Working with Markdown files in Visual Studio Code is simple, straightforward, and fun. Besides VS Code's basic editing, there are a number of Markdown specific features that will help you be more productive.
Conda install -c anaconda markdown2 Description Markdown is a text-to-HTML filter; it translates an easy-to-read / easy-to-write structured text format into HTML. Trentm/python-markdown2 is an open source project licensed under MIT License which is an OSI approved license. About LibHunt tracks mentions of software libraries on relevant social networks. A fast and complete Python implementaion of Markdown. Markdown is a text-to-HTML filter; it translates an easy.
Markdown extensions
In addition to the functionality VS Code provides out of the box, you can install an extension for greater functionality.
Tip: Click on an extension tile above to read the description and reviews to decide which extension is best for you. See more in the Marketplace.
Markdown preview
VS Code supports Markdown files out of the box. You just start writing Markdown text, save the file with the .md extension and then you can toggle the visualization of the editor between the code and the preview of the Markdown file; obviously, you can also open an existing Markdown file and start working with it. To switch between views, press ⇧⌘V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+V) in the editor. You can view the preview side-by-side (⌘K V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K V)) with the file you are editing and see changes reflected in real-time as you edit.
Here is an example with a very simple file.
Tip: You can also right-click on the editor Tab and select Open Preview (⇧⌘V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+V)) or use the Command Palette (⇧⌘P (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+P)) to run the Markdown: Open Preview to the Side command (⌘K V (Windows, Linux Ctrl+K V)).
Dynamic previews and preview locking
By default, Markdown previews automatically update to preview the currently active Markdown file:
You can lock a Markdown preview using the Markdown: Toggle Preview Locking command to keep it locked to its current Markdown document. Locked previews are indicated by [Preview] in the title:
Editor and preview synchronization
VS Code automatically synchronizes the Markdown editor and the preview panes. Scroll the Markdown preview and the editor is scrolled to match the preview's viewport. Scroll the Markdown editor and the preview is scrolled to match its viewport:
You can disable scroll synchronization using the markdown.preview.scrollPreviewWithEditor and markdown.preview.scrollEditorWithPreviewsettings.
The currently selected line in the editor is indicated in the Markdown preview by a light gray bar in the left margin:
Additionally, double clicking an element in the Markdown preview will automatically open the editor for the file and scroll to the line nearest the clicked element.
Outline view
The Outline view is a separate section in the bottom of the File Explorer. When expanded, it will show the symbol tree of the currently active editor. For Markdown files, the symbol tree is the Markdown file's header hierarchy.
The Outline view is a great way to review your document's header structure and outline.
Extending the Markdown preview
Extensions can contribute custom styles and scripts to the Markdown preview to change its appearance and add new functionality. Here's a set of example extensions that customize the preview:
Using your own CSS
You can also use your own CSS in the Markdown preview with the 'markdown.styles': []setting. This lists URLs for style sheets to load in the Markdown preview. These stylesheets can either be https URLs, or relative paths to local files in the current workspace.
For example, to load a stylesheet called Style.css at the root of your current workspace, use File > Preferences > Settings to bring up the workspace settings.json file and make this update:
Keep trailing whitespace in order to create line breaks
To create hard line breaks, Markdown requires two or more spaces at the end of a line. Depending on your user or workspace settings, VS Code may be configured to remove trailing whitespace. In order to keep trailing whitespace in Markdown files only, you can add these lines to your settings.json:
Markdown2all
Markdown preview security
For security reasons, VS Code restricts the content displayed in the Markdown preview. This includes disabling script execution and only allowing resources to be loaded over https.
When the Markdown preview blocks content on a page, an alert popup is shown in the top right corner of the preview window:
You can change what content is allowed in the Markdown preview by clicking on this popup or running the Markdown: Change preview security settings command in any Markdown file:
The Markdown preview security settings apply to all files in the workspace.
Here are the details about each of these security levels:
Strict
This is the default setting. Only loads trusted content and disables script execution. Blocks http images.
Markdown Tutorial
It is strongly recommended that you keep Strict security enabled unless you have a very good reason to change it AND you trust all markdown files in the workspace.
Allow insecure content
Keeps scripts disabled but allows content to be loaded over http.
Disable
Disables additional security in the preview window. This allows script execution and also allows content to be loaded over http.
Snippets for Markdown
There are several built-in Markdown snippets included in VS Code - press ⌃Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Space) (Trigger Suggest) and you get a context specific list of suggestions.
Tip: You can add in your own User Defined Snippets for Markdown. Take a look at User Defined Snippets to find out how.
