How to Use the Substack Editor

Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 11/12/2025, 7:13:13 PM

Added description

Description

How to Use the Substack Editor

Overview

How to Use the Substack Editor is a single‑page text tutorial created in 2023 by the Substack organization. The document is written in English and is part of the Substack Tutorials directory housed in the PINAX digital repository. It is formatted as a plain‑text guide and is intended for individuals who wish to learn how to format and publish content on the Substack platform.

Background

Substack is a newsletter and publishing platform that allows writers to create, edit, and distribute content directly to subscribers. In 2023, Substack released this tutorial to help new and existing users navigate its built‑in editor. The tutorial was archived by the PINAX system, a digital preservation service, and is currently stored under the identifier `01K9WQHKS3XE6XDCB5GGX7PW90`. The creator is listed as “Substack,” and the institution field is marked “test,” indicating a provisional or test environment within the repository.

Contents

The tutorial covers the core functions of the Substack editor, including:
  • Formatting options: bold, italics, block quotes, lists, and code blocks.
  • Headings: how to create and style headings of various levels.
  • Embedding content: inserting images, videos, and external links.
  • Writing tools: tips for drafting, editing, and previewing posts.

The guide is organized into step‑by‑step sections, each accompanied by concise explanations and illustrative examples. While the full visual layout is not preserved in the text file, the description notes that screenshots or visual cues are likely present in the original web version.

Scope

The document focuses exclusively on the Substack editor’s basic and intermediate features. It does not address advanced topics such as custom CSS, API integration, or subscriber management. The tutorial is dated 2023, reflecting the editor’s state at that time, and is written in English. It is intended for users of the Substack platform and does not cover other publishing tools. The rights field is empty, and the access URL is a placeholder, indicating that the file is not publicly linked but is available within the PINAX repository for authorized users.

Entities

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@file_pinax -> documents -> @substack_editor_tutorial:document {title: "How to Use the Substack Editor", created: @date_2023, language: "en", description: "Tutorial on using the Substack editor, covering formatting, headings, and embedding content.", source: "PINAX", subjects: ["Substack", "Editor Tutorial", "Formatting", "Writing Tools"]}

@file_125962877_how_to_use_the_substack_editor -> contains -> @substack_editor_tutorial:document

@substack_editor_tutorial -> created by -> @substack:organization

@substack_editor_tutorial -> includes -> [@block_quote:concept, @bold_formatting:concept, @italic_formatting:concept, @link_formatting:concept, @heading_feature:concept, @image_embedding:concept, @tweet_embedding:concept, @youtube_embedding:concept, @vimeo_embedding:concept, @spotify_embedding:concept, @soundcloud_embedding:concept, @publishing_option:concept]

@block_quote:concept {description: "Formatting option to display quoted text from a source."}
@bold_formatting:concept {description: "Text style for strong emphasis."}
@italic_formatting:concept {description: "Text style for emphasis."}
@link_formatting:concept {description: "Hyperlink to external URLs."}
@heading_feature:concept {description: "Ability to add headings using the Style list in the toolbar."}
@image_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding images by dragging into the editor or using the image selector."}
@tweet_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding a tweet by pasting its URL on a new line."}
@youtube_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding a YouTube video via its URL."}
@vimeo_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding a Vimeo video via its URL."}
@spotify_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding a Spotify album via its URL."}
@soundcloud_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding a SoundCloud track via its URL."}
@publishing_option:concept {description: "Options for publishing posts: Publish or Publish & Send."}
@publish:concept {description: "Publishes post to the web only."}
@publish_and_send:concept {description: "Publishes post to the web and sends email to subscribers."}
@backdate_option:concept {description: "Allows setting a custom publication date for imported posts."}
@delete_action:concept {description: "Deletes a post via Settings."}
@settings_button:concept {description: "Button in the editor UI to access post settings."}

@publishing_option -> has -> [@publish, @publish_and_send, @backdate_option, @delete_action]

@substack_editor_tutorial -> embeds -> [@tweet:document, @youtube_video:document, @vimeo_video:document, @spotify_album:document, @soundcloud_track:document]

@hamish_mckenzie:person {full_name: "Hamish McKenzie"}

@tweet:document {author: @hamish_mckenzie, date: @date_2017_12_15, content: "Twitter is an amazing tool and an awful place.", url: "https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie/status/941694455853101056"}

@youtube_video:document {video_id: "ZoEUu1XHL7U", platform: @youtube:organization}
@vimeo_video:document {video_id: "288003645", platform: @vimeo:organization}
@spotify_album:document {album_id: "4eLPsYPBmXABThSJ821sqY", title: "LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI.", artists: ["Kendrick Lamar", "Zacari"], platform: @spotify:organization}
@soundcloud_track:document {track_id: "522545169", title: "UBI, Automation & Society in the US: Andrew Yang & Azeem Azhar in Conversation by Exponential View", platform: @soundcloud:organization, description: "Discussion on universal basic income and automation."}

Metadata

Version History (4 versions)

  • ✓ v4 (current) · 11/12/2025, 7:13:13 PM
    "Added description"
  • v3 · 11/12/2025, 7:10:38 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v2 · 11/12/2025, 7:09:13 PM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v1 · 11/12/2025, 7:09:00 PM · View this version
    "Reorganization group: Substack_Tutorials"

