Line editing is done before the copyediting phase. Line editing is also known as stylistic editing or content editing.

It is the one editorial skill where you can reorganize, edit, and rewrite sentences and paragraphs. No other level of editing, including proofreading, allows you to reorganize paragraphs and rewrite sentences.

Line editors work on all kinds of content, and they work with text on a line-by-line level. They focus on:

• style 
• flow
• tone
• clarity 
• language

Line editing does not involve fixing spelling or punctuation like copyediting does. Instead, it focuses on fixing things like redundancies, awkward phrasing, and repetition.