Compiling Markdown into HTML
VS Code integrates with Markdown compilers through the integrated task runner. We can use this to compile .md files into .html files. Let's walk through compiling a simple Markdown document.
Step 1: Install a Markdown compiler
For this walkthrough, we use the popular Node.js module, markdown-it.
Note: There are many Markdown compilers to choose from beyond markdown-it. Pick the one that best suits your needs and environment.
Step 2: Create a simple MD file
Open VS Code on an empty folder and create a sample.md file.
Note: You can open a folder with VS Code by either selecting the folder with File > Open Folder or navigating to the folder and typing 'code .' at the command line.
Markdown2.markdown
Place the following source code in that file:
Step 3: Create tasks.json
The next step is to set up the task configuration file tasks.json. To do this, run Terminal > Configure Tasks and click Create tasks.json file from templates. VS Code then presents a list of possible tasks.json templates to choose from. Select Others since we want to run an external command.
This generates a tasks.json file in your workspace .vscode folder with the following content:
To use markdown-it to compile the Markdown file, change the contents as follows:
Tip: While the sample is there to help with common configuration settings, IntelliSense is available for the tasks.json file as well to help you along. Use ⌃Space (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Space) to see the available settings.
Step 4: Run the Build Task
Since in more complex environments there can be more than one build task we prompt you to pick the task to execute after pressing ⇧⌘B (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+B) (Run Build Task). In addition, we allow you to scan the output for compile problems. Since we only want to convert the Markdown file to HTML select Never scan the build output from the presented list.
At this point, you should see an additional file show up in the file list sample.html.
If you want to make the Compile Markdown task the default build task to run execute Configure Default Build Task from the global Terminal menu and select Compile Markdown from the presented list. The final tasks.json file will then look like this:
Automating Markdown compilation
Let's take things a little further and automate Markdown compilation with VS Code. We can do so with the same task runner integration as before, but with a few modifications.
Step 1: Install Gulp and some plug-ins
We use Gulp to create a task that automates Markdown compilation. We also use the gulp-markdown plug-in to make things a little easier.
We need to install gulp both globally (-g switch) and locally:
Note: gulp-markdown-it is a Gulp plug-in for the markdown-it module we were using before. There are many other Gulp Markdown plug-ins you can use, as well as plug-ins for Grunt.
You can test that your gulp installation was successful by typing gulp -v. You should see a version displayed for both the global (CLI) and local installations.
Step 2: Create a simple Gulp task
Open VS Code on the same folder from before (contains sample.md and tasks.json under the .vscode folder), and create gulpfile.js at the root.
Place the following source code in that file:
What is happening here?
- We are watching for changes to any Markdown file in our workspace, i.e. the current folder open in VS Code.
- We take the set of Markdown files that have changed, and run them through our Markdown compiler, i.e.
gulp-markdown-it. - We now have a set of HTML files, each named respectively after their original Markdown file. We then put these files in the same directory.
Markdown 2 Pdf
Step 3: Run the gulp default Task
To complete the tasks integration with VS Code, we will need to modify the task configuration from before to run the default Gulp task we just created. You can either delete the tasks.json file or empty it only keeping the 'version': '2.0.0' property. Now execute Run Task from the global Terminal menu. Observe that you are presented with a picker listing the tasks defined in the gulp file. Select gulp: default to start the task. We allow you to scan the output for compile problems. Since we only want to convert the Markdown file to HTML select Never scan the build output from the presented list. At this point, if you create and/or modify other Markdown files, you see the respective HTML files generated and/or changes reflected on save. You can also enable Auto Save to make things even more streamlined.
If you want to make the gulp: default task the default build task executed when pressing ⇧⌘B (Windows, Linux Ctrl+Shift+B) run Configure Default Build Task from the global Terminal menu and select gulp: default from the presented list. The final tasks.json file will then look like this:
Step 4: Terminate the gulp default Task
The gulp: default task runs in the background and watches for file changes to Markdown files. If you want to stop the task, you can use the Terminate Task from the global Terminal menu.
Next steps
Read on to find out about:
- CSS, SCSS, and Less - Want to edit your CSS? VS Code has great support for CSS, SCSS, and Less editing.
Common questions
Is there spell checking?
Not installed with VS Code but there are spell checking extensions. Check the VS Code Marketplace to look for useful extensions to help with your workflow.
Markdown Language
Does VS Code support GitHub Flavored Markdown?
No, VS Code targets the CommonMark Markdown specification using the markdown-it library. GitHub is moving toward the CommonMark specification which you can read about in this update.
In the walkthrough above, I didn't find the Configure Task command in the Command Palette?
