Docs

Docs

Docs are traditional rich text documents for professional writing—reports, formal letters, structured documentation. Unlike Notes, Docs provide continuous flow editing with page layout control and print-ready output.

The Ribbon Interface

The toolbar organizes tools into tabs: Home, Insert, Format, Table, Page, View, and Review. The ribbon adapts to context—when you're in a table, the Table tab appears with relevant tools.

Home Tab

Clipboard: Undo/redo with full history, cut/copy/paste with formatting.

Paragraph Styles: Apply semantic structure in one click:

• Normal — Body text
• Title — Document title
• Heading 1, 2, 3 — Section hierarchy
• Quote — Block quotations
• Pull Quote — Emphasized extracts
• Callout — Highlighted information boxes
• Caption — Figure/table descriptions
• Footnote — Reference notes
• Code Block — Monospace code

Styles apply semantic meaning, not just formatting. "Heading 1" tells the system "this is a major section," enabling outline navigation and consistent structure.

Typography:

• Font Family: 33 options (Inter, Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman, JetBrains Mono, etc.)
• Font Weight: Light (300), Normal (400), Semibold (600), Bold (700), Extra Bold (800)
• Font Size: 6pt to 96pt (up to 400pt custom)

Font selection guide:

• Sans-serif (Inter, Arial): Clean, modern, better for screens
• Serif (Georgia, Times): Traditional, better for long printed texts
• Monospace (JetBrains Mono): Code, tabular data

Text Formatting: Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Superscript, Subscript, Inline code.

Colors: 15 text color presets, 10 highlight colors, 10 callout colors.

Insert Tab

Images: Three insertion methods:

• From Drive — Link to existing Coline files
• From Computer — Upload directly
• From URL — Link to external image

Supported: PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, SVG. Double-click to edit. Images resize to fit page width maintaining aspect ratio.

Videos: Embed YouTube videos by pasting any YouTube URL (watch, youtu.be, embed, shorts formats). Renders at 16:9 with standard controls.

Tables: Grid picker for dimensions up to 10×10. Default: 3×3 with header row.

Horizontal Rule: Visual section separator.

Page Break: Force content to new page (Cmd/Ctrl+Enter).

Links: Insert hyperlinks with URL and display text.

Format Tab

Text Transform: UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, Sentence case.

Lists: Bulleted, numbered (auto-renumbering), indent/outdent.

Alignment: Left, Center, Right, Justified.

Line Spacing: 1.15, 1.5, 1.75, 2.0.

Text Direction: LTR, RTL.

Table Tab

Appears when cursor is in a table.

Insert: Row above/below, Column left/right.

Delete: Row, Column, Table.

Merge & Split: Merge selected cells, split merged cells.

Style: Toggle header row/column, Cell background color (10 presets).

Layout: Distribute rows/columns evenly.

Table Navigation: Press Arrow Down at last row or Enter in last cell to exit table.

Page Tab

Orientation: Portrait (default), Landscape.

Margins:

• Narrow: 72px horizontal, 64px vertical
• Normal: 96px horizontal, 80px vertical
• Wide: 128px horizontal, 96px vertical

Decorations: Show/hide page numbers, Page background color.

Note: Currently only Letter size (8.5" × 11") is supported.

View Tab

Zoom: 60% to 200%.

Layout Mode:

• Paged — See actual page breaks (default)
• Compact — Continuous scrolling without breaks
• Focus — Minimal UI, distraction-free

Show/Hide: Ruler, Stats bar, Document outline.

Review Tab

Spell Check: Toggle browser spell checking.

Document Statistics: Word count, character count (with/without spaces), paragraph count, page count, sentence count, reading time (220 WPM), Flesch Reading Ease score.

Reading level mapping:

• 90-100: Very Easy (5th grade)
• 80-89: Easy (6th grade)
• 70-79: Fairly Easy (7th grade)
• 60-69: Standard (8th-9th grade)
• 50-59: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th grade)
• 30-49: Difficult (College)
• 0-29: Very Difficult (Graduate)

Aim for 60-70 for general business writing.

Page Layout

Paged Documents

Each page is 816×1056px (Letter size). Content flows automatically from page to page. Page breaks happen naturally; use Cmd/Ctrl+Enter for manual breaks when sections should start fresh.

Margins and Content Area

Use narrow for maximum content space, normal for balance, wide for readability and annotations.

Tables

Creating and Modifying

Insert via grid picker. Modify structure via Table tab: add/remove rows and columns, merge/split cells, toggle headers.

Best Practices

• Use header rows for data tables
• Keep tables simple—complex tables are hard to read
• Align numbers right, text left, headers centered
• Use background colors for visual hierarchy (light gray headers, subtle row grouping)

Resizing

Drag column borders. Use "Distribute evenly" for balanced columns. Tables stay within page margins.

