Writing Documents

The document editor is where you write anything longer than a caption: creative briefs, campaign plans, brand guidelines, meeting notes or a script draft. It works like a simple word processor. Type / to add headings, lists, images and tables, and link your designs, ideas and other content right inside the text.

Documents save by themselves as you type.

Open one from the Documents tab of the Create page. To start a new one, see The Create Page.

Blogs use a different, step-by-step editor. See Writing a Blog with AI.

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Open Create and click Create.
2. Pick Document and click Create. A new Untitled Document opens.
3. Click Untitled Document at the top and type a name, like “Spring campaign brief”.
4. Click into the page and type /. Pick Heading 1 and type a heading.
5. Press Enter and start writing.
6. Wait for All changes saved at the top right.
7. Click Back to return to the Create page.

Example: a café owner writes a brief for a new seasonal menu. They add a Heading 1 “Autumn menu launch”, a Bullet List of the three new drinks, and use Link Design to point to the poster they already made.

The editor at a glance

Top bar

• Back: saves your latest changes and returns to the Documents tab. It shows Saving… while it finishes.
• The title: click it to rename the document.
• Save status: Saving…, All changes saved or Failed to save – Retry. See How saving works.
• ⋮ menu: Export to PDF, Share, Copy Link, Version History and Delete.
• Sidebar button: hides or shows the right sidebar (Hide sidebar / Show sidebar).
• Preview / Edit: Preview shows the document read-only, so you can read it without changing anything by accident. Click Edit to type again.

The page in the middle is where you write. A counter under the page shows how many characters and words the document has.

The right sidebar has four tabs: Configure, Comments, Repurpose and Outline. See The sidebar tabs.

Ask Orsa AI at the bottom right opens Orsa AI, who can edit the document with you. See Editing Documents with Orsa AI.

Adding content with the / menu

Type / anywhere to open the menu. Keep typing to filter it, like /tab for Table. Use the arrow keys and Enter, or click an item.

Adding an image or video

1. Type / and pick Image or Video.
2. In the window that opens, pick a file from Brand Library, search free stock photos in Search Web, or add a new file in Upload Panel.
3. Click the file. It’s added where you typed /.

Click an image to align it left, center or right, or drag its edge to resize it.

Pasting a web address on its own turns it into a link chip.

Example: in a campaign plan, type /check and press Enter to add a Task List, then list “Book photographer”, “Approve poster” and “Schedule posts”.

Formatting text with the toolbar

Select some text and a toolbar appears just above it. From left to right it has:

• Undo and Redo.
• Orsa AI: quick AI rewrites of the selected text. See Editing Documents with Orsa AI.
• Copy format and Paste format: copy the look of one piece of text onto another.
• Font and Font size.
• Block type: turn the line into Text, a heading, a list, a Task List, a Quote or Code.
• Bold, Italic, Underline and Strikethrough.
• Link: add a web link to the selected text.
• Text color & highlight.
• Text align and Line height.
• Emoji and Table.
• Page padding: how wide the margins are, from Narrow to Extra Wide.

Moving and styling whole blocks

Hover over any paragraph, heading or list and two small buttons appear at its left:

• + (Add block below) opens the / menu on a new line underneath.
• The handle next to it: click it for Duplicate, Color, Background and Delete, or drag it to move the block up or down.

Tables: click inside a table and use Edit table to add or remove rows and columns, or to delete the whole table.

Keyboard shortcuts

Use Cmd on a Mac and Ctrl on Windows.

Find and replace

1. Press Cmd/Ctrl + F.
2. Type in Find. The counter shows matches, like 2/7.
3. Press Enter for the next match, or Shift + Enter for the previous one.
4. Type the new text in Replace, then click Replace for this match or All for every match.
5. Press Esc or click ✕ to close it.

Example: you renamed your loyalty program from “Bean Club” to “Bean Rewards”. Press Cmd/Ctrl + F, find Bean Club, replace with Bean Rewards, and click All.

