Editor and slash commands
Why it matters
The Nextdocs editor is where you actually write documentation. It's
built on TipTap / ProseMirror and works like Notion or Confluence:
type plain text, add structured blocks (headings, lists, code, tables,
diagrams) as you go.
The key difference is that everything is live. Your colleague watches
you type in the same page; your cursor is visible to them, theirs to
you. No "Save" buttons — everything is synced automatically.
How to open it
Open any page in a project (click its name in the tree on the left) —
you're immediately in the editor. The page title is edited in-place
(first line — # Title), the body follows.
How to format
Basic keyboard shortcuts
Standard markdown shortcuts work:
Input | Result |
|---|---|
| H1 heading |
| H2 / H3 headings |
| bold |
| italic |
|
|
| Block quote |
| Bulleted / numbered list |
| Checklist |
| Horizontal rule |
Ctrl/Cmd+Z — undo, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z — redo. History is local to the
current session: recent steps can be rolled back, but once you close
the page, Ctrl+Z is no longer enough — use the History tab in the
right panel (see History).
Slash commands (/ menu)
Type / on an empty line — a menu of every available block pops up.
You can type the name (e.g. /table or /code) to filter. Arrow keys
↑/↓ to select, Enter to insert.
Available blocks:
Text — regular paragraph (exits any formatting).
Heading 1/2/3 — headings at different levels.
Bulleted / Numbered / To-do list — lists.
Quote — block quote.
Code — code block with syntax highlighting (language picker in
the block's upper-right corner).Table — a table. Defaults to 3×3; columns/rows added via the
hover menu. Tables can be exported to.xlsxvia the "Save" button.Image — image upload. The file goes into our S3-compatible
storage, only a link stays in the text (not base64), so the page
doesn't bloat.Diagram — TLDraw editor: geometric schemes, arrows, stickers.
See Diagrams.Excalidraw — Excalidraw sketch in hand-drawn style. Same doc.
YouTube — video embed via URL.
Demo · … — interactive demo widgets (grow over time — a way to
show live examples right in the documentation).
@ mentions
Type @ anywhere — a popover opens with people in the project. Pick
a colleague — an @Name chip appears in the text, and the person is
notified. Details — Comments & mentions.
Links
Select text, press Cmd/Ctrl+K, paste a URL. Or just paste a URL next
to selected text — it auto-converts to a hyperlink. Hover shows a mini
popover with preview and Edit / Remove buttons.
If you paste a link to another Nextdocs page (format/projects/42/17) — the reader lands directly on it.
Pasting from the clipboard
The editor tries to interpret what you paste intelligently. It guesses
the format and normalises it to its own schema — no settings, no
plugins. Details below.
Google Docs / Word / Pages
Copy paragraphs from Google Docs, paste into Nextdocs. Preserved:
H1/H2/H3 headings (recognised from Google Docs "Heading 1/2/3").
Bulleted and numbered lists (with correct nesting).
Bold / italic / underline.
Links (URL + anchor text).
Quotes — blockquote.
Inline code, code blocks.
Images — pasted into the document (each image is automatically
uploaded to our storage, nothing stays as base64).
Lost:
Google-specific fonts (we use a unified Inter + Fira Code).
Text colours, highlights, multi-colour underlines — normalised to
standard (rainbow-styled docs are rare in documentation).Google Docs tables — come across as Nextdocs tables; see
Tables.
Notion
Copy a page (or any block) from Notion → paste. Supported:
Toggle (collapsible block) — becomes our
Details.Callout (coloured block with icon) — becomes blockquote or
AlertBlock.Heading 1/2/3 — headings.
Bulleted / numbered / to-do list — lists and checklists.
Table — table.
Code — code block, language preserved.
Quote — block quote.
Image / file — images. File attachments as links.
Notion inline mentions — converted to plain text with the name
(our@mentions are re-established manually only — see
Comments & Mentions).
Lost: Notion-specific databases (database views), Figma / Miro
embeds (link stays, rendering doesn't), pages-as-relations (turn
into links).
