---
title: "Visual Blocks plugin"
description: "Allows a user to see block level elements such as paragraphs."
canonical_url: "https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/latest/visualblocks/"
md_url: "https://www.tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/5/visualblocks/index.md"
version: "5"
last_updated: "2024-04-16T01:50:26Z"
tokens: 288
---
Important This page documents TinyMCE 5. For new projects, Tiny recommends using the latest, most up-to-date version. [See TinyMCE 8 documentation](../../latest/visualblocks/).
# Visual Blocks plugin

This plugin allows a user to see block level elements in the editable area. It is similar to WYSIWYG hidden character functionality, but at block level. It also adds a toolbar button and a menu item `Show blocks` under the `View` menu dropdown.

## Basic setup

```js
tinymce.init({
  selector: 'textarea',  // change this value according to your HTML
  plugins: 'visualblocks',
  menubar: 'view',
  toolbar: 'visualblocks'
});
```

## Options

This setting affects the execution of the `visualblocks` plugin. You may specify whether blocks are visible by default here.

### `visualblocks_default_state`

This option enables you to specify the default state of the Visual Blocks plugin.

**Type:** `Boolean`

**Default Value:** `false`

**Possible Values:** `true`, `false`

#### Example: Using `visualblocks_default_state`

```js
tinymce.init({
  selector: 'textarea',  // change this value according to your HTML
  plugins: 'visualblocks',
  menubar: 'view',
  toolbar: 'visualblocks',
  visualblocks_default_state: true
});
```