Tips and tricks for Medium writers
Using the editor
Create lists. You can start a bulleted list by typing a dash or asterisk, and then your first item. Once you hit Enter, the list will be reformatted for you. (To start a numbered list, type “1.” and your first item.)
Two types of quotes. Select any text in the editor and click on the quote icon in the menu to make it a block quote. Click the icon again to make it a pull quote.
Drop caps. Select the first letter of the paragraph, and an option to turn it into a drop cap will appear in your formatting menu.
Mention people. Type @ and then the name of the person you want to mention. Mentioning someone will link to their profile, and send them a notification when you publish.
Embed tweets. In the Medium editor, you can embed a tweet in your story by pasting in its link and pressing Enter.
Embed other Medium stories. In the Medium editor, you can link to another Medium story by pasting in its link and pressing Enter.
Keyboard shortcuts in the editor. Use the Medium editor like a pro: Press Ctrl+? or ⌘+? while editing to see the list of keyboard shortcuts.
Leave yourself TK notes. Put TK anywhere as a placeholder and reminder to yourself to finish something later. Medium will detect it and warn you if you have any TKs left before publishing.
See word count. In the Medium editor, select the entire story (Ctrl+A or ⌘+A) or any of its parts to see the word count at the top of the page.
Write or edit from mobile. Download Medium’s iOS app or Android app and write — or edit — on the go.
Images
Image options. In the Medium editor, click on any image to bring up the menu that allows you to change the size and position of the image.
Image grids. You can create an image grid if you insert two or more images in your Medium story at the same time. Do this by holding Ctrl/⌘ or Shift while selecting image files.
Drag and drop images. You can drag and drop an image — or multiple images at once — from your desktop or other windows to place them in your story.
Link images. Click on an image in the editor and press Ctrl+K or ⌘+K to turn the image into a link.
Publishing your story
Revision history. Click on the […] in the upper right corner of the editor, and then on Revision history to see the version history of your story. You can then view or revert to an earlier state of your story.
Publish as unlisted. You don’t have to publish to the entire world. You can also publish a story as unlisted — it will be visible only to those who have its link, and won’t appear on your profile or on Medium’s public pages.
Customize title and subtitle of your story. After finishing your story, click the […] button and select Title/subtitle. Select Custom title. You must have a title, but a subtitle is optional.
Checking on/Influencing your story’s impact
Feature a story on your profile. Click a triangle next to any story on your profile to feature it so that it occupies the top spot.
Tag a story. If you add tags to your story, it will appear in relevant tag pages, where it’ll live and connect with other Medium stories that share the same tag.
Your stats page. Go to your stats page to see an up-to-date summary of how your stories are doing (including the number of people who viewed, read, and recommended it).
Referrers on your stats page. On your stats page, you can see the websites linking to your story by clicking on Referrers below the name of the story.
See the Twitter conversation about your story. On your stats page, click Referrers below the name of any story to see websites linking to it. If you see Twitter, click on it to see the tweets about this particular story.
Text shots. Use text shots to share the best parts of your story on Twitter. Stories shared with text shots have been shown to have 3–5× more engagement than stories without them.
Input/output
Share your draft to get feedback. Don’t write alone. Send a link to your unpublished story to your friends by clicking on Share draft. They’ll be able to see your story (even without a Medium account) and leave notes before you publish.
See all the recommends. On any published story, click the number next to the heart icon to see a list of everyone who has recommended the story.
Import your story from elsewhere. Use our import feature (accessible from the dropdown menu after clicking your avatar) or our API to grab a story you wrote somewhere else and automatically preview it on Medium.
Export your stories. At any point, you can download an archive of all your stories from the export page (accessible from your settings).
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