Writer: building blocks, variables and citations
Three Writer tools save you from typing the same structure — or the same value — again and again: building blocks, variables and citations. All three are in the Insert menu.
Building blocks
Insert ▸ Building blocks adds a ready-made piece of document at your cursor. The tables come with status dropdown chips, date chips set to today, and room for @-mentions, so you can start filling them in straight away.
| Building block | What you get |
|---|---|
| Meeting notes | A heading with today's date and "Meeting title", an Attendees line, and Notes and Action items sections. |
| Email draft | A To / Cc / Subject table with space for the message — see below. |
| Project tracker | Project, Owner, Status, Start date, End date and Notes columns. Status: Not started, In progress, Blocked, Complete. |
| Product roadmap | Feature, Priority (P0, P1, P2), Timeline (Now, Next, Later), Owner, Status and Notes. |
| Review tracker | Reviewer, Status (Not started, In review, Changes requested, Approved), Due date and Notes. |
| Content tracker | Title, Writer, Status (Idea, Drafting, Editing, Published), Publish date and Link. |
| Decision log | Decision, Status (Not started, Pending, Decided, Deferred), Date, Owner and Notes. |
Everything in a building block is ordinary document content — add rows, rename columns or change the dropdown options as you like.
Email draft: write it here, send it from Mail
The Email draft block is a small table for writing an email together with your collaborators. Fill in To and Cc (email addresses, or @-mention people), the Subject, and the message in the big cell underneath.
When it's ready, click Send to Mail above the table. SingleSign Mail opens a new message with the recipients, subject and text already filled in — review it and press Send there. Nothing is sent from Writer itself, and the draft stays in the document.
Variables
A variable is a named value you use in several places — a client's name, a contract date, a price. Insert it as a chip, and when the value changes, every chip changes with it, in every tab, for everyone.
Choose Insert ▸ Variables:
- Under New variable, type a Name ("Client name") and a Value ("Acme Corporation").
- Click Add variable — or Add and insert to put a chip at your cursor straight away.
- Use Insert next to any variable in the list to add another chip.
The list shows each variable's value and how many times it's used. Use the pencil to change a name or value, and the bin to delete it. If a variable is still used, you're warned first: its chips then show the variable's name in braces, such as {Client name}, until you remove them.
Only editors can add or change variables; everyone else sees the chips with their current values. Downloads, prints and PDFs show the values.
Citations and bibliography
Writer keeps a list of sources for each document and formats citations and the bibliography for you. Open it with Tools ▸ Citations or Insert ▸ Citation.
- Pick a format at the top of the panel: APA (7th edition) (the default), MLA (9th edition) or Chicago (author-date, 17th edition). Changing it reformats every citation and the bibliography at once.
- Add a source with +. Choose the Source type — Book, Website, Newspaper / magazine article, Journal article, Report or Other — and fill in the fields that appear: authors (first and last name, or an organization as the last name — Add author for more), title, date published, publisher, edition, journal or website name, volume, issue, pages, URL, access date and DOI. Then Save source.
- Cite it — put your cursor where the citation goes and click Cite on the source. You can add a page or location, such as "p. 42".
- Insert bibliography adds a list of every source you've cited, in the chosen format. It keeps itself up to date as you add, edit and remove citations.
Search the list with Search sources; use the pencil to edit a source and the bin to delete it. Citations of a deleted source show "Missing source". Adding and editing sources is for editors.
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Last updated: 2026-09-24
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