An article is made of blocks: paragraphs, headings, images, files, tables and more. This article shows how to add a block and what each block does.

Add a block

You can add a block in two ways:

Click a block in the panel on the left of the editor.
Or type "/" on an empty line and choose a block in the list. To filter the list, type the start of the name, for example "/table".

When you select a block, the "Styles" panel on the right shows the options of this block, and a "Delete" button under "Actions". To move a block, drag the handle with six dots on its left.

The icons above the panel open the content settings ("Settings"), the "Styles" panel, the "Table of Contents" and the list of "Shortcuts & Actions".

Text

Write your text directly in the editor. The "Styles" panel formats it: headings ("H1" to "H3"), bold, italic, underline, text and highlight colour, lists and alignment. When you select some text, a small toolbar also appears under it. It has buttons for bold, italic, strikethrough, underline, subscript, superscript and links. The last button, "AI Assistant", opens the Smart Editor options, if Smart Editor is available on your platform.

You can also add a heading or a list from the "/" list, for example "Header 2" or "Bulleted list".

Callout

Use a callout to make a message stand out, such as a warning or a tip. To change its colour, move the mouse to the top right corner of the callout and choose blue, green, grey, red or yellow.

Collapse

Hide a long passage behind a title that readers open only when they need it. The collapse block takes a title and a body, and the body can hold any other block, including images, tables and files.

It suits frequently asked questions, optional detail, and long procedures that would otherwise push the rest of the article out of view. The arrow next to the title opens and closes the block. In the "Styles" panel, choose whether the title is a heading or a paragraph.

File

Add reference documents to your article, such as PDF, Word or Excel files. Drag and drop the file onto the block, or click the link in the block to upload it from your computer.

Readers can preview the file ("Click to preview") or download it ("Click to download").

Image

Insert an image the same way as a file. When you select the image, the side panel shows its options:

Under "Layout Mode", choose the position of the image: "Align left", "Centre", "Align right", "Full Width" or "Inline".
The link button above the image adds a link to it.
To resize the image, drag its lower right corner.

Alternative text

Alternative text (alt text) is a short description of an image. Screen readers read it aloud to people who cannot see the image, and it is shown when the image does not load. Elium also indexes it, so a search for words in the description finds the article.

To add alt text:

Select the image in the editor.
In the side panel, find the "ALT Text" section.
Describe in one sentence what the image shows and why it is there. For example: "Bar chart showing sales doubling in 2025".
Click outside the field. The text is saved with the article.

If Smart Editor is available on your platform, click Generate to let the AI suggest a description. The button shows the language it writes in: the language of the article, or the language Elium detects in the text. If neither is known, it uses your default content language. To choose another language, click the arrow next to the button. The suggestion replaces any text already in the field, so read it and correct it before you publish.

Images with alt text show an ALT badge in the lower left corner. When you read the article, click the badge to see the description. In the editor, clicking the badge selects the image so you can edit its text.

Each language version of the article has its own alt text. Auto-translate translates it with the rest of the content. If you translate by hand, add the alt text in each language. When you broadcast the article by email, the email includes it too.

Video

Use the video block to add a video file from your computer. Drag and drop the file onto the block, or click the link in the block. To show a video from YouTube or Vimeo, paste its link in a Link block instead.

The video plays once you save the article. Elium first converts it, and a message asks you to wait until it is ready. Readers can then play it in the article, or download it with the button under the player.

Link

Display links to external web pages with the "Link" block. Paste the address and press Enter: the block shows a preview of the page and a link to it. In the side panel, "Layout Mode" lets you choose a condensed view or an expanded view. We recommend the expanded view for "rich" links such as YouTube, Vimeo or Google Forms, which can then be read or played inside the article.

Google documents work the same way. Paste the link to a Google Doc, Sheet, Slides deck or Form, and the expanded view shows the document itself, ready to read or to fill in. Two things to keep in mind:

The preview only appears for readers who can already open that document in Google. If it is private to you, other people see an empty box.
A preview is not indexed. Its content does not appear in Elium search, and an AI assistant cannot use it to answer a question. To make the content searchable, import the file instead: see "Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams" below.

