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Personas

Personas let you switch between different writing styles instantly. Whether you're writing a quick internal message or a formal client email, personas ensure your text matches the context.

What Are Personas?

A persona is a saved writing profile that controls:

  • •Tone — Direct, formal, friendly, or casual
  • •Verbosity — Concise, normal, or detailed
  • •Audience — Internal or external communication
  • •Taboos — Things to avoid (emojis, slang, etc.)
  • •Custom rules — Specific writing guidelines

Think of it this way

A persona is like having a different editor for different situations—one for quick Slack messages, another for board communications.

Built-in Personas

Draft includes three pre-configured personas to get you started:

Founder Mode

Built-in

Brutal brevity. Direct communication. No fluff.

Tone

direct

Verbosity

concise

Avoids
emojispleasantrieshedge-words
Rules
  • • Never start with 'I think' or 'I believe'
  • • Use active voice exclusively
  • • Maximum 2 sentences per point

Formal

Built-in

Professional external communication. Polished and precise.

Tone

formal

Verbosity

normal

Avoids
contractionsslangcasual-language
Rules
  • • Use complete sentences
  • • Maintain professional distance
  • • Prefer passive voice for sensitive topics

Friendly

Built-in

Warm and approachable. Good for team communication.

Tone

friendly

Verbosity

normal

Rules
  • • Use conversational language
  • • Contractions are encouraged
  • • Be encouraging and supportive

Switching Personas

You can switch between active personas at any time:

Using Keyboard Shortcut

Press ⌥+P to cycle through your active personas. The current persona is shown in the menu bar.

Using the Menu Bar

  1. Click the Draft icon in your menu bar
  2. Select Personas
  3. Click the persona you want to activate

In the Overlay

When the Draft overlay is open, you can type the persona name to switch:

"use founder mode"

Quick switching

Press ⌥+P to quickly cycle through your personas without opening Settings.

Creating Custom Personas

You can create custom personas for any writing context:

Using the Settings UI

  1. Click the Draft icon in your menu bar
  2. Select Settings...
  3. Go to the Personas tab
  4. Click + New Persona
  5. Configure the settings and save

Persona Configuration

Each persona has the following settings:

SettingOptionsDescription
NameAny textDisplay name for the persona
Tonedirect, formal, friendly, casualOverall communication style
Verbosityconcise, normal, detailedHow much detail to include
Audienceinternal, externalWho the text is intended for
TaboosList of stringsThings to avoid in output
Custom RulesList of stringsSpecific writing guidelines

Example: Legal Persona

Here's an example of a custom persona for legal communication:

personas.json
{
  "id": "legal",
  "name": "Legal",
  "description": "Precise legal communication",
  "tone": "formal",
  "verbosity": "detailed",
  "audience": "external",
  "taboos": ["slang", "contractions", "casual-language"],
  "customRules": [
    "Use precise legal terminology",
    "Avoid ambiguous language",
    "Include necessary caveats",
    "Use passive voice for neutrality"
  ],
  "isActive": false,
  "isBuiltIn": false
}

Persona Ideas

Here are some personas you might want to create:

Technical Writer

Clear, precise documentation style

Sales

Persuasive, benefit-focused language

Customer Support

Empathetic, solution-oriented

Executive

Strategic, high-level communication

Creative

Engaging, storytelling approach

Academic

Scholarly, citation-ready prose

Managing Personas

Edit a Persona

You can modify any persona (including built-in ones) in Settings → Personas. Select the persona and click Edit.

Delete a Persona

Custom personas can be deleted from Settings. Built-in personas can be disabled but not deleted.

Export / Import

Personas are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Draft/personas.json. You can manually edit this file or share it between machines.

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