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(Legacy) Content styles

⚠️ We changed installation methods and this legacy guide is kept for users’ convenience. If you are looking for current CKEditor 5 installation instructions, please refer to the newest version of the Editor and content styles guide.

Some core editor features bring additional CSS to control the look of the content they produce. Take, for example, the image feature that needs special content styles to render images and their captions in the content. Or the block quote feature that displays quotes in italics with a subtle border on the side.

Editor content styles.

Content styles are bundled along with editor UI styles and, together with the JavaScript code of CKEditor 5, they create a monolithic structure called an editor build. By default, content styles are inseparable from the rest of the editor. This means there is no CSS file containing them you could take straight from the editor and use in your application (as opposed to the CKEditor 4 contents.css file). To get the editor content styles, for instance, for the frontend of your application, you will have to take additional steps described in this guide.

# Sharing content styles between frontend and backend

By default, content styles are loaded by the editor JavaScript. This makes them present only when users edit their content and this, in turn, usually takes place in the backend of an application. If you want to use the same styles in the frontend, you may find yourself in a situation that requires you to load CKEditor just for that purpose, which is (performance–wise) not the best idea.

To avoid unnecessary dependencies in your frontend, use a style sheet with a complete list of CKEditor 5 content styles used by all editor features. There are two ways to obtain it:

  • By taking it directly from this guide and saving it as a static resource in your application (for example, content-styles.css) (recommended).
  • By generating it using a dedicated script. Learn more in the Development environment guide.

Load the content-styles.css file in your application by adding the following code to the template:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="path/to/assets/content-styles.css" type="text/css">

The content in the frontend of your application should now look the same as when edited by the users.

Important!

If you take a closer look at the content styles, you may notice they are prefixed with the .ck-content class selector. This narrows their scope when used in CKEditor 5 so they do not affect the rest of the application. To use them in the front–end, you will have to add the ck-content CSS class to the container of your content. Otherwise, the styles will not be applied.

If you are not afraid to get your hands dirty, you can always create a custom CKEditor 5 preset from the source code with all the CSS (both UI and the content) extracted to a separate file. See how to do that in a dedicated guide.

# The full list of content styles

Below there is a full list of content styles used by the editor features. You can copy it and use it straight in your project. Make sure to add the ck-content class to your content container for the styles to work (see above).

/*
 * CKEditor 5 (v44.1.0) content styles.
 * Generated on Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:51:36 GMT.
 * For more information, check out https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/installation/legacy/advanced/content-styles.html
 */

:root {
    --ck-color-image-caption-background: hsl(0, 0%, 97%);
    --ck-color-image-caption-text: hsl(0, 0%, 20%);
    --ck-color-mention-background: hsla(341, 100%, 30%, 0.1);
    --ck-color-mention-text: hsl(341, 100%, 30%);
    --ck-color-selector-caption-background: hsl(0, 0%, 97%);
    --ck-color-selector-caption-text: hsl(0, 0%, 20%);
    --ck-highlight-marker-blue: hsl(201, 97%, 72%);
    --ck-highlight-marker-green: hsl(120, 93%, 68%);
    --ck-highlight-marker-pink: hsl(345, 96%, 73%);
    --ck-highlight-marker-yellow: hsl(60, 97%, 73%);
    --ck-highlight-pen-green: hsl(112, 100%, 27%);
    --ck-highlight-pen-red: hsl(0, 85%, 49%);
    --ck-image-style-spacing: 1.5em;
    --ck-inline-image-style-spacing: calc(var(--ck-image-style-spacing) / 2);
    --ck-todo-list-checkmark-size: 16px;
}