Google Drawings, My Maps, Colab and Data Studio do not preview from a link. Use the Embed block with their embed code if you need them inside an article.

Gallery

Use a gallery to share a set of images or files about the subject of your article, such as event photos, file templates or logos. Give the gallery a title, then add the files with the "+" box. Note that the gallery title does not appear in the table of contents.

Drawing

Create a diagram or a sketch directly inside an article with the drawing block. It opens a full drawing editor, based on Excalidraw, with shapes, arrows, text and freehand drawing. The drawing is saved in Elium alongside the article, so there is no third-party account to connect and the content stays on your platform.

Select a shape to change its stroke, background and fill in the panel on the left. Click "Save" to add the drawing to the article.

You can also build a diagram from Mermaid text instead of drawing it by hand. Open "More tools" (the last icon in the toolbar) and choose "Mermaid to Excalidraw". Paste your Mermaid syntax on the left. The preview on the right shows the result, and "Insert" adds it to the drawing. Flowcharts, sequence diagrams and class diagrams become editable shapes. Every other Mermaid diagram type is inserted as an image instead, which you cannot edit afterwards.

Use the "Library" panel, in the top right corner, to install extra shape sets from the public Excalidraw library, or to save your own shapes and reuse them across articles.

Examples

Some things are easier to draw than to describe, such as a floor plan or a process with several paths. Here are six examples from different teams.

Global Operations: an evacuation plan for a warehouse, with the emergency exits, the routes to them and the assembly point.

Customer Service: the escalation path of a customer request. The dashed red arrows show how each new answer is saved in Elium, so that level 1 can answer the next time.

IT Support: the network of a branch office and its VPN (virtual private network) link to the data centre.

AI & Data: how an AI assistant gets a sourced answer from Elium. This sequence diagram comes from Mermaid text, converted into editable shapes.

Strategy & Research: a market map that places competitors by price and by range of offer, and marks a gap in the market.

Any team: the first month of a new team member, as sticky notes on a timeline.

Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams

Use the "GDrive" block for Google Drive and the "365" block for OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. They embed a file or a folder. The first time, the block asks you to connect your Google or Microsoft 365 account. After that, you have two options: preview or import.

Preview: shows a preview of the file or folder. The original document stays in Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams, and changes to it show in the preview. However, its content is not indexed, so search does not find it.
Import: copies the file into Elium. Choose this option if you want the content to be indexed and searchable. Changes made to the original document later are not copied to the imported file.

For a Google file you only need to show, pasting its link into a Link block is quicker and needs no connected account: see "Link" above. Use these blocks when the content has to be searchable in Elium.

Article

An article can show other Elium articles. Use the "Article" block to link articles about the same subject.

To add an article, you have three options:

Choose it in the "Select an article" list. Type its name to search.
Choose it from my drafts.
Choose it from my bookmarks.

Separator

A separator is a horizontal line. Use it to split your content into clear parts.

Quote

Use the "Quote" block to highlight a quotation or an important sentence. Select text in it to format it or add a link.

To-do list

Add a list of tasks with checkboxes. Type "/" and choose "To-do list", or use the to-do list icon under "Lists" in the side panel. Write one task per line, and tick a task when it is done.

User

Show the profile of one or more users in your article. Search for the user in the block and select them.

Table

Create tables to structure your information. Click a cell to type in it and format its text. Right-click the table for more options: insert or remove rows and columns, merge or split cells, change the cell or table properties, or remove the table.

If your table is large, enable "Full width content" in the content settings (the "Settings" icon above the side panel).

Code

Write code in a programming language, with colours that make it easy to read. Choose the language in the list at the top right of the block: there are 29, such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS, C# and SQL. Readers can copy the code with one click.

Embed

Paste a piece of code, usually an iframe, that an external service generates for you. The content then shows inside the article. This is useful for external forms such as JotForm, Google Forms or Typeform.

Mention

Type "@" followed by a name to mention a user, a space or an article. You can mention a space only if you are an administrator or coordinator of it. A mention draws attention and invites the user, or the members of the space, to join the conversation.

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