Blocks and the slash menu

Opening the menu

1. Put the cursor on an empty line and type /.
2. Keep typing to narrow the list. Typing /tab leaves only the table, and /h2 only the second heading.
3. Move with the up and down arrow keys, choose with Enter, or just select the one you want. Esc closes the menu and leaves the line as it was.

Text and headings

Text is an ordinary paragraph, and turns a heading or a list item back into one.

Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3 are the three levels of heading. Three is deliberate: a document that needs a fourth level of heading is usually a document that wants splitting in two.

Headings do a second job. They are what a published page builds its contents list from, so a long page becomes navigable for a reader simply by being written with headings.

Lists and to-do lists

Bulleted list and Numbered list behave the way you would expect. Enter starts the next item, Tab indents one under the one above, and Enter on an empty item ends the list.

To-do list gives each item a box to tick. Items can sit under one another, so a task can have its own smaller tasks beneath it.

Quotes, code and dividers

Quote sets a passage aside from the text around it, for something somebody else said.

Code block holds code, and colours it the way a programmer's own editor would. Choose the language from the selector on the block, and readers get a button to copy the whole thing in one go. It is coloured separately for light and dark, so it stays readable in both.

Divider draws a line across the page, to mark a break between two parts of a document.

Tables and layouts

Table and Layout are the same thing underneath, put to two different uses. Both ask you to drag out a size on a small grid before they appear.

A table has a header row and visible lines. Use it for data: a list of prices, a comparison, a schedule.

A layout has neither. Use it to put things beside each other: two columns of text, a picture next to a paragraph, three short cards in a row. Readers see the arrangement, not the grid holding it.

Once one exists, selecting a cell brings up controls for adding and removing rows and columns, merging cells, and turning the header row or column on and off. Formatting and layout covers those.

Pictures and video

Image opens a file picker. You can also drag a picture straight from your computer onto the page, or paste one you have copied, and it uploads where you dropped it.

A picture can be resized, given rounded corners and a shadow, and set to fill the width of the page. Pictures count towards your storage, which Plans and limits explains.

Video asks for a link rather than a file. YouTube, Vimeo and Loom addresses all work: paste one in and the video appears on the page, playable where it sits. Nothing is uploaded, so a video costs you no storage.

Slideshows

Slideshow puts several slides in the space of one, with dots underneath and arrows on either side. Each slide holds whatever you like: a picture, a paragraph, a heading.

Select it and you can add a slide, duplicate one, move one left or right, and choose whether it moves on by itself or waits for the reader.

Links and buttons

Link asks which kind you want.

• Webpage or email for an ordinary address somewhere else on the internet.
• A document to point at another of your own documents. Search for it by name and pick it from the list. The link follows the document, so renaming it later does not break anything.

Button is a link that looks like something to press. Give it a name, point it at an address, and choose whether it opens in the same tab or a new one. It is mostly for published pages, where a button is clearer than an underlined word.

Emoji

Emoji opens a grid inside the menu. Type to search it, then choose one to drop it into the line you were writing.

Ask AI

Ask AI sits at the top of the menu because it is the one people reach for most. It opens the assistant with the spot you were writing in put aside, so anything it writes goes exactly there. Writing with AI is the whole story.