The Style Customizer lets you change how your form looks — colors, fonts, spacing, borders, and button style — without writing any CSS. It’s built directly into the form builder’s Style tab, with a live preview that updates as you make changes.
This article covers the current Style Customizer. If you styled a form before this update, don’t worry — your existing look carries over automatically the first time you open the Style tab. See Migrating an Older Form below.
Where to Find It #
- Go to Everest Forms → All Forms and edit the form you want to style.
- Click the Style tab at the top of the builder.
The Style Tab Layout #
The Style tab is split into two panes:
- Left — Design controls. A single scrollable list: Pre-defined (Template and Colors) at the top, then Elements (Form, Text, Inputs, Choices, Button, Messages) to fine-tune each part, then Advanced (Custom CSS) at the bottom.
- Right — Live preview. Shows exactly how the form will look, updating instantly as you adjust a control. Use the Desktop / Tablet / Mobile switch above the preview to check how your styling holds up on smaller screens.
Note: Nothing is saved until you click Save in the top-right corner. Switching to another tab (e.g. Fields) while you have unsaved style changes will ask you to confirm before leaving.
Color Palette #
At the top of the Design list, click Colors to open the palette screen. It has two parts:
- Your Palette — the six colors (background, text, borders, button, and so on) your form is actually using right now, shown as a swatch strip. On Pro, click the pencil icon to edit any of the six directly — the live preview updates as you type. On Free, this strip is view-only.
- Presets — a grid of ready-made color sets below it. Hover a card to preview it live on the form without committing to anything; click to apply it. Applying a preset always shows up as one step in Undo, so it’s safe to try a few before settling on one.
Note (Free plan): Two presets — Classic and Monochrome — are available on the Free plan. All other presets shown are Pro; selecting one will prompt you to upgrade. Editing Your Palette’s colors directly is also a Pro feature. See Free vs Pro below.
If this form was styled before this update: whatever custom palette it used to have shows up right at the front of the Presets grid, marked with a purple Custom badge — it isn’t hidden or lost. Click it to keep using it exactly as before. If you no longer need it, Pro plans can remove it with the delete icon on the card. What you can’t do anymore is rename it or edit its colors in place — that “create/edit a saved palette” workflow has been retired. To move it forward instead: apply it (or it may already be applied, showing as your current Your Palette), then use the Your Palette editor above (Pro) to adjust any of its six colors directly — you’re editing your form’s live colors at that point, not the old saved entry, so there’s nothing to “fix” beyond that.
Design Elements #
Below Pre-defined, click any of the six elements to open its settings:
Form #
Background color and image, corner rounding, overall width, and the form’s font family.
Text #
Typography (size, weight, color, style) for Label, Sublabel, Description, and Section Title text — switch between them using the tabs at the top of the panel.
Inputs #
Styling for text boxes, dropdowns, textareas, date pickers, and the file upload area, with separate Normal and Focus states.
Choices #
One shared style for every “pick a choice” field — radio buttons, checkboxes, Yes/No, image choices, star/scale ratings, Likert rows, and payment pickers (including the Subscription Plan card). Includes:
- Selected color, mark size, unselected border
- Style variation — Default, Outline, or Filled
- Option font size, text color, and font style
- Alignment — left, center, or right
Button #
Styling for the Submit button (and Multi-Part navigation/upload buttons, which follow it), with separate Normal and Hover states.
Messages #
Styling for the success, error, and validation messages shown to visitors after they submit the form. (Pro)
Click-to-Edit in the Live Preview #
Instead of hunting through the panels, click directly on any part of the form in the live preview — a label, a button, an input, a choice field — and the Design panel automatically navigates to that element’s specific settings, with the element itself outlined in the preview so you always know what you’re editing.
Tip: Hover over an element in the preview first; it highlights so you know exactly what you’re about to click before you commit.
Apply Theme Style #
Toggle Apply Theme Style (below Pre-defined) to let your active WordPress theme style the form instead of Everest Forms’ own default look. Your color, spacing, and font choices above still apply on top of either.
Undo, Redo, and Reset #
- Use the Undo/Redo buttons above the design panels to step back and forward through your recent changes.
- Reset this section (top of each panel) clears just that element back to its defaults.
- Reset all styles (top of the Design list) reverts the entire form to its unstyled default look.
Templates #
Click Template at the top of the Design list to browse ready-made looks and apply one in a single click. It has the same two-part layout as Colors:
- Your Template — a live thumbnail matching your form’s current styling exactly, right now, however you arrived at it (a preset, hand-picked colors, or a mix).
- Presets — the template grid below it. Hover a card to preview it live on the form; click to apply. Two presets, Clearline and Ledger, are available on the Free plan; the rest (Carbon Mono, Lavendar, Scribble, Lines, Sage Card, Editorial, Midnight Rain) are Pro.
Note: Applying a template replaces your current colors, fonts, and spacing with the template’s own — it’s a starting point you can still fine-tune afterward.
If this form was styled before this update: any custom template you’d saved for it shows up first in the Presets grid, marked Custom — same treatment as a custom palette (see above). Click it to reapply, or Pro plans can delete it with the card’s delete icon. It can no longer be renamed or edited as a saved entry — to build on it, apply it and then adjust the result with the Design Elements panels (Form, Text, Inputs, Choices, Button, Messages) below; those changes apply to your form directly and show up live in Your Template above.
Custom CSS #
Click Custom CSS under Advanced to write your own CSS. This is applied site-wide — the same Additional CSS used across every form on your site, not just this one — so a rule you add here will show up wherever it applies, on any form.
Free vs Pro #
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Color palette | 2 presets (Classic, Monochrome); view-only Your Palette | 2 + 9 additional presets; edit Your Palette’s colors directly |
| Form / Text / Inputs / Choices / Button design controls | — | ✔ |
| Messages (success/error/validation) styling | — | ✔ |
| Templates | 2 presets (Clearline, Ledger) | 2 + 7 additional presets |
| Custom CSS | ✔ | ✔ |
On the Free plan, styling a form means picking one of the two built-in palette or template presets (and/or writing Custom CSS) — the granular design panels are visible so you can see what’s possible, but are locked until you upgrade.
Migrating an Older Form #
If a form was styled using the classic (older) Style Customizer, opening its Style tab for the first time automatically converts that styling to the current format — nothing is lost, including any Pro styling if your Pro license has since lapsed and later comes back.
