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Custom Styles let you fine-tune the visual details of your resume after you choose a template. Instead of writing CSS, you create structured style rules that target resume sections and semantic parts of those sections, such as section headings, item containers, normal text, links, rich-text paragraphs, and list rows. Use Custom Styles when the regular Design, Typography, Layout, and Page settings are too broad. For example, you can make only your Experience headings uppercase, add a border around Projects, tighten the spacing inside rich-text bullet lists, or change how inline links appear in descriptions.
Custom Styles section in the right sidebar with target scope, style slot, style controls, and applied rules

Screenshot of the Custom Styles section in the resume builder right sidebar

Custom Styles are powerful layout controls. Small changes can improve polish, but large negative margins, heavy borders, or oversized text can make a resume harder to read or cause content to overflow.

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When to use Custom Styles

Start with the normal builder settings first: Use Custom Styles when you need a targeted adjustment, such as:
  • Styling one section differently from the rest of the resume.
  • Adding padding, background, or border treatment to section items.
  • Adjusting the spacing between rich-text list bullets and their text.
  • Making rich-text links, bold text, or highlights stand out.
  • Tightening rich-text paragraphs or lists in a long section without changing the whole resume.

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Create a style rule

1

Open your resume in the builder

From the Dashboard, open the resume you want to customize.
2

Open the right sidebar

The right sidebar contains the resume-wide presentation controls.
3

Open Custom Styles

Select Custom Styles from the right sidebar.
4

Choose a Target Scope

Choose where the rule should apply: All sections, a Section type, or a Specific section.
5

Choose a Style Slot

Choose which part of the target should receive the style, such as Section heading, Item container, Primary text, Paragraph, or List item row.
6

Set the style values

Use the Color, Text, Spacing, and Border controls. Empty fields mean “use the template default.”
7

Review the preview

The resume preview updates as the rule changes. Exported PDFs use the same rendering path as the preview, so the exported PDF should match what you see.
Target Scope and Style Slot selectors showing All sections, Section type, Specific section, and grouped style slots

Screenshot of the Target Scope and Style Slot selectors

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How style rules work

A Custom Style rule has three parts: Rules are layered on top of the selected template. The template still provides the base design, and Custom Styles override only the values you set. If multiple rules affect the same slot, the more specific rule wins:
  1. All sections applies first.
  2. Section type overrides matching All sections values.
  3. Specific section overrides matching Section type and All sections values.
For example, you can make all section headings green, then make only Experience headings black, then make one specific custom Experience section red.
Disabled rules are ignored. Deleted or hidden sections do not render, so their rules have nothing to affect until the section is visible again.

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Target scopes

Target Scope decides how broad a rule should be.
Custom Styles target controls with Section type selected and Experience chosen as the target

Screenshot of selecting a Section type target

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Style property groups

The style editor is grouped by property type. Not every property is meaningful on every slot. Text properties work best on text-facing slots, while spacing, background, and border properties work best on containers.
Custom Styles controls grouped into Color, Text, Spacing, and Border panels

Screenshot of the Color, Text, Spacing, and Border controls

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Color

Colors are stored as rgba(r, g, b, a) values. Use the color picker when possible.

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Text

Use text controls sparingly. Resume text should stay readable, especially when exported to PDF or parsed by hiring systems.

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Spacing

Spacing values are points. Negative values are allowed for some spacing controls, but they can make content overlap. Prefer small adjustments first.

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Border

Borders are most useful on container slots such as Section container, Item container, Paragraph, and List item row.

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Style Slots reference

Style Slots are semantic targets. They describe the part of a section that receives the style.

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Section slots

Section slots affect the structured fields of a resume section, such as titles, item headers, dates, keywords, profile links, and level indicators.
Custom Styles currently target sections and rich-text content. The resume header, profile picture, name, headline, and contact area are controlled by template, Design, Typography, Page, and Picture settings instead of these section slots.