/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/tablecolumnresize.css */
.ck-content .table .ck-table-resized {
    table-layout: fixed;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/tablecolumnresize.css */
.ck-content .table table {
    overflow: hidden;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/tablecolumnresize.css */
.ck-content .table td,
.ck-content .table th {
    overflow-wrap: break-word;
    position: relative;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
.ck-content .table {
    margin: 0.9em auto;
    display: table;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
.ck-content .table table {
    border-collapse: collapse;
    border-spacing: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    border: 1px double hsl(0, 0%, 70%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
.ck-content .table table td,
.ck-content .table table th {
    min-width: 2em;
    padding: .4em;
    border: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 75%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
.ck-content .table table th {
    font-weight: bold;
    background: hsla(0, 0%, 0%, 5%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
.ck-content[dir="rtl"] .table th {
    text-align: right;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
.ck-content[dir="ltr"] .table th {
    text-align: left;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-page-break/theme/pagebreak.css */
.ck-content .page-break {
    position: relative;
    clear: both;
    padding: 5px 0;
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    justify-content: center;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-page-break/theme/pagebreak.css */
.ck-content .page-break::after {
    content: '';
    position: absolute;
    border-bottom: 2px dashed hsl(0, 0%, 77%);
    width: 100%;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-page-break/theme/pagebreak.css */
.ck-content .page-break__label {
    position: relative;
    z-index: 1;
    padding: .3em .6em;
    display: block;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    border: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 77%);
    border-radius: 2px;
    font-family: Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Sans-Serif;
    font-size: 0.75em;
    font-weight: bold;
    color: hsl(0, 0%, 20%);
    background: hsl(0, 0%, 100%);
    box-shadow: 2px 2px 1px hsla(0, 0%, 0%, 0.15);
    -webkit-user-select: none;
    -moz-user-select: none;
    -ms-user-select: none;
    user-select: none;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-media-embed/theme/mediaembed.css */
.ck-content .media {
    clear: both;
    margin: 0.9em 0;
    display: block;
    min-width: 15em;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list {
    list-style: none;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list li {
    position: relative;
    margin-bottom: 5px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list li .todo-list {
    margin-top: 5px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input {
    -webkit-appearance: none;
    display: inline-block;
    position: relative;
    width: var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size);
    height: var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size);
    vertical-align: middle;
    border: 0;
    left: -25px;
    margin-right: -15px;
    right: 0;
    margin-left: 0;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content[dir=rtl] .todo-list .todo-list__label > input {
    left: 0;
    margin-right: 0;
    right: -25px;
    margin-left: -15px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input::before {
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    box-sizing: border-box;
    content: '';
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    border: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 20%);
    border-radius: 2px;
    transition: 250ms ease-in-out box-shadow;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input::after {
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    box-sizing: content-box;
    pointer-events: none;
    content: '';
    left: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 3 );
    top: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 5.3 );
    width: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 5.3 );
    height: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 2.6 );
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: transparent;
    border-width: 0 calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 8 ) calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 8 ) 0;
    transform: rotate(45deg);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input[checked]::before {
    background: hsl(126, 64%, 41%);
    border-color: hsl(126, 64%, 41%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input[checked]::after {
    border-color: hsl(0, 0%, 100%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label .todo-list__label__description {
    vertical-align: middle;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label.todo-list__label_without-description input[type=checkbox] {
    position: absolute;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input,
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input {
    cursor: pointer;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input:hover::before, .ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input:hover::before {
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 5px hsla(0, 0%, 0%, 0.1);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input {
    -webkit-appearance: none;
    display: inline-block;
    position: relative;
    width: var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size);
    height: var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size);
