How do I use Overleaf?

If you like to dive straight in, you can start writing and editing straight away by creating a new paper using our default template. Overleaf provides a rich-text editor so you don't need to know any code to get started -- you can just edit the text, add images, and see the typeset document automatically created for you as you type. Our tutorial provides a quick three-step introduction to the main features.

If you're familiar with LaTeX, using Overleaf couldn't be simpler as we provide full support for direct LaTeX editing, and automatically compile your document for you on our servers (so there's nothing to install). All you need to do is create a document and choose source mode in the editor to edit the LaTeX code for your paper. Indeed, Overleaf began life as the popular collaborative online LaTeX editor called writeLaTeX.

If you're new to LaTeX and would like to learn more about it, we recommend completing our online Interactive Introduction to LaTeX course, prepared by Dr John Lees-Miller and originally presented at the University of Bristol.

We've also pre-loaded a range of templates and examples into Overleaf to help you create your first document, and we recommend checking out this series of 22 video tutorials which introduces the core concepts in small, easy-to-understand chunks.

We hope you enjoy using Overleaf, and if you've any comments or questions, please get in touch via our contact page. Thanks!