Media

Images

Three sources: Drive (linked reference), Computer (uploaded), URL (external link). Edit by double-click or hover overlay.

YouTube Videos

Paste any YouTube URL format. Embeds at 16:9 with standard controls.

Real-Time Collaboration

Multiple people edit simultaneously using Operational Transform to prevent conflicts. Changes appear instantly; no save button needed.

Presence

• Avatars: Top-right shows active collaborators
• Cursors: Each person has a colored cursor with name label
• Selections: See what text others select (semi-transparent highlight)

Collaboration Tips

• Work in different sections when possible
• Check presence before making large structural changes
• Avoid simultaneous editing of the same paragraph to prevent visual chaos

AI Assistance

Tab Autocomplete

As you type, ghost text suggests completions. Press Tab to accept, Esc to dismiss, or keep typing to ignore.

Inline AI Prompt

Select text (optional) and press Cmd/Ctrl+E for AI assistance.

Quick Actions:

• Improve writing — Polish and refine
• Fix grammar — Correct errors
• Make concise — Remove filler
• Expand — Add detail
• Continue writing — Pick up where you left off
• Sharpen argument — Strengthen persuasion
• Make warmer — Friendlier tone
• Make direct — Clear and blunt
• Turn to bullets — Convert prose to list
• Turn to paragraph — Convert list to prose
• Write intro — Create opening
• Write conclusion — Summarize and close

Select specific text for better context. AI generates starting points—edit to match your voice and verify facts.

Space AI Menu

On an empty paragraph, press Space for AI suggestions to continue writing.

Navigation

Document Outline

Toggle from View tab or sidebar. Shows H1, H2, H3 headings with page numbers. Click to jump to section.

View Modes

• Paged: Actual page boundaries, print WYSIWYG
• Compact: Continuous scrolling, more content visible
• Focus: Minimal UI, distraction-free

Keyboard Shortcuts

Docs vs Notes

Use Docs for:

• Print fidelity and precise layout
• Formal documents and reports
• External distribution requiring polish
• Long-form continuous prose
• Structured content with tables

Use Notes for:

• Quick capture and brainstorming
• Bidirectional linking and knowledge graphs
• Daily journaling
• Meeting notes and collaborative capture
• Fluid, evolving structure

API

Creating Docs

import { Coline } from '@colineapp/sdk'

const coline = new Coline({ apiKey: 'col_ws_...' })

const doc = await coline.docs.create({
  workspaceId: 'ws_...',
  title: 'Quarterly Report',
  content: '<h1>Q4 Performance</h1><p>Revenue increased...</p>',
  layout: {
    mode: 'pages',
    orientation: 'portrait',
    margins: 'normal'
  }
})

await coline.docs.update({
  workspaceId: 'ws_...',
  docId: 'doc_...',
  content: '<h1>Updated Title</h1><p>New content...</p>'
})

AI Generation

POST /api/v1/docs/ai/generate
{
  "prompt": "Write an executive summary",
  "selectedText": "Q4 saw 23% revenue growth...",
  "noteContext": "Full document content..."
}

Limitations

Features not yet implemented:

• Comments and annotations
• Track changes
• Export (PDF, Word, Markdown)
• Find and replace
• Headers and footers
• Footnotes and endnotes (style exists, no formal system)
• Table of contents
• Version history

Best Practices

Structure

1. Start with Title style, then H1 for sections
2. Limit heading depth—H1→H2→H3 is usually enough
3. One idea per paragraph
4. Use page breaks thoughtfully
5. Preview in both Paged and Compact modes

Formatting

1. Use styles, not manual formatting ("Heading 1" not "16pt bold")
2. Limit to 2-3 font families
3. Establish a type scale and stick to it
4. Use color sparingly—mostly for links and emphasis
5. Generous white space improves readability

Collaboration

1. Let others know before major structural changes
2. Work in different sections when possible
3. Regular Cmd/Ctrl+S for peace of mind
4. Edit AI suggestions to match your voice

Troubleshooting

Document won't save: Check internet, refresh page. Contact support if data appears lost.

Formatting looks wrong: Check Paged vs Compact mode, verify margins, ensure images fit content area.

Collaboration issues: Verify edit permissions, refresh if cursors frozen, avoid simultaneous editing of same paragraph.

AI not working: Check AI quota, ensure text is selected for context, verify workspace permissions.

Next Steps

• Notes — Quick capture with bidirectional linking
• Sheets — Structured data and calculations
• Boards — Visual organization and workflows
• Files — The unified virtual drive system