Thanks everyone we are aware of this issue however for current app stage it is not an easy task to do. We will ship it eventually but it will take some time 
Thank you for your incredible work on Anytype. I hope you allow us to donate or support you financially soon because I would like to use Anytype as my main app, but still has some things missing like the use of these formatting hotkeys. Please work on this as soon as possible! And thank you for everything you’ve already been doing to make Anytype great!
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND
When I hit CMD / CTRL + B without having something selected I would like to start typing in bold until I hit CMD / CTRL + B again to de-activate boldness.
REAL WORLD USE CASES
When I write and I know while writing that my next word should be bold or italic I want to hit the shortcut and start writing with the style applied until I enter the shortcut again.
Currently I need to write the text, select it again, apply the style, move the cursor back to it’s writing position and continue to write.
Blocked atm beacuse of:
Hi! I was just about to make the same FR. First I even thought it was a bug. I would also like to just click Ctrl+B and see that anything I type after become bold. And then when I no longer want the bold words I can just type ctrl+B again to go back to default text.
Of course I am using bolding as an example. I would also like the othe text formats like undescore, strikethrough, word link, code block, essentially the options in the text format bar that comes up when we highlight one word or a few words, to be used like this.
Thanks.
What’s The Bug?
Remember how in classic text editors, we use shortcut keys to first establish whether we want the upcoming text to be in bold or italics etc., this is not working in the blocks.
I have to write the text first, then select the text, and only then can I either use the shortcuts (Cmd/Ctrl + B or Cmd/Ctrl + I) or use the pop-up panel to edit the text.
This sometimes acts as a speed-breaker when you’re typing in a flow and you just want to Cmd/Ctrl + B to make some text bold, write, end the Cmd/Ctrl + B effect on the text, and continue writing within the same line.
How To Reproduce It
- Enter a new block
- Press font manipulation shortcuts (Cmd/Ctrl + B or Cmd/Ctrl + I etc.)
- Write the text that you want
The shortcut key do not change the text’s font effect through these steps.
It works only when you select the text and either choose from the text-editing panel pop-up or press the short-cut keys post selection.
The Expected Behavior
Ability to manipulate the font-faces through keyboard shortcuts on the fly, without having to stop → select → manipulate → end manipulation effect → continue writing
Device
HP 15s 2021
OS
Windows11
Anytype Version
0.40.9
Network Mode
Local-only
Technical Information
OS version: win32 x64 10.0.22621
App version: 0.40.9
Build number: build on 2024-05-22 13:45:39 +0000 UTC at #75374629f026904f01d57b422abf0c350488d584 (dirty)
Library version: v0.33.6
Anytype Identity: A8nUShGW55igeTo5d9D9UyDNfQ4m5cTxHKb9vcitt99xFKZ2
Analytics ID: 805d1ae4-8f94-4946-aed1-f478e110278b
Device ID: 12D3KooWNvdqkEjzQ1MwNScDM7Wa96SnBBVEK6zd7NGvBa3koGWe
See My biggest nuisance - format text before typing
In the meantime, you can use _ and * to format text while typing.
Yes, this is something that I have tried, thanks for the tip 
It’s just that the brain is hard-wired to use shortcut keys everywhere, so it stops the flow of writing when I use alternative shortcuts.
Yes this is an old problem with other bug reports and feature requests.
I think the above request is similar to what you are describing.
It has the blocked 
tag. I have recently learned that this tag means that another issues has to be solved before this issue can be tackeled.
Hope this gets solved soon.
Good-day.
Such an important update. I use formatting stuff for many things, and if this update comes, it will save me a lot of time.
Hi there! I noticed that the developers find this a very difficult thing to implement. I thought it might be helpful to show how Obsidian does it.
What is basically does is adding a markdown styling and moving the cursor. When you hit the shortcut again, the cursus moves to the end of the markdown styling.
I believe this makes it easier to implement. Hope this helps!
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?
Text formatting (Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Underline, Code) only works when texts are selected. I propose that the hotkey for these text formats also works when there are no texts selected, so that the user can type in that format.
REAL WORLD USE CASES
A user will be able to type out in a format intended in real time, instead of having to select the text and choose formatting.
ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
Example: cmd + b on a block to be able (could be on an empty block or in the middle of a sentence) to start typing in Bold, and cmd + b again to turn off bold formatting and continue typing in normal text format.
This predefine text formatting does not carry over to other blocks (when hitting enter).
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?
To be able to format the text “about to be written” without first highlighting it.
The same way as how text is formatted in MS word and virtually all common text-editing software.
HOW COULD IT BE DONE?
Before writing any text, Press ctrl + B, then as the user types, the text would then be in bold format. Same goes with ctrl + U for underline, ctr + i for italicized.
Currently, you need to type first, and then select the typed text, and then apply the formatting. It’s hassle.
REAL WORLD USE CASES
First, it will stop deterring new users because of this missing feature.
RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVES
Currently, you need to type first, and then select the typed text, and then apply the formatting. It’s hassle.
@Filip is this still in the works?
Nothing has changed since:
- First, make sure you have searched for a similar report by checking the Search Index
- Delete the instructions, then fill in each part of the below template clear & concisely
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?
I would like to be able to hit ctrl + i and then start typing in italics. Similarly, having ctrl + b and then start typing in bold would be an excellent quality of life update. Currently, one can only highlight the text and then use the keyboard shortcut to bold it. I want to be able to enter bold/italics/underline mode without having to highlight text or use the markdown shortcuts.
HOW COULD IT BE DONE?
Allow user to use text style modification shortcuts at any time per above description.
REAL WORLD USE CASES
This would greatly improve many people’s workflows. Having to stop and use the mouse to highlight text to bold it is very cumbersome. Additionally, the markdown shortcuts are not as intuitive for many people and themselves can be cumbersome, even for markdown natives (like me).
RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVES
This is all I got.
ADDITIONAL CONTEXT
This report has been added to our tracker and received by our team.
I completely understand how entering a ‘mode’ for bold/italics/underline could streamline workflows, especially for heavy keyboard users.
Just to share a tip in the meantime:
-
On Windows, you can use
Ctrl+Shift+Left/Rightto highlight text word by word. -
On macOS, you can use
Option+Shift+Left/Rightfor the same purpose.
There are shortcuts for selecting the whole line, etc. as well.
Second this! This is a bearable workaround for right now. Happy they added it to the issue tracker though!
Thank you! It’s been a couple of years since this request, but I hope it’s coming soon. All the major typing apps have this. And it would really help write notes faster in AnyType. It’s the only annoyance I have with AnyType currently. Glad it’s been added to the issue tracker at least.