Since beginning to use Joplin recently this year, I've become familiar with fighting with the Rich Text Editor on a regular basis. There are some core interactions with it that are surprisingly overlooked and I'm surprised haven't been addressed or reported already.
I recently filed several formatting bugs that I am running into daily:
opened 06:03AM - 04 Nov 26 UTC
bug
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
3.7.21
### Desktop version i… nfo
Joplin 3.7.21 (dev, win32)
Device: win32, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Client ID: 4c8f39bfb1304676afa8b7abed9d5f32
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 54
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: (None)
Editor: Rich Text
Revision: e41516e
Backup: 1.5.1
Combine notes: 1.2.3
Context Utils: 1.8.4
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
### Current behaviour
The space at the end of a sentence, as well as tabs inserted on a new line after the last sentence typed, will get culled and deleted in .5-1 seconds after the typing is finished. It's also very possible to hit a sweet spot in the timing where you merely have paused yourself in typing, but the space you **just** inserted in your sentence gets deleted, or worse your text cursor position can somehow get shoved backwards.
It has taken me several months and hair pulling to pin down the conditions required to get this bug to occur. Suffice to say I've encountered it almost daily since beginning to use Joplin back in August.
I've confirmed this reproduction on an empty fresh profile with ALL plugins disabled.
TO CREATE THE SITUATION THAT CAUSES THIS YOU MUST:
1. Be using the Rich Text Editor. This bug does not appear to occur in the Markdown editor.
2. Be editing a note that contains an image inside its body
3. Open the note in a new window
4. (Optional?) Navigate away from this note in the main Joplin window (so it is only displaying in the new opened window). I initially thought this was a hard requirement, but I encountered the bug when recording the demo video. I strongly recommend doing this anyways to increase the chances of the bug occurring.
When these requirements are met:
1. Insert a space after a word, notice that the space will disappear after 1-2 seconds.
2. Alternatively you can try inserting a Tab, and the Tab also should disappear.
NOTE that this is a not a 100% reproduction rate, however it is incredibly easy to produce and you should be able to encounter it within a few moments of trying.
I have no initial leads as to what is possibly causing this aggressive space trimming, other than these requirements must be met to produce it (I open notes containing images in new windows all the time, so it's incredibly easy for me to encounter this bug)
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8cf22e6a-98ba-4436-9f73-e0a5ee3e752f
### Expected behaviour
Spaces should never be trimmed, or certainly not this aggressively to the point of happening everytime you stop typing.
### Logs
_No response_
opened 06:25AM - 04 Nov 26 UTC
bug
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
Joplin 3.7.21
### Desktop ve… rsion info
Joplin 3.7.21 (dev, win32)
Device: win32, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Client ID: 4c8f39bfb1304676afa8b7abed9d5f32
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 54
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: (None)
Editor: Rich Text
Revision: e41516e
Backup: 1.5.1
Combine notes: 1.2.3
Context Utils: 1.8.4
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
### Current behaviour
Any bullet lists following a checkbox will be converted awkwardly into checkboxes when the user navigates away from the note.
Confirmed behaviour with all plugins disabled.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/ea28ebf2-3a39-4a0b-8566-9efea18db978
### Expected behaviour
Bullets should obviously be maintained.
### Logs
_No response_
opened 06:28AM - 04 Nov 26 UTC
bug
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
Joplin 3.7.21
### Desktop ve… rsion info
Joplin 3.7.21 (dev, win32)
Device: win32, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Client ID: 4c8f39bfb1304676afa8b7abed9d5f32
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 54
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: (None)
Editor: Rich Text
Revision: e41516e
Backup: 1.5.1
Combine notes: 1.2.3
Context Utils: 1.8.4
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
### Current behaviour
1) Create a new checkbox list in a note using the Rich Text Editor
2) Enter a new line, and press Tab.
3) Press Tab several more times, and you'll notice more checkboxes appearing on that same line.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5748ac82-5819-4088-9bff-434f0d8b19e8
Confirmed this behavior occurs with all plugins disabled and in a fresh profile.
### Expected behaviour
Pressing Tab on a checkbox should indent the checkbox, not create an additional checkbox on that same line.
