Markdown Editor & Preview

What is Markdown?

Markdown is a simple way to write formatted text using plain text and a few easy symbols. It was created in 2004 by John Gruber as a way to write for the web without learning HTML. Instead of clicking bold and heading buttons in a word processor, you type a few characters: # for a heading, **two stars** for bold, *one star* for italic, - for a bullet list and [text](link) for a link. The result is a clean, readable text file that converts to proper HTML in one step. That is why Markdown is now the standard way to write README files on GitHub, documentation for software, blog posts, notes and even messages on Reddit, Discord and ChatGPT. If you can type, you can write Markdown — there is nothing to install and nothing to learn beyond a dozen symbols.

How to use the Markdown Editor

Writing Markdown here takes four steps. Step 1: type or paste your Markdown into the editor on the left — or click “Load sample” to try a ready-made example. Step 2: use the toolbar for bold, italic, headings, links, lists, code and quotes, or type the symbols yourself; the toolbar simply inserts the right Markdown around the selected text. Step 3: watch the live preview on the right update as you type — headings, lists, links, quotes and code blocks appear formatted instantly. Switch to the HTML tab to see the exact HTML your Markdown produces. Step 4: copy the HTML with “Copy HTML” and paste it into your blog or website, or save your work with “Download .md” (the plain Markdown file) or “Download .html” (a complete web page you can open in any browser). The word, character and line counts below the editor help you keep track of length — useful when a post or assignment has a limit.

Markdown cheat sheet

These are the symbols you will use most often. Learn them once and you will write formatted text faster than in any word processor.

Example: before and after

Type this Markdown: # My First Post on the first line, then This is **bold** and this is *italic*. on the next. The preview shows a large heading “My First Post” and the sentence with the words bold and italic properly formatted — and the HTML tab shows <h1>My First Post</h1> followed by a paragraph with <strong> and <em> tags. That HTML is exactly what you paste into WordPress, Blogger or any website builder. Try the sample document to see a longer example with a list, a quote, a link and a code block all working together.

Tips and common mistakes

• Leave a blank line between paragraphs. In Markdown, two lines of text with no blank line between them become one paragraph — press Enter twice to start a new one.
• Put a space after the # in headings. #Heading without a space is not a heading; # Heading with a space is. The same rule applies to lists: - item needs the space after the dash.
• Use blank lines around lists and code blocks. A list that starts right under a paragraph without a blank line can merge into the paragraph instead of becoming a list.
• Keep links short and readable. Write [ToolKamai](https://toolkamai.pages.dev/) instead of pasting a bare URL — readers see clean link text, not a long address.
• Do not paste passwords or secrets into any online editor. This tool never uploads your text — everything runs in your browser — but the rule still stands for every other site.

When to use a Markdown editor

Use it whenever you write something that will end up on the web. Bloggers draft posts in Markdown because it converts to clean HTML for WordPress and Blogger with one copy-paste. Developers write README files, changelogs and documentation in Markdown because GitHub renders it automatically. Students use it for notes and assignments that need headings, lists and code without the weight of a word processor. Content creators use it for video scripts and social media captions, where the plain-text file is easy to search, back up and reuse. If you write the same text in two places — say a blog and a newsletter — write it once in Markdown and convert it for both, instead of formatting it twice.