Editor themes in Ulysses let you control the look and feel of the editor. They define background and text colors, syntax highlighting, and the appearance of markup tags. Each theme includes both light and dark modes, allowing for a comfortable writing experience regardless of your system settings.
To select a theme on Mac, open Ulysses › Settings, then go to the Markup tab. In the lower part of the window, you can see all available themes – Ulysses’ default themes and those you have already downloaded from the Styles & Themes website. On iPhone/iPad, open the Editor Settings via the circled ellipsis in the editor and select Theme.
Create a Custom Theme (Mac Only)
If you can't find a theme that suits your preferences, you can also create your own theme on your Mac. To do this, open the Markup menu in Ulysses' Settings. Then, find a theme you like, right-click it, and choose Duplicate.
Right-click the copy and select Edit to launch the theme editor. Give your new theme a name and author, then adjust the color palette. The first two swatches set the background and text colors.
Clicking a color swatch opens the color picker, allowing you to choose any color you like. Updates to the background and body text are immediately reflected in the theme preview. You can select up to eleven accent colors, which can be used later to style headings, emphasis, lists, links, and other markup tags.
You can also reuse entire color palettes from other themes you have installed or import one you’ve created yourself. To do this, click the gear icon in the theme’s preview.
Tip: There are several tools available to help you build your own color scheme. One example is Coolors, a free web app that makes creating palettes easy.
Once you are happy with your palette, click Done. This reveals a detailed table where you can fine-tune the appearance of each markup element. For both the light and dark versions of your theme, you can set the colors. Click on any color box to open the selection panel:
- The first swatch defines the color of the markup tag.
- The second swatch defines the color of the tagged text itself.
- The third swatch defines the line highlight color.
In the far-right column, you can also define text styles like bold, italic, underline, or strikethrough. The markup editor also allows you to adjust heading sizes, which is especially useful if you want a clearer visual hierarchy while writing. The options range from small to 4XL.
If you would rather hide certain tags visually, match their color to the background.
For example, suppose you want the text labeled Strong to appear in bold, with decent tags but no color emphasis. Locate the Strong row and click on the tag color option. In the color selection panel, pick a lighter shade that matches your body text color. To remove any color from the text and highlight, select the crossed-out white box in the top-left corner. Finally, ensure that Bold is selected in the Style column.
Based on the body text and background colors you've selected, the text marked as strong will now appear in your editor similar to this:
Share Your Theme
Once your theme is ready, you might want to share it with other Ulysses users. To do so, return to Ulysses › Settings › Markup, select your theme, and click Share › Share on Styles & Themes…
Sign in or create an account, upload your file, add a description and relevant tags, and provide screenshots of both light and dark variants. Then, submit your theme for review—once approved, it will be available for the entire Ulysses community. Click here to learn more about our Styles & Themes website.