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Markdown Editor Online — Free, Live Preview, No Upload

Free online Markdown editor with live side-by-side preview. GFM tables and code blocks, one-click copy, and nothing is uploaded or saved to a server.

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MARKDOWN
PREVIEW

Hello, Markdown!

Write on the left, see the preview on the right.

Features

  • Bold, italic, strikethrough
  • inline code and code blocks
  • Links and images
  • Tables, blockquotes, and more

Code Block

function greet(name) {
  return `Hello, ${name}!`;
}

Table

Name Role Status
Alice Dev ✅ Active
Bob Design ✅ Active

"The best tool is the one you actually use."

82 words · 500 characters · 25 lines

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Why use Markdown?

Markdown is the universal format for developer documentation. GitHub READMEs, Notion pages, Obsidian notes, dev.to articles, and countless static site generators all render Markdown. Learning it takes minutes; using it saves hours of fighting with rich text editors.

Markdown quick reference

  • # Heading 1, ## Heading 2, ### Heading 3
  • **Bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~
  • - Unordered list item, 1. Ordered list
  • [Link text](https://url.com)
  • ![Alt text](image-url.jpg)
  • `inline code`, ```code block```
  • > Blockquote
  • --- for horizontal rule

Where Markdown is used

GitHub and GitLab (README, issues, PRs), Confluence, Notion, Jira, Stack Overflow, Reddit, Discord, Obsidian, Bear, Typora, Jekyll, Hugo, Gatsby, Next.js MDX, and virtually every documentation platform. Markdown files use the .md extension.

Common use cases for an online Markdown editor

Developers drafting README files for open source projects use the live preview to verify table formatting, code block syntax highlighting hints, and heading hierarchy before committing to GitHub. Technical writers composing documentation for static site generators (Hugo, Jekyll, Docusaurus) paste their draft content and check how GFM tables render before pushing to the site build. Bloggers writing for dev.to, Hashnode, or Medium (which accepts Markdown) preview their post structure including callout blocks and code fences. Students taking notes in Markdown for Obsidian or Notion draft and preview without opening the full app.

GFM tables — practical tips

GFM tables are one of the most frequently used but trickiest Markdown features. Column alignment is controlled by the separator row: :--- for left-align, :---: for center, ---: for right. Columns don't need to line up visually in the source — inconsistent spacing in the pipe characters is valid. For tables with many columns, the preview pane in this editor makes it immediately obvious when a column count mismatch breaks the table layout. Tip: never include pipe characters inside table cells without escaping them as \| — unescaped pipes are interpreted as column separators and corrupt the table structure.

Markdown vs rich text — when to use which

Markdown excels when content will be version-controlled in Git, when portability across tools matters (the same .md file opens in VS Code, Obsidian, Typora, and GitHub with consistent rendering), and when you want to focus on structure rather than formatting decisions. Rich text editors (Google Docs, Word, Notion's native editor) excel when collaborating with non-technical teammates who are not comfortable with syntax, when track-changes with comments is required, or when fine-grained typographic control (custom fonts, precise spacing) is necessary. For technical documentation and developer tools, Markdown is the default for a reason — it stays readable even when viewed raw.

Frequently asked questions

What is Markdown?
Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It lets you write formatted text using plain text syntax — for example, **bold**, # headings, and - lists. It's widely used in README files, documentation, blogs, and note-taking apps.
What is GFM (GitHub Flavored Markdown)?
GFM is a superset of standard Markdown created by GitHub. It adds tables, strikethrough (~~text~~), task lists (- [ ]), fenced code blocks with syntax hints, and auto-linking of URLs. This editor supports GFM.
How do I create a table in Markdown?
Use pipe characters and hyphens: | Header 1 | Header 2 | on the first row, | --- | --- | on the second (separator), then | Cell 1 | Cell 2 | for each data row.
Does this editor save my content?
No — content is stored in memory only and will be lost on page refresh. For persistent editing, copy your Markdown using the Copy MD button and paste it into a file or note-taking app.
How do I add code blocks?
Wrap code in triple backticks: ```javascript on the opening line and ``` on the closing line. For inline code, use single backticks: `code here`. The language hint after the opening backticks enables syntax highlighting in some renderers.
How do I convert Markdown to HTML?
Type or paste Markdown on the left and the rendered HTML appears live on the right — copy either the rendered output or the underlying HTML. Everything runs in your browser; documents are never uploaded or saved on a server.
Can I use this editor for GitHub README files?
Yes — it supports GitHub Flavored Markdown, including tables, task lists, fenced code blocks, and strikethrough, so what you preview here is what GitHub will render. Draft the README here, then paste it into your repository.
Why does a single line break show up in the preview?
This editor treats a single newline as a line break, like many chat and comment boxes do. In standard Markdown, and in README.md files on GitHub, a single newline is just a space: leave a blank line to start a new paragraph, or end the line with two spaces to force a break. Check your target platform before relying on it.
Can I use raw HTML inside the Markdown?
You can type it, but the preview shows raw HTML as plain text instead of rendering it. That is deliberate: it keeps pasted content from running anything in the page. Links and images only render for http(s), mailto, tel, relative and anchor addresses; other schemes are replaced with a harmless # link.

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