Format text in Docs

Use the toolbar and settings menu to create engaging and consistent content for any audience.

Format text with elements that stand out like banners, headings, highlights, and code blocks. Insert buttons and dividers to add style or use a sticky table of contents to organize.

You can also use hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts or /Slash Commands to format text.

What you'll need

Docs and wikis

A wiki is a Doc that's prioritized as the source of truth. Unless specified, anything that applies to Docs also applies to wikis.

Learn more from our article Create a wiki.

Docs toolbar

Apply formatting options to specific text in a Doc using the toolbar.

  1. Select text in a Doc.

    Image showing the text formatting toolbar with text selected.
  2. Use the toolbar to adjust your text formatting:

  • Turn into: Convert the selected text into headings, banners, a code block, or a quote block.
  • Rich text: Bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, or inline code formatting.
  • Text colors and Text highlights: Select from a range of vibrant text colors.
  • Badges: Insert a colorful badge to emphasize or call attention to a line or block of content. You can also add some rich text formatting to the text in the badge like you can in a banner. 
  • Alignment: Indent and set text to left, center, or right justified.
  • Bulleted List: Format text into a bulleted list.
    • All Lists: Click the caret icon next to the Bulleted List icon to format text into a Numbered List or Toggled List.

      Numbered Lists can continue or restart numbering around other formatting, such as a banner or image.

  • Check List: Format text into a check list.
  • Insert a link: Insert a hyperlink.
  • Create subpage: Create a series of subtopics that are part of the main Doc.
  • Create comment: Add comments about the Doc to the right sidebar of the Doc. Text that has comments is highlighted.
  • Create task: Create a new task using the highlighted text as the task name.
  • AI: ClickUp AI is an add-on that can be purchased and used throughout ClickUp.
  • Misc Setting: Open more formatting settings.

Misc Setting

From the Docs toolbar, access more formatting settings by clicking the ellipsis ... icon.

Image of the text formatting toolbar ellipsis menu.

You can adjust your toolbar position in the following ways:

  • Default: The toolbar only displays above the selected text.

  • Pinned: The toolbar always displays at the top of a Doc.

You can only pin the toolbar when in fullscreen mode. 

  • Floating: The toolbar can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the page and will stay in that location while you scroll.

Additional options include:

  • Undo: Undo your last action.

  • Redo: Redo your last action.

  • Insert: Add a task, comment, image, divider, toggle list, table, list of tasks, button, table of contents, or embed a YouTube video.

  • Clear Format: Clears any previous formatting from the selected area.

  • Copy Markdown: Converts markdown into rich text.

Content blocks

Content blocks allow you to organize and style your content as a block, rather than line by line. Once a content block is created, you have options that apply to the whole block.

Automatic content blocks

When you begin typing a heading or a paragraph, that text is automatically created as one content block. Items, like tables and images, are also added as separate blocks. 

Select a content block

Hover over a content block to show the block drag handle.

With the Block Select All setting enabled, you can press Cmd + A on a Mac or Ctrl + A on Windows to select the content in a block, and press the same shortcut again to select all the content on a page.

Move a content block

You can move one block at a time using the block drag handle, or click and drag to select more than one block and move all of them together.

To move a content block:

  1. Hover to the left of the block.
  2. Click the drag handle to drag and drop the entire block to another spot in the Doc.
    • Or use the keyboard shortcuts Option + Up or Down arrow
  3. A guideline displays to help you position the block.
    Screenshot of the drag handle and guideline showing where the content blog is being moved to.

Format a content block

To format a block:

  1. Click the drag handle to display the block options menu. 
  2. Select an option. 

Screenshot of a block options menu.

The options available will vary depending on the type of content. For text, the options are:

  • Turn into: Apply formatting such as headings, lists, code blocks, quotes, or banners to the whole block.
  • Block Color: Set the text color or a background color for the entire block of text.
  • Duplicate: Create another identical content block.
  • Copy Block Link or Copy All Block Links: Copy the URL to the selected content blocks to your clipboard.
  • Delete: Delete the whole block.

Add a new content block

To add a new content block:

  1. From an open Doc, hover to the right of an empty line or existing line and click the plus icon. 
    Screenshot of cursor hovering over the plus icon.
  2. slash is added to the empty line or the next empty line. 
  3. From the /Slash Commands  menu, choose an option. For example, you can select Table

Content blocks are also available in taskssubtasks, WhiteboardsColumnsChat viewtext block Dashboard cards, and Notepad.

Keyboard shortcuts

You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to quickly make changes in Docs. 

Action

Shortcut

Mac

Shortcut

Windows

Create a comment from your selected text. Cmd + Shift + M Ctrl + Shift + M
Create a task from your selected text. Cmd + Option + T Ctrl + Shift + T
Apply the most recent text color or highlight Cmd + Shift + H Ctrl + Shift + H
Duplicate a text block. Cmd + D Ctrl + D
Align text to the left Cmd + Shift + L  Ctrl + Shift + L
Align text to the right Cmd + Shift + R Ctrl + Shift + R
Align text to the center Cmd + Shift + M  Ctrl + Shift + M 
Use inline code Cmd + Shift + C Ctrl + Shift + C
Create a bulleted list Cmd + Shift + 9  Ctrl + Shift + 9 
Create a checklist Cmd + Shift + 8  Ctrl + Shift + 8 
Create a numbered list Cmd + Shift + 7  Ctrl + Shift + 7
Create a heading  Cmd + Shift + 1-4 Ctrl + Shift + 1-4

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