Skip to main content

Full Block

The full block character (█) is a solid rectangular glyph used in caption and subtitle workflows for specific editorial purposes. It is most commonly encountered in legacy broadcast caption conventions and in specialized workflows where a visual placeholder or marker is required within the caption text.

Prerequisites​

  • A project is open with at least one Event Group.
  • The Quill editor is active and a cursor position is set within an event.
  • Insert menu → Full Block — inserts the █ character at the current cursor position.

How full block insertion works​

Selecting Full Block from the Insert menu inserts the Unicode full block character (U+2588) at the current cursor position in the active editor. The insertion is treated as a standard text edit and is recorded in the undo history, so it can be reversed if inserted in the wrong position.

The character is inserted at the cursor location only. If you need to insert it at a specific position within a line, place the cursor at that exact position before selecting the menu item. The operation requires the Quill editor to be focused with an active cursor; if no cursor position is set, the insertion will not complete.

Use cases​

The full block character has a small number of specialized use cases in professional captioning:

In legacy EIA-608 closed caption workflows, full block characters are occasionally required to produce specific display effects, particularly when working with paint-on or roll-up styles where a solid character is used to fill a line or create a visual border.

In some quality control and review workflows, the full block is used as a deliberate placeholder to mark an event where the text content has not yet been resolved, making those events visually distinct in the editor without leaving them empty.

Practical guidance​

Unless you have a specific requirement for the full block character in your delivery format, avoid using it in standard subtitle or closed caption content. The character is not universally supported across all rendering environments, and some export formats may substitute or drop it during encoding. Test in your target player or decoder after export to verify correct rendering.

Troubleshooting​

The full block does not appear after selecting the menu item​

Confirm that the Quill editor is focused and that a valid cursor position exists within an event's text field. If the editor is not active, the insertion cannot proceed.

The full block is not rendering correctly in the output​

Verify that your target delivery format supports the full block character. Some formats encode text using restricted character sets (such as the EIA-608 set for SCC files) and the full block may be rendered differently or omitted. Review the format specification for the permitted character set.

Source notes​

  • Components: src/components/toolbar/menus/InsertMenu.svelte