Introducing a Rich Text Editor That is a Game Changer

We all have a text editor that we love for writing content—one that compels us to write freely, efficiently, and without distraction.

The problem is, great text editors exist, just not where the content lives. We are dedicated to delivering the most powerful and efficient tools for managing content, which is why we’re adding a new and improved Rich Text Editor to take your writing and editing to the next level.

A modern, minimal interface

Creating good content shouldn’t be overwhelming. Editors should be able to write content distraction-free while still having all the powerful tools needed for dynamic, rich content. To do that, we’re starting with a redesigned interface that puts content first. Just start typing, and focus on your writing instead of formatting. The toolbars stay out of the way until you need them.

When you want to format, just select the text and the toolbar will appear. From here you can select your pre-defined formats like headings and paragraph text, select how you want your text aligned, and any custom formatting features you want your editors to have. All standard rich text formatting options are available by default, but there is no limit to how minimal or feature-rich you can make your editor.

Add Blocks right inside the editor

The upcoming Rich Text Editor is going to be a game-changer for content creators. One of the most significant features is the ability to insert custom-defined Blocks directly into the rich text editor, opening up the possibility of embedding highly customizable data structures wherever they're needed.

Blocks are already a powerful tool for creating flexible content models, and with the ability to insert them directly into the rich text editor, you'll be able to build modular, dynamic layouts on the fly. And for developers, adding in blocks is a breeze. Just pass a list of blocks to include to the rich text field, and they’ll be available for editors to use right away.

Shortcuts for quicker workflows

We’re also adding in new actions and abilities that will make your editing experience faster and more intuitive. We’re adding markdown shortcuts for quick formatting, like ## for a Heading 2, or ** ** for bold text.

We’ll also introduce slash commands to put all of the available actions inside an easily accessible menu. You’ll simply type “/” followed by a keyword and get a list of actions to take, like formatting text, adding in new elements, and even AI tools to assist your content creation.

For those who are using Payload’s current rich text editor, these changes will be huge for making your editing workflow more efficient. For people who are new to Payload but have used other editing tools like Notion, the functionality will feel familiar and come naturally.

Upgrade your productivity with AI

On top of all the new functionality coming to the rich text editor, we are also integrating a suite of AI tools and capabilities to help you write better and generate high-quality content. We want users to be able to amplify their writing with AI tools that learn from their writing and provide intuitive actions to make their workflows faster.

Some of the features we’ll be adding include contextual autocompletion, editing and grammar suggestions, translation abilities and much more.

And for when you need help generating ideas, you’ll be able to generate content based on prompts, get a summary of what you’ve already written, and get SEO-optimized content—all without ever leaving Payload.

Extending the editor

In order to achieve these changes, we’ll be building on top of Lexical, a super powerful and extensible text editor framework developed by Meta. This will not only make it easier for us to add features, but developers will benefit from Lexical’s extensibility to create customized solutions for their teams.

One of the ways you’ll be able to extend your editor is with “features”. This is a new concept we are adding that makes customizing the editor more intuitive, while also giving developers easier ways to make use of the updated interface. Rather than adding leaves or elements like you would in Slate, “features” will include the benefits from both, as well as other functionalities, like slash commands and custom components.

If you are interested in learning more about how we plan to extend the editor, join the discussion on GitHub.

This new and improved Rich Text Editor will benefit anyone who creates or manages content, from developers to editors. With its modern, minimal interface, added functionality, and the ability to insert custom defined Blocks, it’ll be the most powerful tool for anyone looking to create dynamic, rich content.