    vertical-align: middle;
    border: 0;
    left: -25px;
    margin-right: -15px;
    right: 0;
    margin-left: 0;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content[dir=rtl] .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input {
    left: 0;
    margin-right: 0;
    right: -25px;
    margin-left: -15px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input::before {
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    box-sizing: border-box;
    content: '';
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    border: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 20%);
    border-radius: 2px;
    transition: 250ms ease-in-out box-shadow;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input::after {
    display: block;
    position: absolute;
    box-sizing: content-box;
    pointer-events: none;
    content: '';
    left: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 3 );
    top: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 5.3 );
    width: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 5.3 );
    height: calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 2.6 );
    border-style: solid;
    border-color: transparent;
    border-width: 0 calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 8 ) calc( var(--ck-todo-list-checkmark-size) / 8 ) 0;
    transform: rotate(45deg);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input[checked]::before {
    background: hsl(126, 64%, 41%);
    border-color: hsl(126, 64%, 41%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input[checked]::after {
    border-color: hsl(0, 0%, 100%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
.ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label.todo-list__label_without-description input[type=checkbox] {
    position: absolute;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imageresize.css */
.ck-content img.image_resized {
    height: auto;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imageresize.css */
.ck-content .image.image_resized {
    max-width: 100%;
    display: block;
    box-sizing: border-box;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imageresize.css */
.ck-content .image.image_resized img {
    width: 100%;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imageresize.css */
.ck-content .image.image_resized > figcaption {
    display: block;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/image.css */
.ck-content .image {
    display: table;
    clear: both;
    text-align: center;
    margin: 0.9em auto;
    min-width: 50px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/image.css */
.ck-content .image img {
    display: block;
    margin: 0 auto;
    max-width: 100%;
    min-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/image.css */
.ck-content .image-inline {
    /*
     * Normally, the .image-inline would have "display: inline-block" and "img { width: 100% }" (to follow the wrapper while resizing).;
     * Unfortunately, together with "srcset", it gets automatically stretched up to the width of the editing root.
     * This strange behavior does not happen with inline-flex.
     */
    display: inline-flex;
    max-width: 100%;
    align-items: flex-start;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/image.css */
.ck-content .image-inline picture {
    display: flex;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/image.css */
.ck-content .image-inline picture,
.ck-content .image-inline img {
    flex-grow: 1;
    flex-shrink: 1;
    max-width: 100%;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ol {
    list-style-type: decimal;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ol ol {
    list-style-type: lower-latin;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ol ol ol {
    list-style-type: lower-roman;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ol ol ol ol {
    list-style-type: upper-latin;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ol ol ol ol ol {
    list-style-type: upper-roman;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ul {
    list-style-type: disc;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ul ul {
    list-style-type: circle;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ul ul ul {
    list-style-type: square;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/list.css */
.ck-content ul ul ul ul {
    list-style-type: square;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-block-align-left,
.ck-content .image.image-style-block-align-right {
    max-width: calc(100% - var(--ck-image-style-spacing));
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-align-left,
.ck-content .image.image-style-align-right {
    clear: none;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-side {
    float: right;
    margin-left: var(--ck-image-style-spacing);
    max-width: 50%;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-align-left {
    float: left;
    margin-right: var(--ck-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-align-right {
    float: right;
    margin-left: var(--ck-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-block-align-right {
    margin-right: 0;
    margin-left: auto;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image.image-style-block-align-left {
    margin-left: 0;
    margin-right: auto;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image-style-align-center {
    margin-left: auto;
    margin-right: auto;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image-style-align-left {
    float: left;
    margin-right: var(--ck-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image-style-align-right {
    float: right;
    margin-left: var(--ck-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content p + .image.image-style-align-left,
.ck-content p + .image.image-style-align-right,
.ck-content p + .image.image-style-side {
