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The editor is where your words become weapons. Every word you type deals damage to your active battle, counts toward your streak and goals, and saves as you go. Your job is to write. The editor keeps track of the rest.
Where to find it: Left sidebar → Writing → open any file Open in 4TW ↗

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The editor at a glance

  • File tree (left). All your files and projects, so you can hop between them without leaving the editor. See Writing Home.
  • Header (top). Your file’s title, its project, your counters, and the file actions menu (⋯).
  • Writing space (middle). Just you and the page.
  • Right panel. Four tabs: Battle, Pages, Comments, and Statistics.

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The header

Click the title to rename your file. Press Enter to save or Esc to cancel. Under the title, a project chip shows where the file lives, or Unassigned if it isn’t in a project. Click the chip to add it to one. Your counters:
  • Saved. A small icon that switches to Saving while your latest words are on their way.
  • Words. The total for the whole file.
  • This page. The words on the page you’re on. It appears once your file has two or more pages.
  • Time. How long you’ve spent writing in this file.
Want less on screen? Click Hide bar to fold the header away. A small Show bar pill brings it back.

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Classic or minimal header

Open the ⋯ menu and switch Header: classic to Header: minimal for a quieter screen. The minimal header keeps your counters on one slim line. The formatting toolbar appears when you hover over the top of the page. Choose Pin toolbar from the ⋯ menu to keep it in view.

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The right panel

Click Show panel on the right edge to open it. The panel floats over your text. Click Lock panel in place to push your text aside instead, and drag the panel’s edge to resize it.
While the panel floats, the Battle tab closes as soon as you start typing, so it never covers your words. Lock the panel in place if you’d rather watch the monster’s health drop as you write.

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Battles while you write

Your active battle sits in the row above the editor, showing the monster, the words (or defense) left, and the time remaining. Click it to open or close the Battle tab. Hover over it for quick controls: Autostart, Loop, and Throw a potion. Your words hit the monster a second after you pause, and every ten seconds while you keep going. Co-op battles show here too, as Co-Op battle in progress.

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Formatting your text

The toolbar sits in the header. Anything that doesn’t fit on your screen tucks under More tools.
  • Paragraph style. Normal text, or Heading 1 to Heading 4.
  • Text styles. Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript, and inline code.
  • Color. Text color and Highlight color, each with a button to clear it.
  • Lists. Numbered, bullet, and Task list with checkboxes.
  • Indent and alignment. Indent, outdent, and align left, center, right, or justify.
  • Insert. Blockquote, Collapsible section, horizontal rule, table, and image.
  • Tools. Find & Replace, Add comment, and Clear formatting.
On desktop, select some text and a small bubble pops up with the styles you use most, plus Add comment.

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The slash menu

Type / anywhere to open a menu of every block and style. Keep typing to narrow it down, then press Enter. It also has one extra the toolbar doesn’t: Code block. Prefer to type without it? Turn it off in Editor Settings.

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Moving blocks around

Hover over any paragraph to see a grip handle (⋮⋮) on its left. Drag it to move the whole block. Click the + beside it to add a new line below.
Dragging a block to a new spot counts as a paste. Whether those words count again follows your pasted-words setting.

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Tables

Click Insert table from the toolbar or the slash menu. The column and row menus let you add, move, or delete columns and rows, or delete the whole table.

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Images

Add an image from a link to a picture that’s already online.
  1. Copy the link. Right-click the image and choose Copy image address.
  2. Insert it. Click Insert image and paste the link.
  3. Resize. Drag the image’s bottom-right corner. It keeps its shape.
The image has to be public. A link to a private file, or to a page that shows the image instead of the image itself, won’t load. You’ll see Image unavailable where the picture should be.

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Keyboard shortcuts

The command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + K) finds any formatting tool, file action, or panel by name. Type what you want and press Enter.

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Find and replace

Press Ctrl/Cmd + F to search, or Ctrl/Cmd + H to replace. Toggle Case Sensitive or Whole Word to narrow your results. Press Enter for the next match and Shift + Enter for the one before. Writing across several pages? Switch between This page and All pages to search the whole file at once.
Replace works on one page at a time, even when you search All pages. Visit each page to replace its matches.

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Fullscreen

Choose Full screen from the ⋯ menu to hide the app’s navigation and the battle row. Both side panels start closed, and the arrows on each edge open them. Press Esc or click Close full screen when you’re done.

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The file actions menu

Open the ⋯ menu in the header for:
  • Rename, tags, projects, and favorites. Rename, Add tag, Assign to project, and Add to favorites.
  • Share file. Invite friends to read or co-write. See Sharing & Collaboration.
  • Full screen and Editor Settings. Make the editor yours.
  • Export. Download this file as Word, Text, Markdown, or HTML.
  • Versions. Browse and restore earlier snapshots. See File Versions.
  • Archive. Put the file away without deleting it.

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Saving

The editor saves a moment after you stop typing, and again whenever you switch tabs or leave the page. Keep an eye on the Saved icon in the header. If you see Couldn’t save your latest changes, keep the tab open and check your connection.
Have the same file open in two browser tabs? The editor spots it and shows Conflict detected. Close one tab so your newest words win.

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On mobile

On a phone, the side panels slide in from the edges of the screen and the toolbar sits at the bottom. Tap Hide the editor bar to give your words more room. You’ll find spellcheck in the ⋯ menu.

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Frequently Asked Questions

File actions like Export and Versions live in the ⋯ menu in the header. Spellcheck is in the command palette: press Ctrl/Cmd + K and search for it, or anything else, by name.
Each Chinese character and each Japanese kana counts as one word. Korean, like English, counts words by the spaces between them.
No. Undo and redo don’t count as new words, so bringing back text you just removed won’t add to your battle.
Open the Statistics tab in the right panel and click Add goal. See Writing Goals.
Press Ctrl/Cmd + K, search for Spellcheck, and check that it’s on. The editor uses your browser’s spellchecker, so its language follows your browser settings.
Split very long pages into shorter ones. You’ll see a heads-up once a page reaches 100,000 words. See Pages.
Make the editor yours

Pages

Split a file into pages, reorder them, and search across all of them.

Editor Settings

Pick your font, colors, margins, and typing helpers.

Writing Battles

Every word you type in the editor deals damage.