The term baseline has two connotations in computing and computer science, one to do with project management and the other to do with typography.

With respect to project management, baseline denotes a set of related source files that are packaged together for use by the project users. Generally, a baseline follows a release cycle during the development of, for example, a new piece of software. The project manager can make a baseline available when a project is at the testing stage. In other words, by packaging code together in a baseline arrangement, partial segment s of the total source code can be released, rather than the entire code. A project's published baselines are usually arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent release being first in the list.

The other definition of baseline is concerned with typography—the arrangement of the characters in a document. Here, a baseline is the imaginary line on which the characters sit, or are positioned above or below. Several measurement terms are associated with baseline. The x-height of a font is the distance from the baseline to the top of a lowercase x. The descender, where applicable, is the portion of the character that falls below the baseline. More broadly, a baseline table operates in Microsoft programs to facilitate the alignment of characters having different scripts and font sizes. This aspect improves the visual quality of the final document.