The Aha! text editor
You probably spend more time in the Aha! text editor than anywhere else in your Aha! account. The text editor is where you fill in a description for a record, take notes on a meeting, leave comments for teammates, or add details to a future release.
This article covers some of the key features of the text editor. If you are already familiar with the text editor and want to focus on using it more efficiently, you might be interested in text editor shortcuts.
Click any of the following links to skip ahead:
The text editor toolbar
The Aha! text editor toolbar adjusts to fit the width of your screen. So if you view Aha! records on different screens — or view the same record in its details or drawer view — the toolbar might look slightly different for you.
Note: You can also use shortcuts to access many elements on the text editor toolbar.
Icon | Name | Options | Drawer view | Function |
| Formatting |
| Format your selected text into paragraphs, headers, preformatted code blocks, or pull quotes. | |
| Bold | Collapses into the Font style menu | Bold your text | |
| Italics | Collapses into the Font style menu | Italicize your text | |
| Underline | Collapses into the Font style menu | Underline your text | |
| Strikethrough | Collapses into the Font style menu |
| |
| Code snippet | Collapses into the Font style menu | Put your text in a | |
| Text color | Text color
Text highlight
| Change the color of your text, or highlight it. | |
| Clear formatting | Collapses into the Font style menu | Clear all formatting from your selected text. | |
| Alignment |
| Align your text:
| |
| List | Insert a list:
Adjust a list's indentation:
| Insert a list or adjust a list element's indentation. | |
| Table |
| Collapses into the More + dropdown | Insert a table into the text editor. |
| Insert link | Collapses into the More + dropdown | Insert a hyperlink into the text editor. You can use | |
| More menu |
|
| |
| Insert image | Collapses into the More + dropdown | Insert an image into your text editor and attach it to the Aha! Roadmaps record. You and your team can comment directly on images attached to Aha! Roadmaps records. | |
| View history | View a history of all changes made to your text editor. | ||
| Comments |
| You and your team can comment inline on the text editor. Choose whether to show or hide those comments. | |
| Fullscreen |
| Choose to expand the text editor to fit your screen or collapse it back to its default size. |
Use visual styling options
Form follows function. You will use the Aha! text editor to document some of your most important work — from strategic innovations to customer insights, meeting agendas, and launch plans. So format your writing to guide your audience, emphasize your conclusions, and build a convincing narrative.
Add a Table of contents so your audience can skip ahead to a relevant section. Use header formatting for different sections of your work, then enable the table of contents (in the More + dropdown).
Click any link to jump to a specific section.
Click the icon in the upper-right to collapse it.
Insert a link with
#topas the URL to jump your audience from a section of the text editor back up to the table of contents.
Use Callout boxes to highlight critical copy. Select Callout box from the More + dropdown, then choose from one of four options: Information, Note, Warning, or Tip. Each has its own background color to draw your audience's eyes to different types of messages.
Insert Images to visualize information, then comment on them directly in threaded conversations.
Add Labels to organize lists and update statuses. Highlight text, open the More + dropdown, click Label, then select a color. For example, you may want to visually communicate that a project is at risk or that a task has been completed.
Note: You can also directly mention Aha! records by typing the # key followed by the name of ID of the record.
Collaborate in real time
Multiple users can simultaneously edit and see other users editing in the text editor. When more than one user is present in the same editing session, other participants are shown as flags that display the users' names. The flags move in real time as other users make updates in the text editor.
To begin collaborative editing, start by modifying a description field or note where your fellow collaborators are currently adding content.
Note: You can collaborate live in description fields for saved records, notes, and custom note fields. You cannot in comments.
In addition to live collaboration, you can also include users or Aha! records with # and @mentions. Notify your collaborators of a record or note by typing an @ symbol followed by the user’s name. Add links to other records by typing the # symbol, which will let you look up an issue directly from the text editor using either the reference ID or name of the record. Click on a mentioned user to open their user history in a new tab. Click a mentioned record to open its drawer view.
Comment directly on text
The words we write often need to be reviewed for accuracy, tone, and focus. But giving clear feedback can be difficult. Inline text comments let you highlight and comment on the exact parts of the text you want to address, then create conversation threads to focus on and resolve the issue.
To create a new inline comment, highlight the text you want to comment on and click the Add comment + icon that appears on the right side of the text editor. Your text will be highlighted and underlined in orange, the Comments sidebar will appear, and you can start creating your comment. Click Save comment once you are done.
Resolved comments will be highlighted and underlined in green and you can always reply to a resolved comment to reopen it.
Inline comments have access to the full text editor. You can format your text, @ and #mention Aha! users and records, add and color tables, or insert images.
Embed a whiteboard
You can embed a whiteboard directly into your note or the description of your feature, requirement, or initiative to add diagrams, sketches, and other visuals alongside text. Click + on the text editor toolbar and select Whiteboard while editing a record description. A new whiteboard will be added below your cursor. Click the pencil icon to edit the whiteboard. When you are finished editing the whiteboard, click the X to exit and return to editing your note or description. To remove an embedded whiteboard, click the trashcan icon and click to confirm that you would like to delete it.
Floating toolbar and full-screen mode
The toolbar is always available as you scroll down the text editor. This ensures that you never have to scroll back to the top when you need to format.
Click the Enter full-screen mode icon on the text editor toolbar to expand the note or description to the full height and width of your browser window. The floating toolbar is available in full-screen mode as well. As you scroll down and up, the text editor toolbar will remain at the top of your screen.
Add and comment on images
You can add images inline so you do not need to attach additional documentation with rich media. Simply click the Image icon from the text editor toolbar, choose your image, and click Attach.
The text editor also supports copy/paste and drag-and-drop functionality for quickly adding images.
Once the image has been added to your description, click the image edges to resize it depending on the level of detail you need.
Note: You can also comment on images attached to Aha! records.
Add and modify tables
To insert a table, place your cursor where you would like the table to appear. Then click the Table dropdown on the text editor toolbar and use the grid of cells to highlight the number of rows and columns that you need.
The table will automatically size itself to fit the dimensions of your text, images, or links. You can resize the table by dragging any of the borders of your table.
Modify the table by clicking on a cell or highlighting a group of cells, then clicking the dropdown in the top-right corner of a cell. From the dropdown, you can merge cells, split cells, adjust the cell text's vertical alignment (top, middle, bottom), add and remove rows/columns, clear table contents, or delete the table.
Note: If you use Aha! Roadmaps, you have a few more styling options available when you add a table to a presentation slide, including custom fill colors, colored borders, transparency, and line spacing.
You can also customize the look of your table by adding background colors to cells, rows, and columns. Select the cell(s) you want to color, click the Table dropdown in the corner of a selected cell, then click Cell background color to select from one of 70 colors.
Note: If your background color makes it hard to read your text, you can change your text color to white.
Track history and restore historical versions
The text editor tracks the history of changes made to a note or description. To view the record of changes and the user(s) who made them, click the View history icon on the text editor toolbar.
During a collaborative session that involves multiple users, each user that modified the document will be displayed in the history of the record.
To restore a previous version, simply select one of the historical versions of your document and choose Revert to this version.