Additional Components

125962877.how-to-use-the-substack-editor.html
<p>Hi! This is a draft post. Did you know that there are a bunch of nice formatting options in this editor? For example:</p><blockquote><p>Block quotes are a nice way to put a quote or excerpt from a source. They make it clear that it is a quote.</p></blockquote><p>Of course, you can also do <strong>bold, </strong><em>italic</em>, <a href="https://www.substack.com">links</a>,<strong> </strong>and all that good stuff.</p><h3>Headings and Embeddings</h3><p>You can have headings in posts. Just use the “Style”<em> </em>list in the toolbar. You can also embed different types of content. To add an image, just drag it in here or use the image selector tool in the toolbar.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:null,&quot;width&quot;:null,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2WtI!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffec21723-9bb2-4ea6-8fc2-09d17ba3bd1a_4032x3024 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>For a tweet, YouTube video, Vimeo video, Spotify track, or SoundCloud embed, just paste the relevant link on a new line (don’t grab the embed code; it won’t work).</p><div data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM" class="tweet" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie/status/941694455853101056&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;Twitter is an amazing tool and an awful place.&quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;hamishmckenzie&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Hamish McKenzie&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;Fri Dec 15 15:40:28 +0000 2017&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{},&quot;retweet_count&quot;:1,&quot;like_count&quot;:5,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:{},&quot;video_url&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false}"><a class="tweet-link-top" href="https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie/status/941694455853101056" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-header"><img class="tweet-header-avatar" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/hamishmckenzie.jpg" alt="Twitter avatar for @hamishmckenzie"><div class="tweet-header-text"><span class="tweet-author-name">Hamish McKenzie </span><span class="tweet-author-handle">@hamishmckenzie</span></div></div><div class="tweet-text">Twitter is an amazing tool and an awful place.</div></a><a class="tweet-link-bottom" href="https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie/status/941694455853101056" target="_blank"><div class="tweet-footer"><span class="tweet-date">3:40 PM ∙ Dec 15, 2017</span><hr><div class="tweet-ufi"><span href="https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie/status/941694455853101056/likes" class="likes"><span class="like-count">5</span>Likes</span><span href="https://twitter.com/hamishmckenzie/status/941694455853101056/retweets" class="retweets"><span class="rt-count">1</span>Retweet</span></div></div></a></div><div id="youtube2-ZoEUu1XHL7U" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;ZoEUu1XHL7U&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZoEUu1XHL7U?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><div id="vimeo-288003645" class="vimeo-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;288003645&quot;,&quot;videoKey&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}" data-component-name="VimeoToDOM"><div class="vimeo-inner"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/288003645?autoplay=0" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></div><p></p><iframe class="spotify-wrap album" data-attrs="{&quot;image&quot;:&quot;https://i.scdn.co/image/4988546859334f9a5a3fa4acedc5aea275929026&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;LOVE. FEAT. ZACARI.&quot;,&quot;subtitle&quot;:&quot;Kendrick Lamar, Zacari&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://open.spotify.com/album/4eLPsYPBmXABThSJ821sqY&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;noScroll&quot;:false}" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/4eLPsYPBmXABThSJ821sqY" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen="true" allow="encrypted-media" loading="lazy" data-component-name="Spotify2ToDOM"></iframe><div class="soundcloud-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/522545169&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;UBI,  Automation &amp; Society in the US: Andrew Yang &amp; Azeem Azhar in Conversation by Exponential View&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Azeem Azhar speaks with Andrew Yang, entrepreneur and author, who is standing for President in the 2020 U.S. elections. At the heart of Andrew's platform is the \&quot;freedom dividend\&quot;, a universal basic income of $1,000, payable to all Americans every month. Azeem and Andrew discuss core ideas behind Andrew's platform, why they are necessary, and how to get there. www.exponentialview.co&quot;,&quot;thumbnail_url&quot;:&quot;http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000431458485-eu1ioh-t500x500.jpg&quot;,&quot;author_name&quot;:&quot;Exponential View&quot;,&quot;author_url&quot;:&quot;https://soundcloud.com/exponentialview&quot;,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-component-name="SoundcloudToDOM"><iframe src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?auto_play=false&amp;buying=false&amp;liking=false&amp;download=false&amp;sharing=false&amp;show_artwork=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_playcount=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;hide_related=true&amp;visual=false&amp;start_track=0&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F522545169" frameborder="0" gesture="media" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>To delete a post, click on the <strong>Settings</strong> button (just to the left of Publish), and scroll down and find the delete button. </p><h4>Publishing Changes</h4><p>You have two publishing options: </p><ol><li><p><strong>Publish</strong> – this publishes your post only to the web. </p></li><li><p><strong>Publish &amp; Send</strong> – this publishes your post to the web and at the same time sends the post out by email. </p></li></ol><p>Note: Once you have sent an email out, the only way to send it again is to create an entirely new post. Any edits you make to a post that has already been published will only be reflected on the web. So, there’s no need to worry about accidentally spamming your subscribers with repeat emails. </p><p>Finally, if you import posts from some other site’s archives, you can backdate them so they are published in the correct order and associated with the correct publication dates. To do so, after you have published a post, go into that post’s Settings (just to the left of the Publish button) and select the desired date. </p><p>If you have any questions, you can check out our <a href="https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us">Help Center</a> or <a href="https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new">contact support</a>!</p><p></p><p></p>

Parent

01K9WQGT649FFGXPPS4J6BJPHN

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