# How to: Edit a document in place

1. Open a Markdown or text source. It opens ready to edit — there's no
   **Edit** step first.
2. Make your changes. Formatting renders as you type; see [How to: Write and
   format Markdown](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/how-to/write-and-format-markdown) for the shortcuts and how
   the live preview works.
3. Click **Save** to write your changes back, or **Cancel** to discard them
   (it asks first if there are unsaved changes) and show the document as
   rendered. **More actions** → **Edit** reopens the editor.

A file the viewer can't edit (a PDF, a `.docx`, an audit record) opens
read-only.

Editing a source updates what future answers retrieve from it, the same as
editing the file directly would.

See [Artifacts & documents](https://exaflux.io/docs/axon/artifacts-and-documents).