Editor Types

Not every piece of text works the same way. An email template needs bold headings and clickable links. A shell command needs to stay exactly as written. A quick note just needs to be plain and fast. PasteBase gives you three editor types so you always have the right tool for what you're storing.

Rich text editor

The rich text editor is powered by TipTap and gives you a familiar formatting toolbar: bold, italic, underline, headings, bullet lists, numbered lists, links, and inline images. It's designed for content that needs to look good when pasted — email templates, client messages, onboarding instructions, and anything you'd normally compose in a word processor.

When you copy a rich text paste, the formatting travels with it. Paste into Gmail, Outlook, Google Docs, Notion, or any rich text field and the bold stays bold, the links stay clickable, and the lists stay structured. No more copying from a doc, losing formatting, and having to redo it every time.

Rich text is the best choice when your audience will see the formatting — emails to clients, support responses, internal announcements, and HR templates all benefit from rich text.

Plain text editor

The plain text editor is a clean, distraction-free textarea. No toolbar, no formatting options — just your text. This is ideal for content where formatting would actually get in the way: chat messages, SMS templates, Slack responses, quick notes, URLs, configuration values, and anything you'll paste into a field that strips formatting anyway.

Plain text pastes copy as unformatted text every time, which makes them predictable and reliable. What you type is exactly what gets pasted. For teams that manage canned responses for live chat or messaging platforms, plain text is the natural choice.

Code editor

The code editor is built on Monaco — the same engine behind VS Code. It provides syntax highlighting for over 50 languages, line numbers, proper indentation handling, and a monospace font that makes code easy to read and verify before copying.

Use the code editor for shell commands, SQL queries, Docker Compose files, configuration snippets, API request templates, regex patterns, and any other text where whitespace and structure matter. When you copy a code paste, it copies as plain text with all indentation and line breaks preserved — ready to paste into a terminal, editor, or config file.

For engineering teams, the code editor turns PasteBase into a shared snippet library. Store your team's common Docker configurations, database queries, deployment scripts, and CI/CD templates in one place with proper syntax highlighting so they're easy to review and copy.

Choosing the right editor

You choose the editor type when you create a paste. Here's a quick decision guide:

• Rich text — the content will be pasted into an email, document, or rich text field and formatting matters.
• Plain text — the content is simple text, a message, a URL, or anything going into a field that doesn't support formatting.
• Code — the content is code, a command, a config file, or any structured text where indentation and syntax matter.

The editor type is set at creation and stays fixed — this keeps your library consistent and ensures copies always behave the way you expect. If you need the same content in different formats, create separate pastes for each.

Want to see which editor fits your workflow? Read our guide on choosing the right editor for your snippets, or sign up free and try all three.