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The AI writes a new cover letter for every job. For each letter it reads:
  • your Prompt under AI instructions
  • your Additional context
  • the job post, the client’s details and the client’s hiring history with its feedback
  • the profile you picked as the Proposal sender
With Template structure on, the AI fills only your AI prompts and keeps the rest of your text as written.

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AI instructions

Prompt (required) holds your rules for every letter: the tone, how to open, which proof to show, how to close, and what to avoid. Concrete rules give concrete letters. “Open with the client’s problem in one sentence” works better than “be engaging”. An empty prompt offers three starts:
  • Use an example opens Prompt examples. Pick the one closest to how you write and click Use this prompt. Then fill in the blanks marked in yellow, like [YOUR NICHE]. A blank left in place reaches the client, so Save warns you with “Blanks left in your prompt”.
  • Generate with AI writes a prompt from your Proposal sender profile. Pick the profile first.
  • Start from scratch when you already have a prompt that works.
Once the prompt has text, Optimize with AI reviews it. It lists What changed and shows your Current prompt next to the Optimized one. Read the comparison before you click Apply changes. Your prompt stays as it is until you apply. Show examples and Generate new instructions sit under the arrow next to that button. An example or new instructions replace your whole prompt, so Vollna asks you to confirm first. The prompt has a length limit set by your plan, and a counter under the field shows what is left. A prompt saved before the limit existed may be longer. You can shorten it, but it can’t grow: “AI instructions is already over the limit and cannot get any longer”.

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Client questions

Many jobs ask screening questions. Client questions controls the answers.
  • Prompt: rules for every answer, such as “answer in two sentences, give one example from my portfolio”. The AI writes each answer from this prompt, the job, your profile, the cover letter it just wrote and your earlier answers. Your answers stay in line with the letter.
  • Targeted Answers (up to 50 per template): your own answer to a question you see often.
With the section empty, the AI still answers every screening question from your profile and the job. To stop it from using your rules, clear the prompt and delete the targeted answers. The section opens on load when it has a prompt or a targeted answer.

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Targeted Answers

  • Match Type: Exact Match needs the same text, Contains finds your text anywhere in the question, Starts With checks the beginning. Matching ignores upper and lower case.
  • Question (up to 500 characters): the text to match. With Contains, keep it short, like “your availability”.
  • Answer (up to 5,000 characters): goes out word for word. Add an AI prompt inside the answer to let the AI fill that part for each job.
The first answer in the list that matches wins, and new answers go to the bottom. A question with no match gets an answer the AI writes from your prompt.

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Additional context

Additional context holds what your profile does not show: recent results, client names you may mention, your process, links to a portfolio or a case study. The AI reads it for every letter and uses a link only when it fits the job. The length limit works as for the prompt. To stop the AI from using it, clear the text. The section opens on load when it has text. Keep contact details out of your links. A link in this field, the prompt or the client questions prompt shows Check external links under the field. A red note means the link may hold contact details or move the client off Upwork: “This link may contain contact information or direct the client to communicate outside Upwork. Review it before submitting.”

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Template structure

Turn on Template structure to write the letter yourself and let the AI fill in only the parts you mark. With it on, Template needs text before you can save. See Template structure.

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Preview on a real job

Test every change before a client reads it. Preview cover letter at the top of the editor opens the Preview on a real job panel next to the AI Writer step. The preview writes with your current settings, saved or not. Pick the jobs from one of your filters, Pinned jobs, Sent with this template, All applied jobs or Saved jobs. Without filters, the panel shows Recent jobs. Generate proposal on a job writes its letter. Pin a few jobs that stand for your niche, and test the same jobs after every change. Pin works on a saved template, with up to 20 pinned jobs: “Up to 20 pinned jobs per template. Unpin one first.” In the letter window:
  • Regenerate writes another letter for the same job.
  • Pick another model to try it on the same job, or Compare two models side by side.
  • Set as template model moves the model you tried to the Advanced step. Save to keep it. If you save without deciding, Vollna asks “Keep the new AI model?”
  • Preview as Upwork client shows the letter the way the client sees it.
On a saved template, each preview goes to Activity with the version it ran on. Previews have their own daily and monthly limit, separate from AI credits. At the limit you see “Daily AI proposal preview limit reached” or “Monthly AI proposal preview limit reached”.

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Choose the model

The Advanced step holds two settings. Most templates keep both defaults.
  • Model (default Default): the AI model that writes the letters. Default is the recommended choice. It uses the model Vollna picks as best for cover letters. Some models cost several times more AI credits per letter, see AI credits.
  • Temperature (default 1.0, from 0 to 2): shows only for models that accept it. Lower it when letters drift from your rules. Raise it when letters sound alike.