Linking your content

Link chips point to other things in your brand, so readers can jump straight to them.

1. Type / and pick a Link item, like Link Design.
2. Search by name in the window that opens.
3. Click the item. A chip with its name appears in the text.

Click the × on a chip to remove it.

When you add a Tag User chip, that teammate gets a You are tagged in a document notification once the change saves. To discuss something, @mention them in the Comments tab. See Comments and Mentions.

Example: a brief for a product launch links the Idea it came from, the two Designs for Instagram and the launch Email, so the whole team can open each one from the brief.

The sidebar tabs

Configure

• Status: where the document is in your workflow, like Draft or Review. It saves as soon as you pick it.
• Approvers: who should approve the document, with a Request Review button.
• Tags: labels for finding the document later on the Create page.

Statuses, approvers and Request Review work the same way across the app. See Reviews and Approvals.

Comments: talk about the document with your team. See Comments and Mentions.

Repurpose: turn an approved document into a transcript, AI design, design or marketing email. See Repurpose and Similar Content.

Outline: a list of every heading in the document. Click one to jump to it. The outline updates as you edit. With no headings yet, it says “Add headings to your document to see an outline here.”

How saving works

You never need to press save.

• Text and title save about 7 seconds after you stop typing.
• Status and approvers save as soon as you change them.
• Back saves anything that’s still waiting before it leaves.

The top bar tells you what’s happening:

If you see Failed to save

1. Check your internet connection.
2. Click Retry.
3. Wait for All changes saved before you close the tab.

If you close the tab or reload while changes are still waiting, your browser asks you to confirm first, and the editor tries to save them on the way out.

Sharing, exporting and deleting

All of these are in the ⋮ menu at the top right.

• Share: send a link to someone outside your team. See Sharing with Share Links.
• Copy Link: copies this document’s address. Teammates in the brand can open it.
• Export to PDF and Version History: see Document Versions and Export.
• Delete: asks “Are you sure you want to delete name?”. Click Delete to confirm. There is no undo.

Ideas for using documents

A creative brief for every campaign.

A gym writes “January challenge brief” with a Heading 2 for each part: goal, audience, key message, deliverables. Under deliverables they use Link Design for each post and Link Email for the newsletter.

A shared checklist for launch day.

A boutique adds a Task List with “Window display”, “Instagram story at 9am” and “Email at noon”, and ticks each one off as it’s done.

Notes from a client call.

A freelance social media manager writes call notes during the meeting, then uses Tag User to show who owns each follow-up, so each owner gets notified.

Tips for the best results

• Name the document first. Search on the Create page looks at titles, so “Untitled Document” is hard to find later.
• Use headings for structure. They make long documents easy to skim, and they fill the Outline tab so you can jump between sections.
• Link instead of describing. A Link Design chip opens the real design. A sentence like “the blue poster” can be misread.
• Wait for All changes saved before closing the tab, especially after a long paste.
• Use Preview when reviewing. It stops accidental edits while you read.

Common questions

My document says Failed to save – Retry. The editor tried to save three times and couldn’t. This is usually a dropped internet connection. Reconnect, click Retry, and wait for All changes saved.

I don’t see the formatting toolbar. The toolbar only appears when text is selected. Select a word or a line, and it shows above it.

The / menu doesn’t open. Make sure you’re in Edit mode, not Preview. The top bar shows Preview when you’re editing.

I tagged a teammate but they didn’t get a notification. They’re notified once, when the chip is first saved, and not if they muted notifications or if they tagged themselves. Wait for All changes saved.

Clicking a Sub-Pillar or User chip does nothing. That’s expected. Only transcript, design, idea, email and document chips open something.

My document isn’t in the Documents list. Check the filters on the Create page and that the right brand is selected. See The Create Page.

Can two people edit a document at the same time? Not safely. Documents don’t update live for other people, so if two people edit at once, the last one to save wins. Agree on one editor at a time, and use Comments for feedback.

Can I get a deleted document back? No. Deleting can’t be undone from the app, so it always asks you to confirm.