Text formatting

The editor supports seven inline marks for formatting a span of text. You can apply them three ways: from the toolbar, from the text menu that floats over a selection, or by typing a markdown shortcut. Pick whichever fits your hand.

1 · How to apply a mark

Select a range of text and the text menu floats up automatically. Each mark has a button there — click to toggle on, click again to toggle off. The toolbar at the top of the editor has the same buttons; they affect the current selection too.

For the four marks that have markdown triggers (bold, italic, strikethrough, auto-link), you can also type the trigger as you write. See Input rules for the full list of markdown triggers.

Floating text menu appearing above a highlighted selection of "What's your full name?", showing buttons for bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, text color, link, and convert-to-input
Select any text — the menu floats up with the mark buttons.

2 · Available marks

Boldstrong

Heavier weight. Use it for emphasis, headings within a paragraph, or terms you want a reader to spot at a glance.

Toolbar / text menu / **bold**

Italicem

Slanted style. Use it for titles, foreign-language words, or softer emphasis distinct from bold.

Toolbar / text menu / *italic* or _italic_

Underlineu

A line under the text. Most common in formal documents and forms — distinguish required terms from regular prose.

Toolbar / text menu (no markdown trigger)

Strikethroughdel

A line through the text. Use it for removed items, corrected mistakes, or as a casual "crossed out" effect.

Toolbar / text menu / ~~strike~~

Text Colortext_color

Custom color for the text itself. Pick any color from the picker; the value is stored as a hex code.

Text menu → color picker

Background colorbg_color

Custom highlight behind the text. Same picker as text color; useful for marking key terms or sections that need review.

Text menu → background picker

Linklink

Wraps text in an `<a>` tag. Links open in a new tab and carry `rel="noopener noreferrer"` automatically for safety. Set the URL from the link menu.

Text menu → link / type a URL + space

Color picker open from the text menu, with a TEXT section (grid of colored letter-A swatches) and a BACKGROUND section (highlighted letter-A swatches)
Tap the A button — pick a text color above, a background highlight below.

What's next

For the typing patterns that produce some of these marks automatically, head to Input rules, which covers every markdown shortcut the editor recognizes.

Try it now →