# Markdown Editor

> Write Markdown online with a live preview side by side. Toolbar, shortcuts, tables, task lists, footnotes, paste from Word or Google Docs, save as PDF or Word.

URL: https://acrafto.com/en/markdown-editor/  
Updated: 2026-10-08

Tools are interactive browser apps; there is no public API, no endpoints to call and no server-side processing. To use a tool, open its HTML page in a browser.

This Markdown editor online shows your text on the left and the formatted result on the right, and the preview changes with every key you press. It understands the Markdown used on GitHub, in README files, wikis and note apps like Obsidian: headings, lists, task lists, tables, code, quotes, links, images and footnotes. You do not need an account and nothing you type is sent anywhere.

## How to use the online Markdown editor

1. Type or paste Markdown into the left field, or open a .md file with the file button in the toolbar. You can also drop a file anywhere on the editor.
2. Watch the preview on the right. **Sync scrolling** keeps both sides on the same part of the document while you scroll either of them.
3. Format text with the toolbar or with shortcuts such as Ctrl+B for bold and Ctrl+K for a link.
4. Copy the result as Markdown, as HTML or as rich text, or download it as a .md, .pdf, .docx, .html or .txt file.

The editor opens with a short sample called “Project notes” that uses every common element, so you can see the syntax and its result next to each other before you write your own.

## Markdown editor with live preview

Three views sit above the editor. **Split** puts the Markdown and the preview next to each other, **Write** gives the whole width to the text and **Preview** shows only the result, which works as a simple Markdown viewer for a file someone sent you. On a phone the editor switches between **Write** and **Preview**, because two columns would be too narrow to read.

The preview is rendered the way GitHub renders Markdown: [CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) with the [GitHub Flavored Markdown](https://github.github.com/gfm/) extensions, which add tables, task lists, strikethrough and automatic links. Headings get anchors like on GitHub, so `## Release plan` can be linked as `#release-plan`, and clicking such a link scrolls the preview to the heading. Footnotes written as `[^1]` are numbered in the order you first mention them and listed at the end.

The text field uses your browser’s spell check, so misspelled words are underlined while you write. Under the editor you see the number of words and characters and the reading time. The counts leave out the Markdown syntax, so a heading marked with `##` counts only its words. To count sentences and paragraphs as well, paste the text into the [word and character counter](https://acrafto.com/en/text-word-character-counter/).

## Toolbar and keyboard shortcuts

The toolbar covers everything you need for a typical document: **Heading**, **Bold**, **Italic**, **Strikethrough**, **Inline code**, **Link**, **Image**, **Quote**, **Code block**, **Bulleted list**, **Numbered list**, **Task list**, **Table** and **Horizontal line**. Select some text first and the button wraps it; press the same button again and the markers disappear. Without a selection, the button inserts a short placeholder that is already selected, so you just type over it.

A few details save time:

- **Heading** steps the current line through `#`, `##`, `###` and back to plain text.
- **Link** turns the selected words into `[words](https://)` and selects the address part, ready for you to paste the URL. If you select a URL instead, it becomes the address.
- The list buttons and **Quote** work on all selected lines at once. Clicking **Numbered list** on a bulleted list turns it into a numbered one.
- Press Enter at the end of a list item and the next item starts with the right marker. Numbers count up, a new task starts unticked, and pressing Enter on an empty item ends the list. Tab and Shift+Tab indent and outdent list items.
- Every change made by a button or a shortcut can be undone with Ctrl+Z.

All shortcuts are listed under **Keyboard shortcuts** below the editor. On a Mac they use the Command key.

## Paste from Word or Google Docs and get Markdown

When you paste text copied from Word, Google Docs or a web page, the editor turns its formatting into Markdown instead of throwing it away. Headings become `#` lines, bold and italic text get their asterisks, links keep their addresses, bulleted and numbered lists (including Word’s multilevel lists) become Markdown lists, and tables become Markdown tables with the first row as the header. This is the quickest way to move an existing document into a README or a wiki page.

If you wanted the bare text, click **Use plain text instead** in the note that appears after pasting, or paste with Ctrl+Shift+V. Code copied from VS Code or another code editor, and text that already is Markdown, is pasted exactly as it is.