You may have opened a file in VS Code rather than a folder. You can open a folder by either selecting the folder with File > Open Folder or navigating to the folder and typing 'code .' at the command line.
Today I’m pleased to announce the release of MarkdownPad 2, which is the result of over one year of development, thousands of lines of code, hundreds of code commits, and dozens of beta testers.
MarkdownPad 2 is a completely new version of MarkdownPad. It has all the features you love from the original version, and includes dozens of exciting new features and improvements.
A brief history of MarkdownPad
When I created the original version of MarkdownPad in 2011, I had no idea it would become one of the most popular Markdown editors for Windows. At the time, I had just read an great post by Peter Lyons called Leveling Up: Career Advancement for Software Developers, and in a section titled Your Work Journal, he wrote:
Don’t skip this one. This is a simple technique that can make a huge difference. Start a work journal - it can be nothing more than a simple text file. You should have one single journal for everything you do for your job. Organize it chronologically […] and make sure your text editor can be configured to instantly insert a timestamp, since you can use this to organize your journal.
Over time, your journal becomes an awesome treasure trove of knowledge.
This idea really resonated with me, and I immediately began taking simple-but-thorough notes in Notepad++. After a few weeks of writing, though, I found myself wishing I had a way to write a plaintext document that I could quickly turn into an attractive HTML document to share.
Markdown2 Python
And then I discovered the Markdown markup language.
Now at the time, Markdown was an awkward, lanky adolescent in the Windows world. Being the child of Apple star John Gruber, Markdown simply didn’t have the developer love on Windows that it needed to shine. So with John’s permission, I fired up Visual Studio, and began developing what I intended to be a simple note-taking tool for my personal use.
After MarkdownPad had been downloaded a few thousand times, I realized I had created something pretty darn useful.
MarkdownPad 2, rebuilt from the ground up
One of the best things about creating MarkdownPad was the tremendous amount of feedback I received from the community of Markdown users. From day one, I received enthusiastic emails, tweets, and forum posts from MarkdownPad users ranging from software developers to professional authors to students. I saved every feature request, bug report, and suggestion, and I started realizing that if I wanted to make the perfect Markdown editor for Windows, I needed to give it a fresh start.
A little over a year ago, I did just that: I created a blank new project in Visual Studio, and armed with a year’s worth of knowledge and user feedback, I set out to create MarkdownPad 2.
If any of you have ever tried recreating something from scratch - software, a song, a novel, or a maybe a piece of art - you know that it isn’t as simple as sitting down and adding a few new features and a splash of paint. With MarkdownPad 2, I set out to fully re-architect the program to be more robust, efficient, extensible, and to be easy to support in the future.
I’m pleased to say I accomplished all of those things.
An early sketch of the MarkdownPad 2 Custom Stylesheet Editor
Introducing Free and Pro versions
MarkdownPad 2 is available in two versions: Free and Pro. The Free version offers all of the features you’re currently using in the original version of MarkdownPad, and includes new features like a tabbed document interface, spell check, Markdown syntax highlighting, multiple custom CSS files support, and a variety of other improvements.
The Pro version includes everything in the Free version, and adds great new features like support for new Markdown processors (GitHub Flavored Markdown and Markdown Extra, including Table support), PDF export, auto-save, session management, a built-in image uploader, and is licensed for commercial use.
As a Pro user, you’ll get early access to new features as soon as they’re available. You’re also supporting me as an independent software developer, and giving me great encouragement to continue developing new features and updates.
With two versions of MarkdownPad, I hope to provide the best possible Markdown editor for Windows, and to also earn some compensation for the hundreds of hours I’ve dedicated to developing this high quality software.
You can check out a full feature comparison of Free vs. Pro, and you can also purchase a MarkdownPad Pro license.
An early sketch of potential MarkdownPad 2 logos
This is just the beginning
Each year, Markdown becomes more ubiquitous on the web. I love that people around the world are using it to create their documentation, blog posts, websites, articles, and READMEs. I truly believe that the simplicity and robustness of the Markdown language makes it one of the best ways for people to communicate on the internet.
With Markdown being embraced by GitHub, the sprawling StackExchange network, Reddit, and hundreds of new start-ups, I believe this technology has a very bright future. I promise to be here, continuing to listen to your feedback via Twitter (@MarkdownPad and @evanw), email, and forum posts.
I’ve got dozens of new MarkdownPad features lined up for development this year, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
Evan Wondrasek
Developer, MarkdownPad
p.s.: I couldn’t have done any of this without the wonderful feedback from MarkdownPad users, the dedicated testing of my beta testers, and the valuable advice I’ve received from people both in person and around the world via the internet. My sincere thanks to all of you.