Basic Formatting Syntax

Learn how to apply basic formatting to your notes, using Markdown.

Paragraphs

To create paragraphs in Markdown, use a blank line to separate blocks of text. Each block of text separated by a blank line is treated as a distinct paragraph.

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

A blank line between lines of text creates separate paragraphs. This is the default behavior in Markdown.

Line breaks

By default in Engram, pressing Enter once will create a new line in your note, but this is treated as a continuation of the same paragraph in the rendered output, following typical Markdown behavior. To insert a line break within a paragraph without starting a new paragraph, you can use the shortcut Shift + Enter to directly insert a line break.

Headings

To create a heading, add up to six # symbols before your heading text. The number of # symbols determines the size of the heading.

# This is a heading 1
## This is a heading 2
### This is a heading 3
#### This is a heading 4
##### This is a heading 5
###### This is a heading 6

This is a heading 1

This is a heading 2

This is a heading 3

This is a heading 4

This is a heading 5

This is a heading 6

Bold, italics

Text formatting can also be applied using Editing shortcuts.

Style	Syntax	Example	Output
Bold	** ** or __ __	**Bold text**	Bold text
Italic	* * or _ _	*Italic text*	Italic text
Strikethrough	~~ ~~	~~Striked out text~~	Striked out text

External links

Engram supports linking markdown files, known as Wikilinks, and external URLs:

Wikilink: [[Three laws of motion]]
External URLs: [Three laws of motion](/)

You can also create external links to files in platforms like Obsidian, by linking to a file URI.

[Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=Note.md)

Escape blank spaces in links

If your URL contains blank spaces, you must escape them by replacing them with %20.

[My Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My%20Note.md)

External images

You can add images with external URLs, by adding a ! symbol before an external link.

![Engelbart](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

Quotes

You can quote text by adding a > symbols before the text.

> Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

Tip

You can turn your quote into a callout by adding [!note] as the first line in a quote.

Lists

You can create an unordered list by adding a - before the text.

- First list item
- Second list item
- Third list item

To create an ordered list, start each line with a number followed by a . symbol.

1. First list item
2. Second list item
3. Third list item

Horizontal rule

You can use three stars *** or hyphens --- on its own line to add a horizontal bar.

***
---

Code

You can format code both inline within a sentence, or in its own block. Inline code

You can format code within a sentence using single backticks.

Text inside backticks on a line will be formatted like code.

Formatted `like` this.

Text inside backticks on a line will be formatted like code.

If you want to put backticks in an inline code block, surround it with double backticks like so: inline code with a backtick ` inside. Code blocks

To format a block of code, surround the code with triple backticks.

```
cd ~/Desktop
```

You can add syntax highlighting to a code block, by adding a language code after the first set of backticks.

```js
function fancyAlert(arg) {
    if(arg) {
        console.alert(arg)
    }
}
```

function fancyAlert(arg) {
    if(arg) {
        console.alert(arg)
    }
}