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Rich-text slots

Rich-text slots affect content entered in rich-text editors, such as Summary content, Experience descriptions, Education descriptions, Project descriptions, Awards, Certifications, Publications, Volunteer, References, cover letters, and summary-style custom sections. They do not affect structured fields like company name, school name, date, or website unless those values are inside a rich-text description.
List item row and List item content are intentionally separate. Use List item row for layout and chrome, such as padding, background, border, opacity, and the marker-to-text Column Gap. Use List item content for the bullet text itself, such as color, font size, font weight, line height, text decoration, and text transform.

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Practical examples

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Increase the space between bullet markers and text

Use this when bullet text feels too close to the bullet icon or number.
  1. Set Target Scope to All sections or choose a specific section type, such as Experience.
  2. Set Style Slot to List item row.
  3. In Spacing, increase Column Gap.
  4. Review the preview and adjust in small increments.

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Make section headings more distinct

Use this when your template headings need more contrast.
  1. Set Target Scope to All sections.
  2. Set Style Slot to Section heading.
  3. Set Text Color to your primary brand color.
  4. Set Text Transform to Uppercase if you want a stronger heading style.
  5. Add a small Margin Bottom value if headings feel too close to the content.

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Create card-like project items

Use this when you want one section to feel visually grouped without changing the whole resume.
  1. Set Target Scope to Specific section.
  2. Choose your Projects section.
  3. Set Style Slot to Item container.
  4. Add Padding on each side.
  5. Set a light Background color.
  6. Add Border Width, Border Color, and a small Border Radius if the template supports the look.

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Tighten long descriptions

Use this when descriptions or bullet lists take too much vertical space.
  1. Set Target Scope to the long section type, such as Experience.
  2. Set Style Slot to Paragraph and reduce Line Height slightly.
  3. Set Style Slot to List and reduce Row Gap.
  4. Set Style Slot to List item content and reduce Line Height if bullet text still feels loose.
Avoid reducing line height so far that letters collide or text becomes hard to scan. If the resume still overflows, cut content before making the typography cramped.

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Muting skill keywords

Use this when skill keywords or interest keywords compete with the main labels.
  1. Set Target Scope to Section type.
  2. Choose Skills or Interests.
  3. Set Style Slot to Secondary text.
  4. Lower Opacity or choose a softer Text Color.

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Manage applied rules

Every rule you create appears in Applied Rules. Each rule shows its target, style slot, and a compact summary of the properties you set.
Applied Rules list showing enabled and disabled custom style rules with edit and delete actions

Screenshot of the Applied Rules list

Use the rule actions to:
  • Disable or enable a rule without deleting it.
  • Edit a rule by loading its target and slot back into the style editor.
  • Delete a rule permanently.
  • Reset Style to remove the rule for the currently selected target and slot.
If a style change looks wrong, disable the rule first. If the resume looks correct again, edit or delete that rule instead of changing unrelated settings.

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Troubleshooting

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The style did not change anything

Check that the selected slot exists in the selected target. Common mismatches:
  • Using Paragraph for company names or dates. Use Primary text instead.
  • Using Link for links inside a description. Use Inline link instead.
  • Using Secondary text in a section that does not render secondary text.
  • Styling Level indicator in a section with no skill or language level values.

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A section-specific rule is overriding my global rule

This is expected. More specific rules override broader rules for the same property and slot. Check Applied Rules for matching Section type or Specific section rules.

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The resume looks cramped or content overlaps

Disable the most recent spacing rule and review the preview again. Large negative margins, very small line height, and high border widths are the most common causes.

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The PDF does not match the preview

Refresh the builder and export again. The preview and PDF export use the same resume rendering path, so persistent differences usually come from stale preview state or font loading.

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I want to write custom CSS

Custom Styles do not accept raw CSS. Reactive Resume renders final resumes through a PDF renderer, so Custom Styles use structured style rules that can be safely translated to PDF styles.