    margin-top: 0;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image-inline.image-style-align-left,
.ck-content .image-inline.image-style-align-right {
    margin-top: var(--ck-inline-image-style-spacing);
    margin-bottom: var(--ck-inline-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image-inline.image-style-align-left {
    margin-right: var(--ck-inline-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagestyle.css */
.ck-content .image-inline.image-style-align-right {
    margin-left: var(--ck-inline-image-style-spacing);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-highlight/theme/highlight.css */
.ck-content .marker-yellow {
    background-color: var(--ck-highlight-marker-yellow);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-highlight/theme/highlight.css */
.ck-content .marker-green {
    background-color: var(--ck-highlight-marker-green);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-highlight/theme/highlight.css */
.ck-content .marker-pink {
    background-color: var(--ck-highlight-marker-pink);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-highlight/theme/highlight.css */
.ck-content .marker-blue {
    background-color: var(--ck-highlight-marker-blue);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-highlight/theme/highlight.css */
.ck-content .pen-red {
    color: var(--ck-highlight-pen-red);
    background-color: transparent;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-highlight/theme/highlight.css */
.ck-content .pen-green {
    color: var(--ck-highlight-pen-green);
    background-color: transparent;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-block-quote/theme/blockquote.css */
.ck-content blockquote {
    overflow: hidden;
    padding-right: 1.5em;
    padding-left: 1.5em;
    margin-left: 0;
    margin-right: 0;
    font-style: italic;
    border-left: solid 5px hsl(0, 0%, 80%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-block-quote/theme/blockquote.css */
.ck-content[dir="rtl"] blockquote {
    border-left: 0;
    border-right: solid 5px hsl(0, 0%, 80%);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-font/theme/fontsize.css */
.ck-content .text-tiny {
    font-size: .7em;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-font/theme/fontsize.css */
.ck-content .text-small {
    font-size: .85em;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-font/theme/fontsize.css */
.ck-content .text-big {
    font-size: 1.4em;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-font/theme/fontsize.css */
.ck-content .text-huge {
    font-size: 1.8em;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-basic-styles/theme/code.css */
.ck-content code {
    background-color: hsla(0, 0%, 78%, 0.3);
    padding: .15em;
    border-radius: 2px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-mention/theme/mention.css */
.ck-content .mention {
    background: var(--ck-color-mention-background);
    color: var(--ck-color-mention-text);
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/tablecaption.css */
.ck-content .table > figcaption {
    display: table-caption;
    caption-side: top;
    word-break: break-word;
    text-align: center;
    color: var(--ck-color-selector-caption-text);
    background-color: var(--ck-color-selector-caption-background);
    padding: .6em;
    font-size: .75em;
    outline-offset: -1px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagecaption.css */
.ck-content .image > figcaption {
    display: table-caption;
    caption-side: bottom;
    word-break: break-word;
    color: var(--ck-color-image-caption-text);
    background-color: var(--ck-color-image-caption-background);
    padding: .6em;
    font-size: .75em;
    outline-offset: -1px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-horizontal-line/theme/horizontalline.css */
.ck-content hr {
    margin: 15px 0;
    height: 4px;
    background: hsl(0, 0%, 87%);
    border: 0;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-code-block/theme/codeblock.css */
.ck-content pre {
    padding: 1em;
    color: hsl(0, 0%, 20.8%);
    background: hsla(0, 0%, 78%, 0.3);
    border: 1px solid hsl(0, 0%, 77%);
    border-radius: 2px;
    text-align: left;
    direction: ltr;
    tab-size: 4;
    white-space: pre-wrap;
    font-style: normal;
    min-width: 200px;
}
/* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-code-block/theme/codeblock.css */
.ck-content pre code {
    background: unset;
    padding: 0;
    border-radius: 0;
}
@media print {
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/table.css */
    .ck-content .table table {
        height: initial;
    }
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-page-break/theme/pagebreak.css */
    .ck-content .page-break {
        padding: 0;
    }
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-page-break/theme/pagebreak.css */
    .ck-content .page-break::after {
        display: none;
    }
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-page-break/theme/pagebreak.css */
    .ck-content *:has(+ .page-break) {
        margin-bottom: 0;
    }
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
    .ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > input::before {
        transition: none;
    }
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-list/theme/todolist.css */
    .ck-editor__editable.ck-content .todo-list .todo-list__label > span[contenteditable=false] > input::before {
        transition: none;
    }
}
@media (forced-colors: active) {
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-table/theme/tablecaption.css */
    .ck-content .table > figcaption {
    background-color: unset;
    color: unset;
    }
    /* @ckeditor/ckeditor5-image/theme/imagecaption.css */
    .ck-content .image > figcaption {
        background-color: unset;
        color: unset;
    }
}