Using the Inline Toolbar

Highlight some text in your article and a small floating toolbar pops up right above it. That's the inline toolbar, and it's the fastest way to format your content without hunting through menus.

Let's take a look at what each icon does ✨

How to Open the Inline Toolbar

Head to your article in the Block Editor
Click and drag to highlight any text inside a text block
The inline toolbar appears above your selection
Click an icon to apply that formatting

Inline Toolbar Icons

Here's what you'll find on the inline toolbar and what each option does:

Icon	Description
Turn into (shows what you've selected, like Text)	Turns your selection into a different kind of block: Text, Large heading, Medium heading, Small heading, Bullet list or Numbered list. It isn't offered in code blocks or quotes
Alignment	Aligns your selected text left, center or right. It works on paragraphs, headings, list items and table cells, and on everything you've selected at once
B	Makes your selected text bold
I	Makes your selected text italic
U	Underlines your selected text
S	Adds a strikethrough to your selected text
</>	Turns your selected text into inline code, handy for things like file names or short snippets
X²	Turns your selected text into superscript
X₂	Turns your selected text into subscript
	Turns your selected text into a link. Paste a URL or search for another article to link to
	Highlights your selected text with a background color
	Changes the text color
	Rewrites highlighted section with HelpDocs AI. If AI isn't enabled on your account, or your plan doesn't include it, the icon stays visible but greyed out

Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, and inline code apply the moment you click. Turn into and Alignment open a short menu to pick from, Link opens a modal first, and Highlight and Text Color open a color picker.

In a rush? Most of these have keyboard shortcuts too. Check out Shortcuts in the Block Editor for the full list.

Tips for Using the Inline Toolbar

You can combine formatting. Bold and italic at the same time? Go for it
Selecting across multiple lines still works, the toolbar applies your formatting to the whole selection
To align a table column, drag from the top cell to the bottom cell of that column and pick an alignment. Only the cells in that column change
Click the same icon again to remove bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, or inline code. To undo an alignment, pick Align left again (Align right in a right-to-left language). Highlight and Text Color open a color picker instead, with its own Clear Highlight or Clear Color button. To remove a link, put your cursor inside it and click Remove Link

Want to explore more of what the Block Editor can do? Take a look at Formatting & Styling Content for drag-and-drop images and table tools too.

The toolbar changes depending on what you select. Select an image and you get the image's own toolbar: Alignment, Link, Alt text, Size, Replace image and Remove image, plus Edit in Lucid on a LucidChart. Put your cursor in a link or button and you get the link's URL, Edit, and Remove. In a heading you get Turn into, Alignment and Rewrite with AI. Alignment isn't offered in code blocks.

The inline toolbar only appears in the Block Editor. If you're using the Classic Editor, formatting options live in the toolbar at the top of your article instead.