The inline palette lets you quickly add extra content to your text block without moving your hands away from the keyboard. Simply hit / on any text block to open the inline palette. The forward slash will be replaced by the content you choose to insert.

Annotations

With annotations, you can add extra context to your words without breaking the reader’s train of thought. You can use them to explain the meaning of a word, insert extra information, and more. Readers can hover over the annotated text to show the annotation above the text.

Create an annotation

To create an annotation, select the text you would like to annotate and click the Annotate option in the context menu. Once you’ve written your annotation, click outside of it to continue writing in the text block.

Markdown representation

You can write content as Markdown footnotes to add them as annotations in GitBook. Footnote indicators should appear immediately after the word you wish to annotate; they should not appear after punctuation marks or other symbols.

Here's a simple footnote[^1], and here's a longer one[^bignote].

[^1]: This is the first footnote.

[^bignote]: Here's one with multiple paragraphs and code.

Indent paragraphs to include them in the footnote.

`{ my code }`

Add as many paragraphs as you like.

Images

Inline images will sit alongside your text on the page.

By default, images are set to their original size with a maximum width of 300px. You can change the size by clicking the image to open the formatting palette, then choosing one of the three options:

Inline size: The image is proportionally sized to the font — great for icons and badges. 1.

Original size: The image will remain inline at its original size, with a maximum width of 300 pixels. 1.

Convert to block: This turns an inline image into a image block, which is as wide as your content.

Image blocks offer more options, including more sizes and the ability to add a caption — but will not appear inline with your text.

Representation in Markdown

Here is an inline image: <img src=".gitbook/assets/GitBook - Dark.jpg" alt="Dark version of GitBook logo" data-size="line">

Emojis

You can add emojis by hitting / to open the inline palette. Alternatively, type : and a list of emojis will pop up directly in line — you can start typing the name of an emoji to narrow down the selection.

Representation in Markdown

:house:
:car:
:dog:

Links

You can insert three different types of links:

Relative links

Relative links are links created by linking to pages that already exist in your space. The advantage of using relative links is that if the page’s URL, name, or location changes, its reference will be kept up to date — so you’ll end up with fewer broken links.

Here’s how to insert a relative link:

Click somewhere in your paragraph where you want to insert the link, or select some text. 1.

Hit / to open the inline palette and choose Link, click the Link button in the context menu, or hit ⌘ + K. 1.

Start typing the title of the page you want to link to. 1.

Select the page from the drop-down search results. 1.

Hit Enter.

Absolute links

Absolute links are external links that you can copy and paste into your content. They’re great when you want to link to something outside your documentation.

To insert an absolute link:

Click somewhere in your paragraph where you want to insert the link, or select some text. 1.

Hit / to open the inline palette and choose Link, click the Link button in the context menu, or hit ⌘ + K. 1.

Paste the URL you want to link to. 1.

Hit Enter.

Why don’t external links open in a new tab?

When you add a link to an external site in your docs, it will open in the same tab.

GitBook follows this W3C-recommended behavior to support accessibility and ensure a consistent, inclusive experience for your readers.

Email address mailto links

Email address mailto links are useful when you want your visitors to click on a link that will open up their default email client and fill in the To field with the email address of your link, so they can write an email to send.

Here’s how to insert an email address mailto link:

Click somewhere in your paragraph where you want to insert the link, or select some text. 1.

Hit / to open the inline palette and choose Link, click the Link button in the context menu, or hit ⌘ + K. 1.

Paste or type mailto:something@address.com, replacing something@address.com with the email address you would like to use. 1.

Hit Enter.

Representation in Markdown

[This is a relative link to another page in this space](../content-structure/page.md)
[This is an absolute link](https://www.gitbook.com/blog)
[This is a link](mailto:support@gitbook.com) to our support email address

Math & TeX

Using this option, you can create an inline math formula in your content, like this: f(x)=x∗e2piiξxf(x) = x * e^{2 pi i \xi x}. We use the KaTeX library to render formulas.

You can also insert a block-level math formula by opening the command palette in an empty block and choosing the second Math & TeX option.

Representation in Markdown

# Math and TeX block

$$f(x) = x * e^{2 pi i \xi x}$$

Buttons

Buttons are a great way to describe calls to action. You can use them to send users to other pages in GitBook, or to external URLs.

Buttons have both primary and secondary styles. Here are a couple of examples:

Sign up to GitBook Go to top

Representation in Markdown

<a href="https://app.gitbook.com" class="button primary">GitBook</a>

Icons

Icons allow you to add extra visual indications to your site. You can add them inline to paragraphs, inside a card, or anywhere else you need to add some flair. They will use the visual style defined in your customization settings.

Visit Font Awesome to explore the different icons available.

Representation in Markdown

<i class="fa-github">:github:</i>

Expressions

Expressions allow you to dynamically display content defined in a variable. Expressions can be inserted from the / menu. Once inserted, double clicking on the expression will bring up the expression editor, allowing you to reference and conditionally format your variable.