Configuring the RTE for the Universal Editor configure-rte

Last update: Wed Sep 17 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Applies to:
Experience Manager as a Cloud Service

Topics:
Developing

CREATED FOR:

Admin
Developer

Understand how you can configure the rich text editor (RTE) in the Universal Editor.

NOTE

This documentation applies to the new RTE for the Universal Editor, which is available as an early adopter feature. If you are interested in testing this new feature, please see the release notes for details.

Overview overview

The Universal Editor provides a rich text editor (RTE) both in place and in the properties panel to allow authors to apply formatting changes as they edit their text.

This RTE is configurable using component filters. This document describes what configuration options are available along with examples.

Configuration Structure structure

RTE configuration consists of two parts:

toolbar: The toolbar configuration controls which editing options are available in the UI and how they’re organized.
actions: The actions configuration allows you to customize the behavior and appearance of individual editing actions.

These configurations can be defined as part of a component filter with the property rte.

[
  {
    "id": "richtext",
    "rte": {
      "toolbar": {
        // Toolbar configuration
      },
      "actions": {
        // Action-specific configurations
      }
    },
    "components": [
      "richtext"
    ]
  }
]

The toolbar configuration controls which editing options are available in the UI and how they’re organized. These are the available sections

{
  "toolbar": {
    // Text formatting options
    "format": ["bold", "italic", "underline", "strike"],
    // Text alignment options
    "alignment": ["left", "center", "right", "justify"],
    // Text direction options, right-to-left or left-to-right
    "direction": ["rtl", "ltr"],
    // Indentation controls
    "indentation": ["indent", "outdent"],
    // Block-level elements
    "blocks": ["paragraph", "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "code_block"],
    // List options
    "list": ["bullet_list", "ordered_list"],
    // Content insertion
    "insert": ["link", "unlink"],
    // Superscript/subscript
    "sr_script": ["superscript", "subscript"],
    // Editor utilities
    "editor": ["removeformat"],
    // Section ordering (optional)
    "sections": ["format", "alignment", "list"]
  }
}

Actions Configuration actions

The actions configuration allows you to customize the behavior and appearance of individual editing actions. These are the available sections.

Format Actions format

Format actions are used to apply formatting and support HTML tag switching to choose between semantic variants. The following sections are available.

{
  "actions": {
    "bold": {
      "tag": "strong",      // Use <strong> instead of <b>
      "shortcut": "Mod-B",  // Custom keyboard shortcut
      "label": "Make Bold"  // Custom button label
    },
    "italic": {
      "tag": "em",          // Use <em> instead of <i>
      "shortcut": "Mod-I",
      "label": "Italicize"
    },
    "strike": {
      "tag": "del"          // Use <del> instead of <s>
    }
  }
}

List Actions list

List actions support content wrapping to control HTML structure. The following sections are available.

{
  "actions": {
    "bullet_list": {
      "wrapInParagraphs": true,    // <ul><li><p>content</p></li></ul>
      "shortcut": "Mod-Shift-8",   // Custom shortcut
      "label": "Bullet List"       // Custom label
    },
    "ordered_list": {
      "wrapInParagraphs": false,   // <ol><li>content</li></ol> (default)
      "shortcut": "Mod-Shift-9"
    }
  }
}

Link Actions link

Link actions support target attribute control to manage link behavior. The following sections are available.

{
  "actions": {
    "link": {
      "hideTarget": false,       // Show target attribute options (default)
      "shortcut": "Mod-K",       // Custom keyboard shortcut
      "label": "Insert Link"     // Custom button label
    },
    "unlink": {
      "shortcut": "Mod-Shift-K", // Custom keyboard shortcut
      "label": "Remove Link"     // Custom button label
    }
  }
}

Link Configuration Options link-options

hideTarget: false (default) - Include target attribute in links, allowing _self, _blank, etc.
hideTarget: true - Exclude target attribute from links entirely

The unlink action only appears when the cursor is positioned within an existing link. It removes the link formatting while preserving the text content.

Other Actions other

All other actions support basic customization. The following sections are available.

{
  "actions": {
    "h1": {
      "shortcut": "Mod-Alt-1",
      "label": "Large Heading"
    },
    "paragraph": {
      "shortcut": "Mod-Alt-0",
      "label": "Normal Text"
    },
    "link": {
      "shortcut": "Mod-K",
      "label": "Insert Link",
      "hideTarget": false    // Show target attribute options (default: false)
    }
  }
}

Complete Example example

The following is an example of a complete configuration.

[
  {
    "id": "richtext",
    "rte": {
      // Configure which tools appear in toolbar
      "toolbar": {
        "format": [
          "bold",
          "italic"
        ],
        "blocks": [
          "paragraph",
          "h1",
          "h2"
        ],
        "list": [
          "bullet_list",
          "ordered_list"
        ],
        "insert": [
          "link",
          "unlink"
        ],
        "sections": [
          "format",
          "blocks",
          "list",
          "insert"
        ]
      },
      // Customize individual action behavior
      "actions": {
        // Format actions with HTML tag choices
        "bold": {
          "tag": "strong",
          "shortcut": "Mod-B",
          "label": "Bold"
        },
        "italic": {
          "tag": "em",
          "shortcut": "Mod-I"
        },
        // List actions with content wrapping
        "bullet_list": {
          "wrapInParagraphs": true,
          "label": "Bullet List"
        },
        "ordered_list": {
          "wrapInParagraphs": false
        },
        // Link actions with target control
        "link": {
          "hideTarget": false,
          "shortcut": "Mod-K",
          "label": "Add Link"
        },
        "unlink": {
          "label": "Remove Link"
        },
        // Other actions with basic customization
        "h1": {
          "shortcut": "Mod-Alt-1",
          "label": "Main Heading"
        }
      }
    },
    "components": [
      "richtext"
    ]
  }
]

Action Option Details action-details

Several options have additional details that are important to keep in mind.

`wrapInParagraphs` wrapInParagraphs

The wrapInParagraphs option for lists controls the HTML structure.

`wrapInParagraphs: false` (default) wrapInParagraphs-false

<ul>
  <li>Simple text content</li>
  <li>Another item</li>
</ul>

`wrapInParagraphs: true` wrapInParagraphs-true

<ul>
  <li><p>Text wrapped in paragraphs</p></li>
  <li><p>Supports rich formatting within items</p></li>
</ul>

Use wrapInParagraphs: true when you need:

Rich formatting within list items
Multiple paragraphs per list item
Consistent block-level styling

Link Target Options link-target

The hideTarget option for links controls whether the target attribute is included in generated links and whether the dialog for link creation includes a field for target selection.

`hideTarget: false` (default) hideTarget-false

<a href="https://example.com" target="_self">Link text</a>
<a href="https://example.com" target="_blank">External link</a>

`hideTarget: true` hideTarget-true

<a href="https://example.com">Link text</a>

Tag Options tag

Format actions allow switching between HTML variants.

Action

Default Tag

Alternative Tags

Use Case

bold

Semantic vs. visual emphasis

italic

Semantic vs. visual styling

strike

<del>

<s>

Visual vs. semantic deletion

Choose semantic tags (, , <del>) for better accessibility and SEO.

Keyboard Shortcuts keyboard-shortcuts

Shortcuts use the format Mod-Key(s) where:

Mod = Cmd on Mac, Ctrl on Windows/Linux
Examples: Mod-B, Mod-Shift-8, Mod-Alt-1

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