Formatting, toolbar and slash menu
Colletta documents are markdown, and there are four ways to format them: type the markdown yourself, use the toolbar, use the slash menu, or use a keyboard shortcut. All four write the same markdown, so use whichever comes naturally.
Markdown basics
Section titled “Markdown basics”If you already know markdown, type it as usual. If you don’t, this is most of what you’ll need:
| You type | You get |
|---|---|
**bold** | bold |
*italic* | italic |
~~struck~~ | |
==highlighted== | highlighted |
H~2~O | H2O |
x^2^ | x2 |
++inserted++ | inserted |
`code` | code |
# Heading, ## Heading, ### Heading | headings, levels 1 to 3 |
- item | a bulleted list |
1. item | a numbered list |
- [ ] item | a task |
> quote | a quote |
[words](https://example.com) | a link |
--- on its own line | a divider |
Highlight, subscript, superscript and inserted text
Section titled “Highlight, subscript, superscript and inserted text”These four marks come from Obsidian, Pandoc and HackMD rather than plain markdown:
==highlight==tints the words a light blue, a different color from comments. Press Ctrl+Shift+H (Cmd+Shift+H) to highlight the selection, or to remove a highlight.~sub~and^sup^lower or raise a few characters, as in H2O or 103. They can’t contain spaces, soabout ~5 and ~10 minutesstays as it is.++inserted++underlines words, to show something added.
A single tilde now means subscript, and only a double tilde strikes text through. If an older document used single
tildes for strikethrough, as in ~old~, that text now shows as subscript. Add a second tilde on each side to strike it
through again.
Other tools that don’t know these marks show them as typed. Download .md for other tools turns them into HTML tags that most tools understand (see Download, copy and print).
Use the toolbar
Section titled “Use the toolbar”The toolbar above the text has buttons for bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code and links; a text style menu (Normal text, or Heading 1 to Heading 3), which shows the style where the cursor is; lists, task lists, quotes and code blocks; a Table menu; and a divider. Depending on your workspace you also see Image, Link to document and Comment. The ? button lists every keyboard shortcut.
Hover a button to see its shortcut. If you’d rather have a cleaner page, hide the toolbar in Editor settings (Formatting toolbar).
Reach the toolbar from the keyboard
Section titled “Reach the toolbar from the keyboard”Press Alt+F10 (Option+F10 on a Mac) to move to the toolbar. Arrow keys, Home and End move between buttons, Enter presses one, and Escape takes you back to the text.
Use the slash menu
Section titled “Use the slash menu”Type / at the start of a line or after a space, then keep typing to narrow the list. The menu offers:
- Headings 1, 2 and 3; bulleted, numbered and task lists; quotes; code blocks
- A table (3 by 3), and Align table columns when you’re inside one
- A divider, a link and an image
- Today and Now (see Emoji, dates and paste)
- Callouts: note, tip, important, warning and caution
- Math block and Inline math, and Diagram (see Math and diagrams)
- Collapsible section (see Callouts, code, tasks and more)
Press Enter to insert, or Escape to close the menu and keep what you typed. The menu doesn’t open inside code. If it gets in your way, turn it off in Editor settings (Slash menu and emoji).
Use the keyboard
Section titled “Use the keyboard”Common formatting actions have shortcuts, such as Ctrl+B (Cmd+B) for bold. Press Ctrl+/ (Cmd+/) to open the shortcut sheet, or read the keyboard shortcuts reference.
Leave the editor with the keyboard
Section titled “Leave the editor with the keyboard”Inside the text, Tab indents. To move focus out of the editor, press Escape, then Tab.