What is the Editor?
The Editor is where all your writing happens in Scribeist. It's a distraction-free writing environment with markdown support, visual formatting tools, and automatic version history.
Available in: All workspaces, all plans
Editor layout
The editor consists of three main components that work together to create a clean writing experience.
The top toolbar provides access to all your formatting options—text styles, headings, lists, and tools for inserting links and images. You can toggle this toolbar on or off in workspace settings if you want a more minimal interface.
When you highlight text, a text selection toolbar automatically appears with quick formatting options and AI tools. This toolbar is always visible and cannot be hidden, giving you instant access to common actions.
The editor canvas is your main writing area—a clean, distraction-free space where your words appear. It supports live markdown rendering, so formatting happens as you type. Customize the look and feel by changing typeface, enabling dark mode, or adding a paper texture in Workspace Settings.
How to write
Scribeist gives you two ways to format your writing, and you can mix and match based on your preference.
Markdown lets you format by typing syntax directly—for example, **bold** becomes bold and # Heading creates a heading. This is fast once you learn the shortcuts, and many writers prefer it for keeping their hands on the keyboard.
Visual formatting works like a traditional word processor. Select text and click toolbar buttons to apply formatting. No markdown knowledge required—the editor handles it behind the scenes.
Use whichever method feels natural to you.
Core features
The editor includes several features that work quietly in the background to protect your work and enhance your writing.
Auto-save kicks in automatically whenever you finish typing, saving your work every few seconds.
Version history creates a restorable snapshot with every save, so you can always go back to earlier versions of your work. For important milestones, create permanent "pinned" versions that never expire.
Learn more about Version History →
Images and links can be inserted directly into your documents. Upload images up to 10MB, and add hyperlinks to any text.
Learn more about Images & Links →
Lists and formatting give you multiple ways to structure your content—bulleted lists, numbered lists, task lists, block quotes, and code blocks. Access them through toolbar buttons or markdown syntax.
Learn more about Markdown & Formatting →
Editor behavior across workspaces
The editor works the same in all workspace types, but it integrates with workspace-specific features to enhance your writing.
In Novel workspaces, entity mentions (characters, locations, etc.) appear highlighted in their assigned colors. Click any highlighted entity to see its Mythos details without leaving your writing.
In Blog workspaces, the editor shows live SEO scoring as you write, along with readability analysis and passive voice highlighting to help you optimize your content.
In General workspaces, the editor stays clean with no special highlighting—just pure, distraction-free writing.
Keyboard shortcuts
Speed up your writing with keyboard shortcuts like Cmd/Ctrl + B for bold and Cmd/Ctrl + K for links.
To see all available shortcuts, press Cmd/Ctrl + / or select the dropdown at the top of the workspace sidebar and hover over Help & Support.
Next steps
- Toolbar Guide → - Master formatting tools