What is ckeditor5?
CKEditor 5 is a modern JavaScript rich text editor with a modular architecture. It offers a wide range of features and is highly customizable, making it suitable for various types of content editing needs.
What are ckeditor5's main functionalities?
Basic Text Editing
This code initializes a basic CKEditor 5 instance with classic build, allowing users to perform basic text editing tasks such as bold, italic, and underline.
import ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-build-classic';
ClassicEditor.create(document.querySelector('#editor'))
.then(editor => {
console.log('Editor was initialized', editor);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});
Custom Plugins
This code demonstrates how to initialize CKEditor 5 with custom plugins. In this example, only the Bold and Italic plugins are included, and the toolbar is customized to show only these options.
import ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-editor-classic/src/classiceditor';
import Essentials from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-essentials/src/essentials';
import Bold from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-basic-styles/src/bold';
import Italic from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-basic-styles/src/italic';
ClassicEditor.create(document.querySelector('#editor'), {
plugins: [Essentials, Bold, Italic],
toolbar: ['bold', 'italic']
})
.then(editor => {
console.log('Editor was initialized with custom plugins', editor);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});
Real-time Collaboration
This code initializes CKEditor 5 with real-time collaboration features, allowing multiple users to edit the same document simultaneously and see each other's changes in real-time.
import ClassicEditor from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-editor-classic/src/classiceditor';
import RealTimeCollaborativeEditing from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-real-time-collaboration/src/realtimecollaborativeediting';
import RealTimeCollaborativeComments from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-real-time-collaboration/src/realtimecollaborativecomments';
ClassicEditor.create(document.querySelector('#editor'), {
plugins: [RealTimeCollaborativeEditing, RealTimeCollaborativeComments],
toolbar: ['comment', 'trackChanges']
})
.then(editor => {
console.log('Editor was initialized with real-time collaboration', editor);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});
Other packages similar to ckeditor5
tinymce
TinyMCE is another popular rich text editor that offers a wide range of features and customization options. It is known for its ease of integration and extensive plugin library. Compared to CKEditor 5, TinyMCE has a more traditional architecture but offers similar functionalities.
quill
Quill is a lightweight, open-source rich text editor with a focus on simplicity and extensibility. It provides a clean API and is highly customizable. While it may not have as many built-in features as CKEditor 5, it is a good choice for projects that require a simple and flexible editor.
draft-js
Draft.js is a rich text editor framework for React, developed by Facebook. It provides a lot of flexibility and control over the editor's behavior and appearance. Unlike CKEditor 5, which is a complete solution, Draft.js is more of a toolkit for building custom editors.
CKEditorΒ 5
CKEditorΒ 5 is a modern JavaScript rich-text editor with MVC architecture, custom data model, and virtual DOM, written from scratch in TypeScript with excellent support for modern bundlers. It provides every type of WYSIWYG editing solution imaginable with extensive collaboration support. From editors similar to Google Docs and Medium to Slack or Twitter-like applications, all is possible within a single editing framework. As a market leader, it is constantly expanded and updated.
Table of contents
Quick start
Refer to the Quick Start guide to learn more about CKEditorΒ 5 installation.
CKEditor 5 Builder
The easiest way to start using CKEditorΒ 5 with all the features you need is to prepare a customized setup with the CKEditorΒ 5 Builder. All you need to do is choose the preferred editor type as a base, add all the required plugins, and download the ready-to-use package.
TypeScript support
CKEditorΒ 5 is a TypeScript project. Starting from v37.0.0, it offers native type definitions. Check out our dedicated guide to read more about TypeScript support.
CKEditor 5 advanced installation
For more advanced users or those who need to integrate CKEditorΒ 5 with their applications, we prepared integrations with popular JavaScript frameworks:
CKEditor 5 Framework
CKEditorΒ 5 is also a framework for creating custom-made rich text editing solutions.
To find out how to start building your editor from scratch go to the CKEditorΒ 5 Framework overview section of the CKEditorΒ 5 documentation.
