Option for Formatting Proposals

[piyushn2it]

Hi Lena,

Don't you think it's not good idea that User is not able to make highlight (Bold, Italic) certain things like particular Skills and Words in their proposal. 

It will be great if Upwork can implement this kind of option for Freelancer/Contractor which will help simultaneously. 

I will be happy and appreciate in advance if Upwork team will come up with this feature in very near 

Best Regards,

[vladag]

Hi Piyush,

Thanks for sharing your feedback, we heard similar suggestions before and shared them with our Product team. This is not on our immediate roadmap and I believe that prospective clients are dazzled more by the information included in freelancers' proposals, related to their job, rather than by the way it's formatted and certain areas/words highlighted.

It would be interesting to hear what other users think about the benefit of formatting options in proposals.

[versailles]

Overusing formatting is counterproductive. But a touch of bold text here and there to catch the eye and to underline some key selling points is extremely valuable.

Adding formatting options would be a useful tool for those who are smart enough to use it.

But wait... maybe it is not a good idea to suggest any improvements. Upwork has a tendency to turn good suggestions in a very peculiar way 🙂

[kfarnell]

Bullet points would be nice, as would the capability to highlight quotes from within the RFP when responding to them.

(But like Rene, I worry whether this could lead to the option of adding dancing bears or similar instead...)

[versailles]

On Elance you could add some formatting to proposals. What few knew although, was that if you didn't use this option, all line breaks were removed and the proposal was changed into a wall of text before being sent to the client.

So yes, they really can turn suggestions into something very different than initially expected 🙂

I would rather not see any changes made here 🙂

[2d318873]

To insert a bullet point onto your proposal first turn on the number pad on the right of your keypad by pressing the numlock key.

Once the number pad is turned on use the shortcut (Alt + 7) to insert a bullet point character.

[spaghetts1]

I agree that simple formatting in job proposals and/or messages is important when you need to emphasize a word. IMHO, overuse of formatting is a sign of a poor or amateur designer.

You can use formatting to reply to the forum, but not when sending a message or proposal. Please tell me how that makes sense!

[mthornton-cpc]

I remain in the no formatting camp for a couple of reasons. Resources spent on adding formatting options to proposals could (should) be spent elsewhere on things that are known issues (profile maps, not being able to see client history/feedback in direct offers, etc) and when I recruit for clients I want to be able to see consistency in proposals for ease of review. Plus, I think I choose my words carefully enough that I don't need formatting. Bullet points and lists could be useful, but I use typical keyboard workarounds for them when needed. 

[spaghetts1]

I hear what you're saying. But really, how much effort does it take to incorporate a few simple keystrokes?

I'd be happy with 3 types:

Command/Ctrl B for bold

Command/Ctrl I for italic and

Command/Ctrl U for underlining

I do not think that is asking too much.

[mtngigi]

"It would be interesting to hear what other users think about the benefit of formatting options in proposals."

Vlad, what we think about this has already been shared, many times over. It's a feature that would be useful to have. There's no need to beat this poor horse in a new thread.

Those who know how to write a good proposal know not to over-use formatting, but also know the value of being able emphasize certain things in our proposals. It was a good feature to have on Elance, and it would be good to have the same feature here.

[lascap_01]

One thing that would be usefull is that if Upwork would keep our proposal structure intact when we post it (text,phrase, spece between lines etc.) The problem is the text window in our proposal page is smaller than a normal 8.5 x 11 inches , so if we compose our proposition in word and post it its always screwed.

[cupidmedia]

I remember seeing another thread about this some time not that long ago.

From a client's perspective, I would definitely be against this. I need to be able to quickly skim proposals, and having them all identical makes that easy. If they all had different random formatting, it would make it much harder.

[jmccpa]

I would surely be in favor of an option to use some formatting in Proposals.