fix(super-editor): allow Backspace to delete empty paragraphs in suggesting mode #1966

tupizz · 2026-02-07T16:38:26Z

Demo

CleanShot.2026-02-09.at.21.13.12.mp4

Summary

Fixes SD-1810 — Backspace doesn't delete empty paragraph in suggesting mode.

MVP blocker for Ontra (Feb 17 release).

Problem

When a user creates a new paragraph (Enter) in suggesting mode and immediately presses Backspace, nothing happens — the empty paragraph stays.

Root cause

The track changes system intercepts every transaction in suggesting mode via trackedTransaction → replaceStep() → markDeletion(). The flow:

Backspace on an empty paragraph creates a ReplaceStep(from, to, Slice.empty) to remove it
replaceStep() inverts the original step and tries to re-apply it as a tracked change
markDeletion() iterates nodesBetween(from, to) looking for inline nodes to mark as deleted
An empty paragraph has no inline content — the loop finds nothing
The deletion is silently swallowed as a no-op

Fix

Added an early return guard at the top of replaceStep(). Before entering the full tracked-change flow, it checks:

Is this a pure deletion? — step.slice.content.size === 0 (no replacement content)
Is the range empty of inline content? — nodesBetween finds no inline nodes

When both are true, the step is applied directly since there's nothing to track as a change. This matches Word behavior — deleting an empty paragraph has no visible "tracked change" to show.

For all other cases (non-empty paragraphs, text content, etc.), the existing tracked-change flow runs unchanged.

Changes

replaceStep.js — 6-line guard clause at function entry (lines 24–42)
replaceStep.test.js — new test: creates <p>Hello</p><p></p>, simulates Backspace on empty paragraph, asserts it's removed

Test plan

New unit test passes: deletes empty paragraph on Backspace in suggesting mode
All 5,499 existing tests pass (622 test files, 0 failures)
Manual browser verification: Enter → Backspace cycle works correctly in suggesting mode
Test with multi-paragraph documents (empty paragraph between content paragraphs)
Test that non-empty paragraph deletion still gets tracked normally
Test undo (Ctrl+Z) after deleting empty paragraph

linear · 2026-02-07T16:38:30Z

SD-1810 Backspace doesn't delete empty paragraph in suggesting mode

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packages/super-editor/src/extensions/track-changes/trackChangesHelpers/replaceStep.js

Copilot

Pull request overview

Fixes a track-changes edge case in the super editor where pressing Backspace on a newly created empty paragraph in suggesting mode results in a no-op, by allowing certain “pure deletion” ReplaceSteps to apply directly (untracked) when there’s no inline content to mark as deleted.

Changes:

Add an early guard in replaceStep() to directly apply pure-deletion steps when the deleted range contains no inline nodes.
Add a unit test covering Backspace-like deletion of an empty paragraph in suggesting mode.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
packages/super-editor/src/extensions/track-changes/trackChangesHelpers/replaceStep.js	Adds a guard to bypass tracked-change logic for deletions with no inline content, allowing empty paragraph removal.
packages/super-editor/src/extensions/track-changes/trackChangesHelpers/replaceStep.test.js	Adds a regression test asserting an empty paragraph is removed when “Backspace deletion” occurs in suggesting mode.

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packages/super-editor/src/extensions/track-changes/trackChangesHelpers/replaceStep.test.js

packages/super-editor/src/extensions/track-changes/trackChangesHelpers/replaceStep.js

harbournick

I think there's a bug with: When a user presses Backspace at the start of a non-empty paragraph, the paragraphs are joined, but the delete is applied directly and no deletion mark is created. That makes the edit invisible (not reviewable/rejectable) in Suggesting mode. The direct-delete fast path should only apply to removing a truly empty block node.

see 7ebce03 (I added a test that fails here for this case)

…esting mode

- Introduced a new test suite for keymap history grouping, validating the behavior of the Enter and space keys in creating undo boundaries. - Enhanced the handleEnter and handleBackspace functions to dispatch closeHistory, ensuring proper history management during text input. - Added tests to confirm that undo operations correctly restore text and manage undo group boundaries in various scenarios.

