyday language for a blog, a message, or a social post.
Premium styles, and what the lock does
The rest of the strip is part of Premium, the same plan as longer results and publishing. Engaging talks to the reader as “you.” Bold prefers short, punchy lines. Confident drops hedging such as “maybe” and “I think.” Humorous stays light and does not change the facts. Persuasive makes a case and asks the reader to act. Empathetic is the patient voice for a support reply or difficult news. Witty is quick without turning the piece into a joke. Educational explains in order, as if the reader is new to the topic. Serious is calm, with no jokes and no hype.
Choosing a locked style opens the upgrade screen and does not generate. The tool does not silently fall back to Usual. If you meant to stay on the free plan, pick one of the six free styles and run it again.
A saved voice is a sample, not a preset
My voice, and any voice you save, is Premium. A saved voice is built from writing you provide so later drafts can sit closer to that sample. On the writing style page you name the voice, then give it one source: a public URL that can be fetched, sample text, or a file. Sample text needs at least 50 words. The field holds up to 2,000 words, and about 500 words is the amount the form recommends. You can also point at a public page. A page that requires a login, or that blocks crawlers, will not be readable.
A preset such as Professional is a fixed instruction. A saved voice is your sample. They are not the same control. Use a preset when you want a known register. Use a saved voice when the preset list does not sound like the publication or the person you are writing for. You can keep more than one saved voice, for example one for a product blog and one for support replies, and pick the one you want on the strip.
Where people go wrong with styles
- A style will not add facts. Professional does not make a thin paragraph true. Put the facts in the source text first.
- Do not stack a dramatic style on a legal or medical note. Serious or Professional is the closer match, and you still have to review the result.
- If the output sounds nothing like the sample, the sample was too short or it mixed two voices. Replace it with one consistent piece rather than a collage.
- The style applies to the next generation. It does not restyle text already sitting in the document until you run an action.
- For a plain explanation of detection scores, that is a different page: how AI detection works. A style is not a detector setting.
Pick a style for the document, not for one adjective
Change the style when the whole piece should sit in a different register: a support reply that should be Friendly, a status update that should be Direct, a school paragraph that should be Professional. Do not change the style to fix one clumsy sentence. That sentence is a paraphrase or an Ask AI instruction. The style will also change the sentences that were already fine.
Usual is the right choice when you want to see what the tool does without an extra voice. If you are comparing two styles, run the same short selection twice and keep the version you can defend. A Premium style you cannot select yet is not a hidden better result. It is locked, and the free styles are the ones you can judge today.
Saved voices belong on work that should sound like a specific publication. They are a poor fit for a one-off email to a person who has never read that publication. The writing style page is where the sample is stored. This page is the explanation. The strip is where the choice is sent.
Where a style is actually used
The strip sits on the tools and in the editor. Saved voices are created on their own page.
Locked styles are the Premium plan you already have
The six free styles keep working. The other styles and a voice saved from your samples open the upgrade screen and do not generate until you are on Premium.
See Premium