Using the Code Editor

The text-editor integration replaces the plain <textarea> on edit forms with a full Ace code editor for any text format you assign it to.

Enable Ace as a format's editor

1. Go to Configuration → Content authoring → Text formats and editors (/admin/config/content/formats).
2. Edit (or add) a text format — for example Full HTML.
3. Under Text editor, choose Ace Editor.
4. Configure the Ace Editor Settings that appear (theme, syntax, height, width, font size, line numbers, print margin, show invisibles, word wrap, autocomplete). See Configuration.
5. Save the format.

Any field that offers this text format now shows the Ace editor when that format is selected.

What you get

• Syntax highlighting for the configured language.
• Line numbers, an optional 80-column print margin, optional whitespace markers.
• Optional word wrapping and Ctrl+Space autocomplete.
• Standard Ace keyboard shortcuts (find/replace, multi-cursor, indentation).

How your content is saved

The original <textarea> is hidden — not removed. Every change in the Ace editor is written back to it, so the form submits exactly what you typed even though the textarea isn't visible. Fields marked required stay required: the constraint is restored when the editor is detached.

Tips

• The editor is best for raw markup/code formats (Full HTML, or a dedicated "Code" format). Pair it with the Ace Format field formatter to display the saved code with the same highlighting on the rendered page.
• Choose the syntax that matches the content you edit (HTML, PHP, CSS, YAML, JavaScript, …). The full list is in Themes and Syntaxes.