Writing and formatting stories on Medium is super simple—just select the text you want to format and choose the relevant option from the toolbar. Below you'll find all the formatting options offered by the editor on your platform.
Simple formatting
Bold
Select the text you want to format to open the text toolbar and click the B button to apply the formatting.
Italics
Select the text you want to format to open the text toolbar and click the i button to apply the formatting.
Links
To create a hyperlink in your post, select the text you want to convert into a link to open the text toolbar, click on the chain icon 🔗 in the toolbar to hyperlink the selected text, paste or type in a link (e.g., medium.com), and press Enter.
Titles, subtitles, headers, and subheaders
The "T" icons are used for formatting titles, subtitles, headers, and subheaders, depending on where the text is in the story.
Select the text and click the large or small T icon from the pop-up menu. Click it again to remove formatting. After publishing, your author information will appear below the title/subtitle (if you have them).
- Title: Only the first line of the story is considered the title. Select the text and click the large "T" icon to format the title. It can be any length, and is bound by hitting "return" on your keyboard.
- Subtitle: Writing directly below the title is considered the subtitle. Select the text and click the small "T" icon to format the subtitle. It can be any length, and is bound by hitting "return" on your keyboard.
- Headers: To set a header, select any text that isn't the title or subtitle and click the large "T" icon.
- Subheaders: To set a subheader, select any text that isn't the title or subtitle and click the small "T" icon.
Quotes
Click the " (quotation mark) icon from pop-up menu. To use a large or pull-out quote style, select the text and click " icon twice from pop-up menu. You can also remove quote formatting by selecting the text and clicking the " icon until text returns to default.
Emoji
To add an emoji to your post, type in a colon, followed by the name of your favorite emoji. Check out the emoji cheat sheet to find the names of all the supported emoji.
Mentions
To mention another Medium user in a post, type the @ symbol and then the name or username of the person you want to mention. Click their name from the drop-menu and their name will be added in green text. Any mentioned users will be notified in-product and by email (if applicable) when the post is published.
Superscript
Currently Medium supports superscript for numbers only. To output a number, such as: 6⁷ or title⁸, type in: 6^7 or title^8.
Lists
Simple bulleted and numbered lists in posts are also supported on Medium.
- To begin a bulleted list, go to a new line, type in * (asterisk), and press Space.
- To begin a numbered list, go to a new line, type in 1. (numeral one, period), and press Space.
For either type, pressing Enter at the end of a line will begin another item. Press Enter again to escape list formatting.
Note: Numbered lists cannot be continued after a section break, or between images.
Code blocks & inline code
To begin a code block, go to a new line and type ``` (triple backtick).
For inline code in a paragraph, type a single backtick ` to begin and end your code. Or highlight some text and press the backtick key.
Note: Code blocks do not support syntax highlighting. To embed code with syntax highlighting on Medium, try using Github Gists, Codepen.io, or JSfiddle embeds. To do this, paste your snippet URL from one of those sources to a new line in the editor and press Enter. You can learn more about embeds here.
Drop caps
To add drop caps, select a paragraph and click on the drop caps icon in the menu bar that pops up.
You can also upload a custom image drop cap instead. Here's how:
- Follow the steps above.
- Click on the drop cap letter itself until a green border appears.
- From your desktop, drag the custom image file you'd like to use in place of your drop cap directly onto the green box.
- Your custom image will now appear in its place.
TK reminders
TK is a publishing abbreviation used as a placeholder in editing to mark information not yet included in a document, which is "to come."
To leave yourself a reminder, simply type TK anywhere in the body of your post. A reminder in yellow will appear left margin.
Story word count
Select a passage with your cursor to see the number of words it has in the top-left corner of your page. Select the entire story to check the word count for it.
Keyboard shortcuts
These handy keyboard shortcuts will let you format your posts like a pro.
| Feature | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Shortcuts help | ⌘ + ? | Ctrl + ? |
| Bold | ⌘ + B | Ctrl + B |
| Italic | ⌘ + i | Ctrl + i |
| Link | ⌘ + K | Ctrl + K |
| Header | ⌘ + Alt + 1 | Ctrl + Alt + 1 |
| Subheader | ⌘ + Alt + 2 | Ctrl + Alt + 2 |
| Quote | ⌘ + Alt + 5 | Ctrl + Alt + 5 |
| Bulleted list | * + Space | * + Space |
| Numbered list | 1. + Space | 1. + Space |
| Mention a user | @username or @name | @username or @name |
| Separator | ⌘ + Enter | Ctrl + Enter |
| Code block | ⌘ + Alt + 6 or ``` | Ctrl + Alt + 6 or ``` |
| Inline code | ` | ` |
| Featured image | Shift + F | Shift + F |
| Focal point | Opt + Click | Alt + Click |
Simple formatting
Bold
Select the text you want to format and tap Bold on the bottom menu to apply the formatting.
Italic
Select the text you want to format and tap Italic on the bottom menu to apply the formatting.
Headers and subheaders
Select the text and click the T icon from the bottom menu to format it as a header. Click it again to change it into a subheader. Clicking the button again will remove the formatting entirely.
Quotes
Click the " (quotation mark) icon from bottom menu. To use a large or pull-out quote style, select the text and click " icon twice from the menu. You can also remove quote formatting by tapping the " icon until the text returns to default.
Links
To create a hyperlink in your post, select the text you want to convert into a link to open the toolbar, tap Link in the toolbar to hyperlink the selected text, paste or type in a link (e.g., medium.com), and press Return.
Mentions
To mention another Medium user in a post, type the @ symbol and then the name or username of the person you want to mention. Click their name from the drop-menu and their name will be added in green text. Any mentioned users will be notified when the post is published.
Lists
Simple bulleted and numbered lists in posts are also supported on Medium.
- To begin a bulleted list, go to a new line, type in * (asterisk), and press Space.
- To begin a numbered list, go to a new line, type in 1. (numeral one, period), and press Space.
For either type, pressing Return at the end of a line will begin another item. Press Return again to escape list formatting.
Note: Numbered lists cannot be continued after a section break, or between images.
Common questions
To make a single-spaced line break (as in poetry) go the end of your line and press Shift + Enter at the same time. This is available only on desktop.