## Markdown syntax cheat sheet

The most common syntax at a glance. Type the left column into the editor to see the right column in the preview.

| You type | You get |
| :--- | :--- |
| `# Title`, `## Section`, `### Subsection` | Headings from level 1 to 3 (up to 6 with `######`) |
| `**bold**` and `*italic*` | **bold** and *italic* |
| `~~old~~` | ~~old~~ |
| `` `code` `` | `code` in a monospaced font |
| `[text](https://example.com)` | a link |
| `![description](https://example.com/photo.png)` | an image |
| `- item` or `1. item` | a bulleted or numbered list |
| `- [ ] task` and `- [x] done` | a task list with checkboxes |
| `> quoted text` | a quote |
| three backticks on a line before and after code | a code block |
| `---` on its own line | a horizontal line |
| `text[^1]` and `[^1]: note` | a footnote |

A Markdown table needs a header row, a separator row of dashes and then one line per row, with cells divided by `|`. A colon in the separator sets the alignment: `:--` aligns left, `:-:` centers and `--:` aligns right. The **Table** button inserts a ready three column table to start from. The cells do not have to line up in the source, but lining them up makes the table easier to edit later.

Markdown also accepts HTML for things it has no syntax for, such as `<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>` for keys, `<sub>` and `<sup>` for H₂O and x², or `<details>` for a section that opens on click. Scripts, styles and forms are removed from the preview for safety.

## Copy as rich text or download the file

**Copy Markdown** copies the source, **Copy HTML** copies clean HTML ready for a website or a CMS, and **Copy as rich text** copies the formatted result. Paste that into Google Docs, Word, Outlook or Gmail and the headings, bold text, lists, links and tables arrive formatted, with no Markdown symbols left.

The **Download** buttons save the document as Markdown, PDF, Word, HTML or plain text in one click, named after the title in its front matter or its first heading. They use sensible defaults: A4 paper (Letter in the US, Canada, Mexico and other countries where it is the standard), normal margins and 11 point text. To choose the page size, fonts and margins, add a table of contents or convert several files at once, use **More export options**, which opens the [Markdown converter](https://acrafto.com/en/markdown-converter/) with your text already filled in.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is my text uploaded or saved anywhere?

No. The preview, the conversion and the downloads all happen in your browser, and the text is never sent to a server. By default nothing is stored either, so the text is gone when you close the tab. If you tick **Remember draft in this browser**, the text is saved in your own browser's storage after every change and comes back on your next visit. Untick it on a shared computer, which also deletes the saved draft.

### How do I open and view a .md file online?

Click the file button in the toolbar or drop the file onto the editor, then switch to **Preview** to read it as a formatted document. Files up to 20 MB in UTF-8 or UTF-16 open directly. Images in the file are shown when they have a full web address; images stored next to the file on your computer cannot be loaded by a web page.

### Which Markdown flavor does the editor use?

It follows [CommonMark](https://spec.commonmark.org/), the standard most Markdown tools agree on, plus the GitHub extensions: tables, task lists, strikethrough, automatic links and footnotes. Text written for GitHub, GitLab, Obsidian, Reddit or Discord looks the same here, apart from features those services add on top, such as user mentions or the wiki links of Obsidian.

### How do I put Markdown into Google Docs?

Click **Copy as rich text** and paste into the document. Headings, lists, links and tables keep their formatting. Recent versions of Google Docs can also read Markdown themselves under Edit, Paste from Markdown, once Markdown is enabled in Tools, Preferences.

### Does the editor support Mermaid diagrams or LaTeX math?

Not yet. A Mermaid block is shown as an ordinary code block, and formulas written as `$...$` stay as plain text. Everything else from GitHub Flavored Markdown is supported.

### What is Markdown and who uses it?

Markdown is a way of formatting plain text with a few symbols, created by John Gruber in 2004 so that a document stays readable even before it is converted to HTML ([more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown)). Developers use it for README files and documentation, writers for notes and drafts, and AI chat tools answer in it, which is why their replies are full of asterisks and hash signs when pasted elsewhere.

More tools for text are in the [Text](https://acrafto.com/en/text/) category: [compare two versions](https://acrafto.com/en/compare-text-diff-checker/) of a document to see what changed, or [change the case](https://acrafto.com/en/case-converter/) of headings in one go. Developers will find the [JSON formatter](https://acrafto.com/en/json-formatter-validator/) and other tools under [Developers](https://acrafto.com/en/developers/).

## Other languages

- Čeština (cs): [Markdown editor](https://acrafto.com/cs/markdown-editor-online/) ([Markdown](https://acrafto.com/cs/markdown-editor-online/index.md))
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