Documentation and FAQ
Extensive documentation dedicated to all things CKEditorΒ 5-related is available. You will find basic guides that will help you kick off your project, advanced deep-dive tutorials to tailor the editor to your specific needs, and help sections with solutions and answers to any of your possible questions. To find out more refer to the following CKEditorΒ 5 documentation sections:
For FAQ please go to the CKEditor Ecosystem help center.
For a high-level overview of the project see the CKEditor Ecosystem website.
Releases
Follow the CKEditorΒ 5 changelog for release details and check out the CKEditorΒ 5 release blog posts on the CKSource blog for important release highlights and additional information.
Editing and collaboration features
The CKEditorΒ 5 Framework offers access to a plethora of various plugins, supporting all kinds of editing features.
From collaborative editing support providing comments and tracking changes, through editing tools that let users control the content looks and structure such as tables, lists, and font styles, to accessibility helpers and multi-language support - CKEditorΒ 5 is easily extensible and customizable. Special duty features like Markdown input and output and source editing, or export to PDF and Word provide solutions for users with diverse and specialized needs. Images and videos are easily supported and CKEditorΒ 5 offers various upload and storage systems to manage these.
The number of options and the ease of customization and adding new ones make the editing experience even better for any environment and professional background.
Refer to the CKEditorΒ 5 Features documentation for details.
Create a free account and test full potential
If you want to check full CKEditorΒ 5 capabilities, including premium features, sign up for a free non-commitment 14-day trial.
Contributing and project organization
Ideas and discussions
The development repository of CKEditorΒ 5 is located at https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5. This is the best place for bringing opinions and contributions. Letting the core team know if they are going in the right or wrong direction is great feedback and will be much appreciated!
Development
CKEditorΒ 5 is a modular, multi-package, monorepo project. It consists of several packages that create the editing framework, based on which the feature packages are implemented.
The ckeditor5
repository is the place that centralizes the development of CKEditorΒ 5. It bundles different packages into a single place, adding the necessary helper tools for the development workflow, like the builder and the test runner. Basic information on how to set up the development environment can be found in the documentation.
See the official contributors' guide to learn how to contribute your code to the project.
Reporting issues and feature requests
Report issues in the ckeditor5
repository. Read more in the Getting support section of the CKEditor 5 documentation.
License
Licensed under a dual-license model, this software is available under:
For more information, see: https://ckeditor.com/legal/ckeditor-licensing-options.
44.0.0 (December 2, 2024)
Release Highlights
We are excited to introduce CKEditor 5 v44.0.0, a release packed with high impact updates designed to enhance your editing experience and simplify access to our premium offers. Here's whatβs new:
π Self-service plans: Simplified access to premium features
We are introducing flexible self-service plans that put you in control with full transparency. Now, you can:
π‘ Important for current users:
If you are upgrading to v44.0.0+, ensure a smooth transition by updating your license keys in the editor, as we implemented a new format of the key. To get the new key, visit the Customer Portal. You can also refer to our license key and activation guide for help with logging in to the portal.
π£ The open-source licensing remains unchanged. However, config.licenseKey
is now a required property in the editor configuration. Use 'GPL'
for installations under the GPL terms. Read more in the update guide.
π Bookmarks: Organize your content with ease
Say hello to Bookmarks, a long-awaited feature that simplifies content navigation within the editor. With this release, you can:
- Add anchors as reference points within text.
- Link to the newly created bookmarks in the editor to navigate to specific locations within complex documents, such as contracts or technical manuals.
π Future updates to Bookmarks and the linking experience are planned for the upcoming releases. Follow progress and share your feedback on GitHub.
β‘ Performance improvements: Faster table rendering
The current release includes another stride towards improving the performance aspect of the editor, this time focusing on how tables are handled in the content. Implemented optimizations have made table rendering 3x faster, with the average load time of a document with a very long, complex tables dropping from around 4.5 seconds to just 1.5 seconds.