Notebook block types
Every block you can add to a notebook page, grouped as basic, embeds, media and practice - including the two Premium ones.
Choose Add Block in the notebook editor to see everything you can put on a page. The menu is grouped into four sections.
Basic
- Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 - structure for a long page.
- Text - a paragraph. Supports markdown, so bold, italics, lists and links all work.
Embeds
- Deck - a deck from your library. In study mode this becomes playable in place, so an explanation can sit right next to the drill for it.
- Table - the same for a table.
- Text - one of your imported texts. It gets a View and Study toggle, so you can read it sentence by sentence without leaving the notebook.
- PDF - an uploaded PDF. Premium.
Media
- Image - Premium.
- Video - a YouTube video.
Practice
- Sentence - a single sentence with tap-to-translate on every word, and pronunciation if audio exists for it. Good for example sentences you want to study rather than just read.
- Multiple Choice - a short check-your-understanding quiz that lives only on this page. Add questions, mark the correct answer by tapping the letter badge, and optionally add an explanation shown after answering. In study mode the learner picks answers, submits, sees what they got right or wrong, and can try again. Nothing is tracked - it is not the same as the Quiz game on a deck or table.
The Premium blocks
Image and PDF blocks require Premium. In the add-block menu they show a crown, and on the free plan they can't be inserted at all - the menu item links to the pricing page instead.
PDF uploads are limited to 20 MB each. See Upload and use PDFs.
Giving embedded blocks context
Deck, table, text, video, PDF, sentence and Multiple Choice blocks can each have a title and description. Worth filling in - a notebook you come back to in three months is much easier to use when each embedded deck explains what it's for.
Study settings (decks and tables)
Deck and table blocks also have Study settings. Open them with the Study settings control above the embed. You can preset:
- Game - which game opens when someone taps Study (or leave it so they choose)
- Exercises - how many items to play
- Show first - target or source first (on tables this is question column vs answer column)
- Question / answer columns - tables only
When a game is preset, Study opens on that game's intro screen. Readers can still pick another game from there. Useful when a deck was built for one mode only, such as Cloze or Hanzi. Tables cannot use Audio, Cloze or Hanzi.
Designing a notebook that works
- One topic per page. Pages are your navigation, so a page per grammar point or textbook section beats one enormous page.
- Lead with the explanation, follow with the practice. Text block, then an embedded deck of the words it introduces.
- Use headings. They feed the sidebar and the search box, which is how you'll actually find things later.