HTML
Any HTML from a browser — articles, Confluence, internal portal
pages, web archives. Same grammar as Google Docs: headings, lists,
tables, links, images, <code>, <pre>.
If the HTML contains complex attributes (inline CSS, style="..."),
they're normalised to our theme. Scripts and iframes are removed
for security.
Markdown
Paste a .md file, a block from ChatGPT, or any pre-formatted
markdown — it becomes proper blocks:
# Heading→ headings.- Item/1. Item→ lists.text→ link.→ image (external URL stays external, base64 blob
uploads to storage).lang ...→ code block with language.> quote→ blockquote.Pipe-format tables → full tables.
| Mermaid / TLDrawblocks — if it's a markdown fence in our
syntax (:::editorCanvas ... :::) — the diagram is restored.
If the clipboard has raw markdown without explicit signals, we still
try to detect markdown syntax and convert it. If nothing matches —
pasted as plain text.
Tables from Excel / Google Sheets / Numbers
Copy a range of cells in Excel, paste into Nextdocs. You get our
table with proper columns/rows. Preserved:
Cell contents (text, numbers, percentages).
Bold headers, if they were in the source.
Hyperlinks in cells.
Lost:
Formulas (the result is pasted, not
=SUM(A1:A10)).Conditional formatting (cell colours).
Merged cells — become regular (value duplicated).
More on tables — Tables.
CSV / TSV
A table special case. If the clipboard contains comma- or
tab-separated text in a standard rows-columns shape — the parser
auto-detects CSV/TSV and creates a table. Handy for pasting fromcurl | jq -r, database exports, logs.
Screenshots and images
Cmd+V of a screenshot (Cmd+Shift+4 on macOS) — the image is
pasted immediately. The file uploads to storage asynchronously —
you see an "Uploading…" toast, and the placeholder is replaced by
the image once done.Drag-and-drop a file into the window — same flow.
Supported: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG. Up to 20 MB per file.
PDF can't be pasted through the clipboard (it's binary), but there's
a PDF import at the page level:
On an empty page — slash menu → "Import PDF" → pick a file.
The PDF is parsed, text + basic structure (headings, paragraphs,
lists) laid out as a new page.As a file attachment — drag a PDF into the editor window,
choose "Attach as file". A link-attachment is inserted (click
opens the PDF in a new tab).
More — Integrations → PDF.
ZIP / archives
Drop a ZIP into the window — a menu appears: "Upload attachment /
Try to import as repository". The second option only works at the
project level (creates pages from the archive contents) —
Integrations.
Smart normalisation
A central idea of the editor: you paste from anywhere, and
everything becomes part of Nextdocs's unified typography. No "the
font is off", "the heading size is wrong". Paste freely — styling is
homogenised automatically.
The same works in reverse: when you copy from Nextdocs into Word
/ Slack / Notion / email — the recipient sees a properly formatted
chunk, not an HTML mess.
Drag & drop
Drag a file into the editor — works for images and archives.
Drag a block — every block has a "handle" on its left
(appears on hover). Drag it up or down to re-order.Drag a page in the left tree — changes hierarchy.
Find and replace
Cmd/Ctrl+F opens a search bar in the current page. Works like any
editor: matches are highlighted, Enter jumps between them.Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F switches to find-and-replace (if you have write
access).
Cmd/Ctrl+K — opens global search + AI agent (details:
Search and AI Agent).
Table of contents (ToC)
The right panel in the editor has several tabs:
Outline — auto-generated table of contents from headings. Click
an item to scroll to that heading. We recommend structuring the
document with headings, not bold text, so the ToC is useful.Comments — page comments (separate section).
History — page versions (separate section).
Limitations
One document — ~1 MB max. For more — split into subpages.
Nested lists — 4 levels max (technically more is possible, but the
visuals break).Arbitrary iframe embeds aren't possible yet; safe embeds (YouTube,
Mermaid, TLDraw, Excalidraw) — via slash commands.Editing one block with two people at once works, but isn't
always comfortable (the other person's cursor can "push" yours).
Teams usually write different sections.