---
title: "Formatting text"
---

Type any of these markers and Mimir renders them immediately — the raw
characters disappear from view as soon as you finish typing the pair.

| Type this | To get |
| --- | --- |
| `**bold**` | **Bold** |
| `*italic*` | *Italic* |
| `` `code` `` | `Code` |
| `` ```code block``` `` | A multi-line code block |
| `# Heading` | A heading |
| `> Words` | A guest block — someone else's words, in a green-to-blue gradient, marked with ❝ |
| `[[Page]]` | A link to a page |
| `~my PIN is 4821~` | Masked text — click into the note to see and edit it |
| `->` | An arrow, → |
| `<-` | An arrow, ← |
| `...` | An ellipsis, … |
| `--` | An em dash, — |

Bold and italic follow standard Markdown: the markers have to touch the
text, so `**bold**` works and `** bold **` doesn't. They can be combined
(`***both***`) and nested (`**bold and *italic***`). `snake_case_words`
aren't italicized.

To mask text, put a tilde (`~`) directly before and after it. The tildes
are the marker, and the text between them is yours.

None of these markers apply inside `` `code` `` or a ` ```fenced``` ` block, so a real
`->` in code is left alone. Backspace right after one appears turns it back
into the raw characters. Three dashes alone on a line (`---`) are left as-is
too — that's a divider, a horizontal rule across the page, not an em dash.

## Using the Format menu

On a Mac, you can right-click instead of typing the markers. Select some
text, or one or more notes, then right-click and choose **Format**:

- **Headings** turns the note into a heading, level 1, 2, or 3. Choose the
  same level again to turn it back into ordinary text.
- **Bold**, **Italic**, **Code**, and **Secret** wrap the selection in
  that marker. **Secret** is masked text.
- **Guest** puts `> ` at the start of the note, or takes it off again if it's
  already there. It works on the whole note, wherever the caret is.
- **Code Block** wraps the selection in a code block. With nothing
  selected, it adds an empty code block where the caret is.
- **Add Horizontal Rule** adds a divider as a new note below the current
  one. On an empty note, the divider goes in that note.

With whole notes selected, each format applies to the whole of each note.

## Guest blocks

Start a note with `>` and a space to mark it as a guest: words that aren't
yours, such as a quote, an excerpt from a page, or something an AI wrote.
The note is shown in a subtle green, and the `> ` stays visible so you can
see and change it. Links, code, and emphasis inside it work as usual.

A guest block is one note. Its child notes and the notes around it are
unaffected, and pressing Enter at the end of it starts a plain note. To quote
several paragraphs, start each with `> `. Pasted markdown quotes become
guest blocks the same way.

`>5`, `a > b`, and `>text` (no space) are ordinary text.

## Marking a to-do

Start a note with the bare word `todo` or `done` (no brackets, any
capitalization) and it renders as a bold marker you can tap, or select the
note and press **Cmd/Ctrl-G**, to flip between the two. It also counts as
a link to the "todo" or "done" page, so every marked note shows up there.

## Turning off a marker

Wrap anything on one line in `` `backticks` `` to show it exactly as typed,
with no markers applied — useful for writing about Mimir's own syntax
without triggering it. For text spanning more than one line, use a
` ```fenced``` ` code block instead — it can hold single backticks of its
own, and shows a small copy button in its top-right corner.