---
title: "Writing helpers"
description: "Writing helpers support people while they write: they count characters, find and replace text, show hidden characters, hint at what to write, set typographic characters, and undo changes."
canonical_url: "https://tiptap.dev/docs/editor/extensions/writing-helpers"
---

# Writing helpers

Writing helpers support people while they write: they count characters, find and replace text, show hidden characters, hint at what to write, set typographic characters, and undo changes.

## When you use them

- **Length limits.** Character count counts characters and words, and can limit the number of characters.
- **Searching.** Find and replace searches the document, highlights matches, and replaces them, with options for match case, whole words, and regular expressions.
- **Hidden characters.** Invisible characters shows spaces, hard breaks, and paragraph ends.
- **Hints.** Placeholder shows a short hint in an empty editor or an empty node.
- **Typography.** Typography replaces text patterns as you type, for example two dashes with an em dash or three dots with an ellipsis.
- **Mistakes.** Undo and redo reverts changes and reapplies undone ones.

## How they work

- **They are extensions.** They don't add nodes or marks to the document. [Extensions](https://tiptap.dev/docs/editor/core-concepts/extensions.md)
- **Undo and redo comes with the StarterKit.** It is part of the [StarterKit](https://tiptap.dev/docs/editor/extensions/functionality/starterkit.md); the others you add yourself.
- **Not in collaborative editors.** Collaboration has its own undo and redo, so turn off Undo and redo there, in the StarterKit with `undoRedo: false`.
- **You build the UI.** Find and replace is headless, and Character count gives its numbers through `characters()` and `words()`. [Find and replace UI guide](https://tiptap.dev/docs/guides/find-and-replace.md)

## Related

- [Document helpers](https://tiptap.dev/docs/editor/extensions/document-helpers.md) work on the document as a whole.
- [Real-time collaboration](https://tiptap.dev/docs/editor/extensions/collaboration.md) lets several people write at the same time.