…n suggesting mode

…mode The replaceStep guard now applies any pure deletion with no inline content directly, covering both empty paragraph removal and paragraph joins. markDeletion cannot represent structural changes (block boundary tokens) as inline marks, so these steps were silently swallowed. Fixes the Enter→Enter→Backspace→Backspace flow in suggesting mode where the second Backspace (paragraph join) did nothing.

tupizz · 2026-02-10T18:58:18Z

I think there's a bug with: When a user presses Backspace at the start of a non-empty paragraph, the paragraphs are joined, but the delete is applied directly and no deletion mark is created. That makes the edit invisible (not reviewable/rejectable) in Suggesting mode. The direct-delete fast path should only apply to removing a truly empty block node.

see 7ebce03 (I added a test that fails here for this case)

We have an existing bug that we don't track new line breaks inside a paragraph, or enters in a document, or backspace in paragraphs. its a separate issue altogether. In that case let's leave it alone in 1966 we can proceed without it.

caio-pizzol

looking good @tupizz

since it involves browser interactions, let's also write a "interaction story" in @devtools/visual-testing
p.s. there's already a comments-tcs/ category with tracked change stories

.tupizz/docs/sd-1810-backspace-empty-paragraph-suggesting-mode.md

packages/super-editor/src/core/extensions/keymap.js

packages/super-editor/src/extensions/block-node/block-node.js

packages/super-editor/src/core/extensions/keymap.js

packages/super-editor/src/core/extensions/keymap-history.test.js

packages/super-editor/src/extensions/track-changes/trackChangesHelpers/replaceStep.js

packages/super-editor/src/core/extensions/keymap.js

- Fix editor?.view?.dispatch inconsistency in handleDelete (use view?.dispatch) - Add comments explaining closeHistory no-op edge case in keymap handlers - Add tests for handleBackspace/handleDelete closeHistory behavior - Extract ensureUniqueSdBlockId() helper to deduplicate seenIds logic in block-node - Add comment explaining TrackDelete-only paragraph edge case in replaceStep - Add visual testing story for SD-1810 backspace empty paragraph in suggesting mode

caio-pizzol

lgtm - let's make sure to add interaction story for this scenario before merging

tupizz · 2026-02-11T19:27:00Z

thanks @caio-pizzol
I added visual interaction tests already 🙏🏻

harbournick

LGTM

superdoc-bot · 2026-02-12T00:53:10Z

🎉 This PR is included in superdoc v1.12.0-next.15

The release is available on GitHub release

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings February 7, 2026 16:38

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tupizz self-assigned this Feb 8, 2026

harbournick requested changes Feb 8, 2026

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caio-pizzol self-requested a review February 9, 2026 21:34

tupizz requested a review from harbournick February 10, 2026 00:14

caio-pizzol added the priority: high label Feb 10, 2026

tupizz and others added 5 commits February 10, 2026 15:55

fix(super-editor): allow Backspace to delete empty paragraphs in sugg…

56f1a38

…esting mode

test(super-editor): add regression test for paragraph-join tracking i…

34fc6bd

…n suggesting mode

Fix block node ID generation to prevent duplicate IDs

4bc2750

tupizz force-pushed the tadeu/sd-1810-backspace-doesnt-delete-empty-paragraph-in-suggesting-mode branch from db51225 to 3d37af6 Compare February 10, 2026 18:55

caio-pizzol reviewed Feb 11, 2026

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tupizz added 2 commits February 11, 2026 15:12

chore: remove docs file from branch

dcd5c9a

tupizz requested a review from caio-pizzol February 11, 2026 19:12

caio-pizzol requested review from caio-pizzol and luccas-harbour and removed request for caio-pizzol February 11, 2026 19:15

caio-pizzol approved these changes Feb 11, 2026

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harbournick approved these changes Feb 12, 2026

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harbournick merged commit 820c73c into main Feb 12, 2026
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harbournick deleted the tadeu/sd-1810-backspace-doesnt-delete-empty-paragraph-in-suggesting-mode branch February 12, 2026 00:48

superdoc-bot bot added the released on @next label Feb 12, 2026

fix(super-editor): allow Backspace to delete empty paragraphs in suggesting mode #1966

fix(super-editor): allow Backspace to delete empty paragraphs in suggesting mode #1966

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tupizz commented Feb 7, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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tupizz commented Feb 7, 2026 •

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