Different editing toolbar?

[NatJoe64]

Hi jeiel85 and other contributors,

I like markleaf a fair bit, but there's one part that keeps me from daily driving it as my notes app. When editing, the formatting button moves up above the keyboard, almost like it tries to be a toolbar. However, the button does not transform into a more compact editing toolbar or disappear, which is quite distracting when writing. Sorry if this isn't the right place to submit a feature request, but if there could either be a toggle to not show the formatting button or have it condense into a smaller toolbar, then I feel like that would make markleaf a better markdown editor.

[jeiel85]

Right place, and thank you for describing it precisely enough that I could go find the exact thing you mean.

You are correct that it is not a toolbar, and it is not trying to be one. With no selection it is a single Aa button on an otherwise empty row, held above the keyboard so the formatting panel has somewhere to open from without the caret ending up underneath it. For someone who formats by typing Markdown — which is most of the point of the app — that row never does anything. It just sits in your peripheral vision while you write. That is a real cost and nothing pays it back.

Today, Focus mode (⋮ → Način fokusa / Focus mode) hides it, along with the find bar and the suggestion rows. It is per-note and resets when you open the next one, so it is not the persistent answer you are asking for, but it is there right now if you want the bare screen while drafting.

Next, the toggle: #331. Default on, so nothing changes for anyone using it. One detail I want to name, because it is the part that could go wrong: it will hide the always-on Aa entry, but keep the bold / italic / link actions that appear while text is selected. Those are not ambient — you asked for them by selecting — and hiding them too would quietly leave no touch path to formatting at all.

The compact-toolbar half of your suggestion I would rather not take, and it is worth saying why rather than just not doing it: a permanent row of format buttons is more chrome above the keyboard, not less. It would fight the same thing you are describing, and it would make that strip impossible to reclaim for people who want it gone entirely. The panel-on-demand shape stays; what changes is that you can turn its handle off.

No date on it — this is a one-person project — but it is small and well-bounded, so it should not sit long.

[NatJoe64]

I see what your saying about the formatting toolbar, thanks for explaining why you didn't want to add that in there. I also tried focus mode, and it definitely gets back some screen space. However, I did notice a tiny sliver of blank space still present in the editor. Is it possible for this to go away as well and just have the keyboard present?

Thanks for taking that feedback 🍃!

[jeiel85]

Shipped — v2.33.0, out now.

Settings → Markdown → Show formatting button. Turn it off and the Aa button goes, and so does the row it was sitting on — that mattered more than it sounds, because hiding just the button would have left an empty 48dp strip above the keyboard, which is the thing you were describing.

What stays, as promised above: select some text and bold / italic / link appear exactly as before. / quick insert and the hardware-keyboard shortcuts are untouched either way. Default is on, so nobody else's editor moved.

Grab it from GitHub Releases if you don't want to wait for F-Droid to rebuild the tag.

Thank you for writing it up carefully enough that I could go and find the exact composable. "The button moves up above the keyboard, almost like it tries to be a toolbar" was the whole diagnosis — it is an entry point wearing a toolbar's position, and once that was said out loud the fix was obvious. If the off state turns out to be missing something while you actually write in it, say so here.