> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.glassine.ink/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Formatting as you go
> A bar over what you select, a menu under a slash, chips for words that matter, and a way to hide the Markdown altogether.
Everything on this page writes ordinary Markdown into the file. These are shortcuts to it, for the moments when reaching for the syntax would break the sentence.
## The bar over a selection
Select some text with the mouse and a small bar appears above it:
**B** bold · *I* italic · S̶ strikethrough · `` inline code · chip · link ·· H1 H2 H3 ·· bullet list · numbered list · task · quote
The first six wrap the selection in the right marks; the rest turn every paragraph the selection touches into that kind of line, so selecting three lines and pressing the bullet turns all three into a list, numbered lists count from wherever the list above left off, and pressing the same thing again turns them back into plain text. The selection stays where it was afterwards, so the bar can be used again.
A selection made with the keyboard shows the bar too, after a short pause, so shift-arrowing does not flicker. Esc dismisses it and collapses the selection; typing dismisses it. Each button shows its keyboard shortcut when you hover.
## The slash menu
Type `/` at the start of a line, or after a space, and a menu opens under the caret:
| Item | Writes |
| ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Heading 1, 2, 3 | `#`, `##`, `###` |
| Text | Plain text — removes a heading, list or quote marker from the line |
| Bullet list / Numbered list | `- ` / `1. ` |
| Task | `- [ ] ` |
| Quote | `> ` |
| Code block | A fenced block, with the caret inside |
| Divider | `---` on its own line |
| Link | `[text](url)`, with a web address from the clipboard if there is one |
| Chip | `==chip==`, with the placeholder selected |
| Today / Tomorrow / Yesterday | The [date](/editor/dates), as a capsule |
Keep typing to filter — `/h2`, `/task`, `/tom` — and ↑ ↓ to move. **Return** or **Tab** takes the highlighted item and removes the slash and whatever you typed after it. **Esc** closes the menu and leaves the slash as a slash; so does typing something that matches nothing, so a `/` in ordinary prose gets out of the way on its own. A slash inside a word or an address (`https://`) never opens it.
Headings, lists and quotes from the menu act on the line the caret is in — `/h1` on a line you have already started makes that line the heading. A code block or divider goes on a line of its own: in place of the current line if it is empty, otherwise on a new line after it.
## Chips
A chip is a word or a few words in a capsule, drawn exactly like a [date](/editor/dates): the name of an app, a person, a place — anything you want to stand a little apart from the sentence around it.
Select the words and press **⌘⇧H**, or use the chip in the bar, or type `/chip`. In the file it is `==Glassine==`, the highlight syntax that Obsidian, Bear, iA Writer and most other Markdown editors understand, so the words stay readable anywhere; Review draws the capsule too, and so does the PDF. Pressing ⌘⇧H with the caret between the marks removes them.
## Hiding the Markdown
Settings → Editor → **Hide Markdown syntax**, or **⌃⌘M**, or View → Hide Markdown Syntax. The marks leave the page and the styling stays: `**bold**` reads as **bold**, `# Title` as a title, a link as its words, a chip as its capsule; bullets are drawn as bullets, and a task's `- ` steps aside so its box is the marker. Code fences, horizontal rules and `#tags` stay as they are.
The paragraph your caret is in is the exception: it shows every mark, so you can edit it as written, and it collapses again when you move on. Nothing about the file changes — it is the same Markdown either way, and the [shortcuts](/reference/shortcuts) and the menu work the same.
The command bar (⌘K) lists *Hide Markdown syntax* or *Show Markdown syntax*, whichever applies.