Commentarii Roamani

Hello Roamans! In this issue, we’re introducing Callouts: styled blocks with their own icons and colors for marking up tips, warnings, questions, and anything else that shouldn't get lost in the page. Plus a few quality of life fixes.

Callouts‼️

Callouts are built on [[Blockquote]]s, but with a type-specific icon and color that sets them apart visually. To create one, start a block with [[>]] [[!NOTE]] (or the shorthand > [!NOTE]). The first line becomes the title, and you add body text below with Shift+Enter. /Callout works too if you'd rather not remember the syntax. Once a callout exists, clicking its icon lets you switch the type.

• [!NOTE] — General notes and information
• [!TIP] — Helpful suggestions (aliases: hint, important)
• [!WARNING] — Cautionary notes (aliases: caution, attention)
• [!SUCCESS] — Completed items and wins (aliases: check, done)
• [!QUESTION] — Questions and prompts (aliases: help, faq)
• [!QUOTE] — Quotations (alias: cite)

There are more types available including SUMMARY, INFO, DANGER, FAILURE, BUG, and EXAMPLE. See the [[Callouts]] page in the Roam help graph for all available types and how to style your own custom ones.

They also fold, which is where it gets really nice. Add + or - after the type and the callout becomes collapsible: + starts open, - starts closed, click the header to toggle. Great for reference material you want nearby but not in your face.

Callouts can nest inside headings too: the title scales up while the body stays regular size, which gives you both structure and emphasis in one block.

And if the built-in types aren't enough, you can make your own with CSS. Roam falls back to "note" styling for any type it doesn't recognize, but you can override the colors and icons to make it yours. That's how the "Grandma's cookies" and "Security alert" examples below came about. The [[Callouts]] page walks through how to set it up.

Quality of Life Improvements

A few smaller things!

Markdown links now handle URLs with parentheses and special characters correctly, so Wikipedia links no longer break. For URLs with really unusual characters, wrapping them in angle brackets (<>) should always do the trick.

Right-click any inline code block and you'll see a new "copy code" option — grabs just the code, no formatting. Small thing, but you'll appreciate it the first time you use it.

🐞 Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused data loss in code blocks. Code blocks now save progress while you are typing in them, no need to click outside to save anymore.
• Fixed a bug with code blocks where pasting + changing the language would open, then close the language picker without letting you select a language.

That’s all for now! Join our Slack channel here, and don’t forget to check out the Roam help graph for updates!