Use paragraphs and headings for structure
Choose Paragraph for ordinary text and Heading 1 through Heading 6 for sections and subsections. Headings are more than a visual style: Outline and PDF table-of-contents features can use them to understand the document.
Keep the hierarchy meaningful. A Heading 2 normally belongs under a Heading 1, for example, even if another level happens to look better on screen.
Emphasise text without changing its role
Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, highlight, subscript and superscript change part of a paragraph without turning it into a new structural block.
Use these marks for meaning. If the whole paragraph is a heading, quotation or code block, choose the matching block style instead of styling every word by hand.
Use the list that matches the content
Compose supports bullet lists, numbered lists and task lists. You can indent or outdent items to create a hierarchy when the content genuinely has one.
Use numbered lists when order matters, bullets when it does not, and task lists for items that are meant to be checked off. Avoid using spaces or repeated symbols to imitate a list.
Quotes, code and horizontal rules
Blockquote separates quoted material from surrounding prose. Code block keeps code or preformatted text in its own block. A horizontal rule can mark a clear thematic break.
These are content choices that travel more reliably into exports than improvised spacing or repeated punctuation.
Add and edit links
Select text and add a link when the words should take the reader somewhere else. Links can point to a web address or to a heading in the same document.
Use meaningful linked words instead of pasting a long address into prose unless the address itself is what the reader needs.
Use alignment deliberately
Paragraph alignment is available for left, centre, right and justified text. For long prose, the document’s normal alignment is usually easier to read than changing alignment line by line.
Alignment is different from page layout. Section orientation, columns and printed page settings belong to the layout and PDF tools.
Formatting and appearance are different
Formatting describes what the content is. Appearance settings control how the document feels while you work, including fonts, spacing and line width.
PDF export has separate font and layout settings. Changing the editor font does not change an existing PDF setup.