Markdown Preview
Write markdown and see the live preview instantly — supports GitHub Flavored Markdown, tables, and code highlighting.
Welcome to Markdown Preview
This is a live preview of your markdown content.
Features
Code Example
const greeting = "Hello, World!";
console.log(greeting);
Links and Images
This is a blockquote. It can span multiple lines.
Enjoy writing! 🎉
Markdown Syntax Quick Reference
# Heading 1H1 — largest heading## Heading 2H2 — section heading**bold text**Bold text*italic text*Italic text[Link text](url)HyperlinkImage`inline code`Inline code```code block```Fenced code block- itemUnordered list item1. itemOrdered list item> blockquoteBlockquote--- Horizontal ruleWhat is GitHub Flavored Markdown?
GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) is a superset of standard Markdown used on GitHub, GitLab, and many developer platforms. It adds support for tables, task lists, strikethrough, and fenced code blocks with syntax highlighting. This markdown editor supports GFM so your preview matches exactly what renders on GitHub.
Common Uses for Markdown
What is Markdown?
Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It lets you format plain text using simple punctuation — asterisks for bold, hashes for headings, hyphens for lists — and then converts it to clean HTML. Unlike a word processor, you write in one plain-text file and render it anywhere: GitHub, a blog, documentation sites, or a chat app.
The key advantage is portability. A Markdown file is just text, so it opens in any editor, stays readable without rendering, and never gets corrupted by proprietary formats. It's the default format for GitHub README files, developer documentation (Docusaurus, MkDocs, Nextra), static site generators (Jekyll, Hugo, Astro), and note-taking tools like Obsidian, Notion, and Bear.
There are several Markdown flavours. The most widely used today is GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), which adds tables, task lists, strikethrough, and auto-linked URLs on top of the original spec. This editor uses GFM so your preview matches what GitHub, GitLab, and most modern platforms actually render.
GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) Syntax
These are the GFM extensions not in standard Markdown. They work on GitHub, GitLab, and in this editor.
| Feature | Syntax | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Task list (done) | - [x] Buy milk | Checked checkbox |
| Task list (open) | - [ ] Buy eggs | Unchecked checkbox |
| Strikethrough | ~~deleted text~~ | del element (line through) |
| Table | | Col | Col |\n|-----|-----|\n| A | B | | Formatted HTML table |
| Fenced code block | ```js\ncode here\n``` | Syntax-highlighted code |
| Auto-link URL | https://example.com | Clickable hyperlink |
| Mention | @username | User mention (GitHub only) |
| Issue reference | #123 | Issue link (GitHub only) |
| Footnote | Text[^1]\n[^1]: Note | Footnote at page bottom |
| Emoji shortcode | :rocket: :tada: | 🚀 🎉 |
Markdown vs Rich Text vs HTML
| Markdown | Rich Text (Word/Docs) | Raw HTML | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Readable as plain text | ✅ Yes | ❌ Binary format | ⚠️ Tags clutter it |
| Version control friendly | ✅ Git diffs cleanly | ❌ Binary diffs | ✅ Yes |
| Learning curve | ✅ 10 min | ✅ Familiar | ⚠️ Moderate |
| Renders in browser | ⚠️ Needs a parser | ❌ No | ✅ Native |
| Works on GitHub | ✅ Native support | ❌ No | ⚠️ Limited |
| Portable / future-proof | ✅ Plain text forever | ❌ App-dependent | ✅ Yes |
| Tables & task lists | ✅ GFM extension | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Markdown Preview Editor