The Formatting Toolbar provides numerous rich text editing capabilities. Some icons have sub menus with additional options.


  • B  Bold
  • i   Italics
  • U Underline
  • Code View
  •  More Text: Access additional formatting options:
    • Strikethrough
    • Subscript 
    • Superscript
    • Font Family: Select a font to override the default font.
    • Font Size: Select a specific font size. As a best practice, use Paragraph Format for headers.
    • Text Color: Change text color, keeping in mind color contrast for accessibility. 
    • Background Color: Change text color, keeping in mind color contrast for accessibility. 
    • Inline Class: Formatting options for passage numbering, quotes, bylines and more.
    • Inline Style: Choose from red text in large font or small text in blue.
    • Clear Formatting: Remove any applied formatting.
  • Align Left, Center or Right
  • More Paragraph: Access additional formatting options:
    • Align Justify

    • Ordered List

    • Unordered list: Choose from four bullet formats.

    • Paragraph Format: Select a header. For accessibility, this is the preferred way to show hierarchy of sections of text over applying font sizes.

    • Paragraph Style: Includes options for formatting a block of text, including all caps and a surrounding box.

    • Line Height

    • Decrease Indent: This option is not available unless there is indented content.

    • Increase Indent

    • Quote: This option indents and puts a light gray box around selected text.

  • Insert Image: See also: Include Audio, Video or Images.
  • Insert Video: See also: Include Audio, Video or Images.
  • Insert Audio: Add audio by URL or upload an audio file. See also: Include Audio, Video or Images.

  • Insert Table: Drag across grid to set up the desired number of rows and columns. See also: Working with Tables.
  • Insert Link: Enter the URL (including the http part), the text that should be "clickable" and optionally select option to open the page in a new tab.
  • Insert More Rich: Access additional formatting options:
    • Special Characters: Insert a variety of characters such as Latin, Greek and Math characters.

    • Replace Quotes with Smart Quotes: "Dumb quotes" are punctuation marks that look the same whether they are opening or closing a quotation; they are straight quotation marks that resembled teardrops. Smart quotes that open a quotation or title appear as solid “66s", while closing ones look like “99s".
    • Insert Single or Double Quotes (Left and Right)
    • Insert Non-Breaking Hyphen: Insert to avoid text wrapping.
    • Insert Non-Breaking Space
    • Non-Breaking Text
    • Font Awesome: Insert a variety of icons. Ones in a dashed circle with an exclamation point are not available for use.
    • Insert Horizontal Line:  Insert a horizontal line for aesthetic or functional purposes (such as creating sections within a prompt).
    • Embed URL: Embed one or multiple URLs. A clickable thumbnail appears in the item.  Secure tests may not allow access to external URLs. 
  • Math Editor: Easily add a wide variety of mathematical symbols and functions including fractions and square root. See also: Math Editor.

  • SSML Substitution: In Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML), the substitution tag replaces specific text with a pronunciation of your choice for screen readers.
  • SSML Break: A pause is already built in between words and after punctuation. This feature can be used to add an additional pause as needed.
  • SSML Highlight: If an SSML substitution is added, this option highlights it in edit mode so the item author can more easily see that a substitution is included. 
  • Glossary: See also: Include a Glossary.


Tiny Link: https://support.assessment.pearson.com/x/uIL9Cg