How to Use the Substack Editor

Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 11/20/2025, 11:15:31 PM

Added description

Description

How to Use the Substack Editor

Overview

This is a text‑based tutorial titled “How to Use the Substack Editor”, produced by Substack in 2017. The document is written in English and is intended as a user guide for the Substack rich‑text editor. It is stored in the PINAX archival system under the identifier 01KAHRMAA5NT2488QP9DNDA9PQ and is copyrighted by Substack. The file is a single HTML document (filename 125962877.how-to-use-the-substack-editor.html), and its access URL is currently a placeholder.

Background

Substack is a newsletter‑hosting platform that provides a built‑in editor for composing posts. The tutorial was created as part of Substack’s help resources, aimed at new users who need instruction on formatting, embedding media, and publishing posts. The material was produced in 2017, a period when Substack was expanding its feature set to include a variety of embedding options and email‑distribution controls.

Contents

The tutorial covers the full range of editor functions, including:
  • Formatting: headings, bold, italic, block quotes, links, and images.
  • Embeddings: tweets, YouTube and Vimeo videos, Spotify albums, and SoundCloud tracks.
  • Post settings: delete button, publishing options (publish only, publish & send), and backdating.
  • Support references: links to the Substack Help Center and a contact form for assistance.

Embedded examples illustrate each feature: a tweet by Hamish McKenzie (Dec 15 2017), a YouTube video (ID ZoEUu1XHL7U), a Vimeo video (ID 288003645), a Spotify album (ID 4eLPsYPBmXABThSJ821sqY), and a SoundCloud track (ID 522545169). The tutorial also includes a draft post with a content summary and demonstrates how to apply the discussed settings.

Scope

The document focuses exclusively on the Substack editor’s user interface and publishing workflow. It does not address backend administration, subscription management, or advanced scripting. The tutorial is limited to the 2017 feature set and is not a comprehensive manual for later Substack updates.

Entities

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Raw Cheimarros Data

@file_pinax -> documents -> @substack_editor_tutorial:document {title: "How to Use the Substack Editor", creator: @substack, created: @date_2017, subjects: ["Substack","Editor Tutorial","Formatting Options","Block Quotes","Headings","Embeddings","Images","Links","Publishing","Email","Backdating Posts"]}

@file_125962877_how_to_use_the_substack_editor -> contains -> @post:document {type: "draft", created: @date_2017, content_summary: "Tutorial on formatting options, embeddings, and publishing settings"} {mentions: [@substack_help_center, @support_contact]}

@substack_editor:tool {created: @date_2017, description: "Rich‑text editor used by Substack for creating newsletter posts"} -> supports -> [@block_quote, @bold_formatting, @italic_formatting, @link, @heading, @image_embedding, @tweet_embed, @youtube_embed, @vimeo_embed, @spotify_embed, @soundcloud_embed]

@block_quote:concept {description: "Quote or excerpt formatted as a block"} 
@bold_formatting:concept {description: "Bold text style"} 
@italic_formatting:concept {description: "Italic text style"} 
@link:concept {description: "Hyperlink to an external URL"} 
@heading:concept {description: "Section heading"} 
@image_embedding:concept {description: "Embedding an image via drag‑and‑drop or selector"} 
@tweet_embed:concept {description: "Embedding a tweet by pasting its URL"} 
@youtube_embed:concept {description: "Embedding a YouTube video"} 
@vimeo_embed:concept {description: "Embedding a Vimeo video"} 
@spotify_embed:concept {description: "Embedding a Spotify album"} 
@soundcloud_embed:concept {description: "Embedding a SoundCloud track"}

@hamish_mckenzie:person {full_name: "Hamish McKenzie"} 
@tweet_hamishmckenzie:document {author: @hamish_mckenzie, content: "Twitter is an amazing tool and an awful place.", date: @date_2017_12_15}

@youtube_video_zoeu:document {video_id: "ZoEUu1XHL7U"} 
@vimeo_video_288003645:document {video_id: "288003645"} 
@spotify_album_4eLPs:document {album_id: "4eLPsYPBmXABThSJ821sqY"} 
@soundcloud_track_522545169:document {track_id: "522545169"}

@post -> embeds -> [@tweet_hamishmckenzie, @youtube_video_zoeu, @vimeo_video_288003645, @spotify_album_4eLPs, @soundcloud_track_522545169]

@settings:concept {description: "Post settings panel"} 
@delete_button:concept {description: "Button to delete a post"} 
@settings -> includes -> @delete_button

@publishing_option:concept {description: "Options for publishing a Substack post"} 
@publish:concept {description: "Publish to the web only"} 
@publish_and_send:concept {description: "Publish to the web and send the post by email"} 
@publishing_option -> includes -> [@publish, @publish_and_send] 
@post -> has_option -> @publishing_option

@backdating:concept {description: "Setting a post's date to an earlier time to preserve chronological order"} 
@post -> can_be -> @backdating

@substack_help_center:organization {url: "https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us"} 
@support_contact:organization {url: "https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new"} 
@substack_help_center -> provides -> @support_contact

Metadata

Version History (4 versions)

  • ✓ v4 (current) · 11/20/2025, 11:15:31 PM
    "Added description"
  • v3 · 11/20/2025, 11:13:24 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v2 · 11/20/2025, 11:12:12 PM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v1 · 11/20/2025, 11:11:57 PM · View this version
    "Reorganization group: Substack_Editor_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>

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01KAHRKAZT0VBTEJCR2GQMHFYW

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