### Logs
_No response_
opened 06:34AM - 04 Nov 26 UTC
bug
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
Joplin 3.7.21
### Desktop ve… rsion info
Joplin 3.7.21 (dev, win32)
Device: win32, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Client ID: 4c8f39bfb1304676afa8b7abed9d5f32
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 54
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: (None)
Editor: Rich Text
Revision: e41516e
Backup: 1.5.1
Combine notes: 1.2.3
Context Utils: 1.8.4
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
### Current behaviour
1) Create a link in a note by selecting some text and then selecting the "Insert/Edit link" button, or hitting Ctrl+K
2) After creating the link, select the text containing the link and CUT it to the clipboard (Ctrl+X)
3) Immediately paste the link from the clipboard (Ctrl+V)
4) Observe it only pastes the text and the link has now been stripped.
Curiously this doesn't seem to happen if you COPY to the clipboard (Ctrl+C)
Confirmed this behavior occurs with all plugins disabled and in a fresh profile.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/795e7fcc-4d4c-46cc-9c1b-5dcc8c766fd6
### Expected behaviour
Links should be always maintained alongside their text when Cut and Pasted from the clipboard.
### Logs
_No response_
opened 06:53AM - 04 Nov 26 UTC
bug
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
Joplin 3.7.21
### Desktop v… ersion info
Joplin 3.7.21 (dev, win32)
Device: win32, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Client ID: 4c8f39bfb1304676afa8b7abed9d5f32
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 54
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: (None)
Editor: Rich Text
Revision: e41516e
Backup: 1.5.1
Combine notes: 1.2.3
Context Utils: 1.8.4
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
### Current behaviour
1) Create a new note using the Rich Text Editor
2) Create a checkbox list and give it some text.
3) Select the text and apply a Heading format to it (it appears to repro with any heading)
4) Navigate away from the note
5) Navigate back to the note, and notice the Heading formatting is no longer applied and #s have been inserted into the checkbox's text instead
Confirmed this behavior happening with all plugins disabled and in a fresh profile.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0760d4c3-ef76-465c-a09c-009005d23061
### Expected behaviour
Formatting should be properly maintained
### Logs
_No response_
opened 07:54AM - 04 Nov 26 UTC
bug
### Operating system
Windows
### Joplin version
Joplin 3.7.21
### Desktop ve… rsion info
Joplin 3.7.21 (prod, win32)
Device: win32, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
Client ID: a504afc6d2a6496b99a0931c22649537
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 54
Keychain Supported: Yes
Alternative instance ID: -
Sync target: Dropbox
Editor: Markdown
Revision: e41516e
Auto Sync Block: 1.0.5
Backup: 1.5.1
Combine notes: 1.2.3
Easy Backlinks: 1.3.1
Favorites: 1.3.2
Freehand Drawing: 4.3.0
Menu items, Shortcuts, Toolbar icons: 1.1.0
Note list (Preview): 1.1.0
Test Plugin: 1.0.0
### Current behaviour
1) Create a new note using the Rich Text Editor
2) Type in some text
3) Select the text
4) Press Tab to try and indent the text, observe the text is instead **replaced** by a Tab.
Confirmed this in a fresh profile with all plugins disabled.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c0cd5d09-8241-4554-895c-ea67cba2d82d
### Expected behaviour
Selecting text and then pressing Tab is a pretty universal UX standard at this point. Even Microsoft WordPad does it.
This also breaks UX consistency in Joplin since you can successfully select text and indent it when in the Markdown Editor
### Logs
_No response_
(I have several more I need to document and file, but this is the first free moment I've had in awhile to sit down and write things up)
I've kind of gotten the feeling the Rich Text Editor, despite being a fresh feature addition in the recent years, has not had the crucial full polish pass it needs to be a baseline functional component. Asides from bug reports, is there ANYTHING I can do to help with this?
Please note I am not interested in plugins to awkwardly patch and workaround these issues, these are clearly core Joplin bugs that need fixing.
LeoW
4 November 2026 07:18
2
Wow!
I had no idea there were this many things wrong.
I primarily add text and edit in the Markdown editor because I have plugins that I've added that only work in the Markdown editor. They don't work in the rich text editor. Using the rich text editor for me doesn't let me use the plugins, essentially, and do what I want to do. I've never come across, and probably would never come across, any of these bugs that you've documented here.
I do hope they get looked at and fixed.
I will be monitoring this thread.
